Culture policy

It was 10 years ago, my first visit to Iraq. We had to cross a highway that ran through Iran. On the way I visited Tabriz – our motherland Tabriz. It would be a shame to pass through the territory and not visit it. The smell of these lands was so native and sweet. But we didn’t stay there for long. As the saying goes, the wanderer should be on his way.

As I have already said, it was my first visit to Iraq and I was very delightful, emotion-filled and full of interest. There were a lot of places that I was so eager to see. I wondered if it might it be possible to see all of them within a week? I wondered how Iraq could be so different from us though our histories were so related.

Speaking of my uncle, Gazanfar Pashayev a famous philosopher – scientist, who has worked in Iraq for several years now and introduced Iraq to millions of our brothers and sisters living there through his books, his talks with great affection for Iraq and for Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijanis buried in this land hold a special place in the memories I had as a child. The book six years on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates” aroused great interest in me. It told of the realities which we could not have read and learned from the made-up version of history that was found on books of the old Soviet era.

I have read the book “Mysterious Baghdad, beautiful Kirkuk” several times over. It was a book which was full of extensive information about Iraq and its population and soon I fell in love in Iraq.

My thanks to the great Allah as I was a witness to the collapse of the Soviet empire which put my nation Azerbaijan under hardship, even as I was an Iraqi citizen, I saw the creation of an independent Azerbaijan. In addition, I went to Iraq by crossing Tabriz… It was a great happiness for me!

On the way I was thinking about the places I had planned to visit, first the graves of great Azerbaijanis Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi and Muhammad Fizuli, when the driver said with high-spirits: “We are approaching to beautiful Baghdad”…

Baghdad, the city of miracles…

As soon as we arrived at the Al-Mansur hotel located at the bank of Tigris River I asked where the place of Musa Ibn Kazim’s grave was. I know that the grave of Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi was near it. They said that Kazimeyn city was not far from there and after some time I was where I had been wishing to be… It was a sacred place of pilgrimage in full sense of the word. Musa Ibn Kazim’s grave has been a place of the pilgrimage for Shiah Muslims and thousands of people from different places in the world visit this place every day. The grave of the great and notable Azerbaijani Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi is near this grave. I asked the guide, an ethnic Iraqi Turk who spoke Arabic fluently to translate the words written on the tombstone which was in Arabic. When he translated the words into Turkish I felt a deep sense of pride. “Helper of religion and nation, king of the world of science! Mother Time did not give birth to such son!” It was absolute truth written 808 years ago… Indeed, Mother Time did not give birth to such son!”

He wrote the “history of Baghdad”

The location of great Tusi’s grave in this city is not incidental. Since, he wrote the history of Bagdad… This great Azerbaijani also had a great hand in the invasion of this beautiful city by the Turkish emperor Hulegu Khan. Warning of the attack to Baghdad, Hulegu Khan dared to take this action after the warnings were substantiated by Nasiraddin Tusi from a scientific standpoint, thus the occupation of Baghdad by Hulegu Khan put an end to the 500–year old Abbasid dynasty. An interesting story about the burial of Nasir-al-Din al-Tusiin Baghdad abounds, the philosopher was visiting Baghdad and when he died he was buried in the sacred city of Kazimeyn next to Baghdad. The tomb where he was buried in had been prepared for the Caliph Nasir Li-Dinillah many years before Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi was even born. But the tomb remaining empty for some reason, was then given to Tusi. Call it divine intervention, who knows? Our great Allah has already pre-destined for him a tomb in one of the sacred places in Iraq most likely on the day he came into the world. Certainly, it was not the main prize of Allah to the great and unforgettable Tusi. Allah gave him great happiness as to write both his and the nation’s names to world’s history with his deeds performed during his 75-year life. He has been awarded eternal love for his deeds!

I turned to the young officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iraq who were accompanying us during this trip and said proudly: “Do you know that he is Azerbaijani, a Turk”. Upon hearing it, he flashed me a childlike and said: “I did not know, but when you wanted to visit this grave I guessed that he is Azerbaijani”. Standing near the grave, I proudly told him about the great Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi who was a great philosopher, thinker, mathematician, physicist, astronomer, historian, lawyer, financier, public-political figure, scientists having encyclopedic knowledge, etc. The list was endless! For brevity, he was an exceptional genius brought into the world. Not only did his knowledge thrive in different fields of science, he made excellent contribution to their development as well.

Thinking about his achievements as I put the flowers I picked for him from both the north and south of Azerbaijan on his grave. I then scattered the sand I had likewise brought from both parts of the motherland. Lands that was very dear to him. Though I was late for his birthday, I did not forget his presents to mark the occasion. A Baghdad official watching all this with slight interest and perhaps a little amazement asked me why Tusi was so essential for us. For one simple reason: He is our nation’s unrivaled wealth!

Exceptional scientists like Tusi are considered as a great wealth of any nation. Young generations should be familiar with him and his achievements and be proud of him. The young generation should take pride in this person and do away with anyone who should defame his name. The 18th of February is the birthday of this great and extraordinary man. I decided to publish this writing before his birthday so that secondary schools and higher education institutions would commemorate him even unofficially. In reading this, the younger generation in a sense would try to know who this great and exceptional man Tusi was. An uncommon genius endowed by Allah!

He was a beloved creation of Allah and Allah withheld nothing from him. As is written on his tomb, Muhammad Ibn Hassan Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi was really a sovereign in the world of science and this fact remains even after 808 years. Indeed, Mother Time did not give birth to such a son! The Most High awarded him with innate talent was a follower of religion in his youth. Acquiring his primary education from his father and uncle, Tusi began to learn different fields of humanities and exact sciences in depth since childhood. He knew Islam so well that he was allowed by Muimaddim Salim Misri to tell a Hadith and people soon began calling him Khaja (Sir) and Movla as a mark of respect. The great Tusi was a successor of Ibn-Sina, Bahmanyar. Today, his work dedicated to theology, policy, and ethics are still read with great interest in the world. With works such as “Treaties on Imamet” (“Risab fi – 1-imame”) and some other writings by the thinker who belonged to the imamilik (imamet) sect of Shiaism whose typical features were highlighted not only for the 12 Shiite imams, but in general, for imams (leader) as well.

Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi considered free will acceptable in his treaties “Algebra and value”. Shias, Sunnis and the entire Muslim world may take advantage of his work which is a far cry from fanaticism.

The great Tusi was 34 years old when he wrote “Akhlagy Nasir” in the year 1235 which won him the worldwide fame and was translated into many languages. To pen such work at the age of 34 was possible only due to the talent endowed by Allah. Despite hundreds of years that have passed, his work is considered to be one of the most profound writings at present. In the “Akhlagi Nasir”, for hundreds of years, has shown how to live the life of a real man. He was unique not only due to his intellect and education, but also due to his morals, as he so perfectly expound on the notion of human morality in his “Akhlagy Nasir” .

This writing has an interesting history in itself. Tusi spent 12 years of his life in the Alamut fortress (prison) facing unbearable conditions because of this work. Simply owing to the fact that the leader of Kuhistan, Ismaililar Nasraddin Mohtasham did not favor his work. Earlier, Mohtasham invited the young philosopher to his palace and offered him to write a book about morality. However, Tusi wrote his own thoughts about morality. Those very same thoughts are now being read keenly and willingly by people in the span of 800 years. Apart from, describing his socio-political and ethical thoughts in his work, Tusi also touched upon common philosophical matters and investigated different aspects of human characteristics, its flaws, and showed the qualities of how to improve, its advantages leading to goodness and happiness.

Allah endowed him an iron will that his 12 years prison did not bother him at all. During those years he wrote a number of works namely the “Sharhul – Isharat” (which was written in response to the “Isharat” written by Abu Ali Sinan) which was completed in 1242 in which he said, “I wrote most of the chapters of this book under duress. My heart could not bear any more torment than that.”

This unbearable life was cut short by Hulegu Khan, the grandson of great the Turkish emperor Genghis Khan. Crusading towards the Middle East Hulegu Khan occupied the Alamut fortress and released prisoners that included Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi. Hulegu Khan then seeing Tusi’s worth, appointed him as his own adviser. Hulegu Khan paid great importance to the advice of Tusi and Tusi in return played a great role in Hulegu’s success. The establishment of the center of the Ilkhanilar state of Hulegu Khan in Azerbaijan in 1260 after the occupation of Baghdad can be owed for the most part to the great Tusi.

Tusi and development of science in Azerbaijan

First, Hulegu Khan chose Maragheh – one of the famous cities of Azerbaijan and then Tabriz as a capital of Ilkhanid state. In 1259 Tusi began to build an observatory in Maragheh city which was one of the significant projects of Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi in the history of science and culture of the world. A large sum of money was required to build the said observatory and Hulegu Khan did not consider this idea useful. Prominent historian Khalifa described the events that happened in relation to this matter in his “Book about the world”: When Khaja Nasir informed Hulegu about the expenses to be spent to construction of observatory in Maragheh, he was surprised and asked: “Is astronomy useful that we should spend such a great deal of money for it?” Tusi then answered him:” Let someone climb up that mountain and throw a basin from there, but he should do it secretly, nobody should know about it.” And they did it. The basin hit the hills and created terrible noise. The army of Hulegu Khan was terrified. At that moment Tusi was sitting with Hulegu Khan quietly and they were watching the panic rise amongst the soldiers. Nasir-al-Din told the Khan: ”Master, we are sitting quietly, because we know where the noise is coming from the hills. But the army does not know it that is why they are terrified. If we know the essence of events happening in the sky beforehand, calmness will be always on the Earth.” Nasir-al-Din’s words convinced Hulegu Khan and he gave his consent to build observatory and allocated 20 thousand Dinars for this purpose. Afterwards, thanks to the great scientist more than hundreds of scientists working at the observatory obtained salaries for life. All fields of knowledge, scientific, philosophical and socio-political studies were educated at religious school operating under the observatory. All works from designing the building of observatory to the installation of astronomic devices were carried out with the participation of Tusi. Together with prominent astronomer and builder Muayyidaddin Ordi they installed several astronomical devices with old and new designs. The new design was developed by the scientists themselves. The observatory had various instruments like an azimuth quadrant which was the invention of Tusi himself. Tusi also designed other instruments for the Observatory which was far more than a centre for astronomy. Terrestrial and celestial globes which were considered important for the settlement of some astronomical matters, as well as matters for educational purposes were prepared at the Maragheh observatory. One of the celestial globes prepared by the son of Ordi Muhammad survives until now. Unfortunately, it cannot be found in Azerbaijan, but at the Dresden museum in Germany. It possessed a fine library consisting of 400 thousand books on a wide range of scientific topics, while work on science, mathematics and philosophy were vigorously pursued also there giving rise to the leadership of great Azerbaijanis which made noises that reverberated around the world not only for its greatness but also for its grandeur.

Tusi found America even before Columbus did!

Scientific works and astronomical observations carried out at the Maragheh observatory resulted in Tusi’s “Zij-i ilkhani” (The Ilkhanic Astronomical tables) wherein this work contained tables for computing the positions of the planets, and it also contained a star catalogue. One of the main elements of the table was an accurate table about planetary movement, and his tables cite average planetary movements which were amazingly more precise than 17th century astronomical observations. A lot of mathematical, astronomical and geographical reference tables can be found in the Ilkhanic astronomical tables, in so doing this work allowed Tusi to make his mark in the annals of the world astronomy!

The teacher of Columbus used reference tables developed by Tusi!

Tusi’s reference tables consisted of four books. The Turkish, Greek, Persian, Jewish, and Arabic calendars are described in the first book and the rules of converting one calendar to another are shown. The second book describes the movements of the stars and their elliptical coordinates.

The most important of these are the 3-digit sine and tangent trigonometry tables using the 60 numerical systems and the table of coordinates for 256 famous cities of the 13th century. Tusi also measured the longitudinal circle by 34-35 degrees to the west of Greenwich which falls onto the eastern part of the South America. This meant that astronomers and geographers of that during that time knew about the existence of a continent in the Western hemisphere which would then be named America long before Columbus. C. Columbus’s teacher P.Toskanelli also made use of this table prepared by Tusi. This table was published in Arabic and Latin languages in London (1652) and Oxford (1711).

Incidentally the Maragheh observatory laid claim to a number of scientific innovations. In 1266, the geographical globe had been developed by Azerbaijani scientist Karimaddin Salmas, a scholar at the Maragheh school, two centuries before German scientist Martin Berhaim (1459-1507).


The Great Tusi enthused the development of mathematics!

While he is an author of more than hundreds of scientific works related to mathematics, physics, medicine, philosophy, ethics, logic and astronomy, researchers considered that Tusi was a first and foremost, a great mathematician. In publishing the work “Tahrir-Ugli dis” (Commentary on the first book of Euclid) in 1594 in Rome in Arabic and Latin languages, it brought him popularity, and his scientific researches began widely spreading in that location. He played an important role not only in the East, but in Europe due to his scientific research and works in the field of development of geometry and trigonometry. Scientific findings of Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi stimulated the development of geometry, and had influence on the works of French mathematician A. Legedre, English mathematician J. Wallis and Italian scientist J. Sakker. In his work entitled “Bases of Geometry’ Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi gave his theory on Euclid’s 5th postulate, and found out the connection between the internal angles of the triangle, and developed the relativity theory in the works of Archimedes called “On the sphere and Cylinder” and “Squaring the Circle”. This work overshadowed all works written in the XVII century in the field of geometry was translated into Latin in 1657 in London and John Wallis (1616-1703) delivered lectures using this theory at Oxford University in England. In another writing Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi broached upon Euclid’s form of geometry again and made additions to it without any revisions to its content. He also gave proof of the Pythagorean theorem in 48 versions. And Tusi gained popularity in England as a scholar of Azerbaijani descent.

The work “The four-square theorem” written by him which consisted of five books played an important role in the development of Trigonometry in Europe. For the first time in the history, Trigonometry was considered as an independent mathematical discipline. This theorem was then translated into English, Russian and French and became an invaluable source for the scholars in this field. The concepts involving digits developed by Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi is similar to the modern understanding of the concept and intellectually, he was 400 years more advanced than the European mathematicians of his day. In this work called “Sheklul-gita” (The four-square theorem”), a writing describing plane and spherical trigonometry, also provides Menelaus’ theorem, main theorems and formulae of modern trigonometry as well as specifies the sides of a spherical triangle based on its three angles and gives a dialectical definition of continuous quantities. Thanks to his work plane and spherical trigonometry became independent mathematical subject matter; and it was published in Arabic and French languages in Istanbul in 1891.

Method of extraction of root from all degrees and author of the Binominal formula

Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi, the author of immense writings and findings in the field of mathematics has written his name in the history of this science and risen to the genius pedestal tanks to his method of extraction of root from all degree and Binominal formula. In his work called “Jaleul hesab” (“Calculation via boards and sands”) is described as the extraction of the root from a positive number, coefficients of binominal limits up to twelfth degree. “Tahrir al-Majisti” (Commentary on the Almagest) is an edited and corrected version of the theory about the planetary movements within a geocentric system written by an ancient Greek scientist K. Ptolomaeus. Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi explained the method of extraction from the root of whole number as the example of the root (for the first time in mathematics), showed binominal coefficients generating a triangular number and the conformity between them which explained Newton’s binominal theorem in words.

Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi caused for a great revolution in the development of the concept of numbers. For the first time, he considered the number one (1) gave it a definition. “Number is a quantity generated from a collection of ones. Since a number is a thing which stands in order of number, I deem one is a number as well”. At the same time Tusi approached the sum of two numbers as a number and substantiated it from a mathematical standpoint.

The thoughts of Tusi about the theory of continuous quantities and numbers had a great influence upon the further development of the mathematical discipline and played an important role in furthering continuous quantities which are necessary in the substantiation of modern mathematical concepts, developing deferential and integral calculation, as well as serious definition of continuation.

This great Azerbaijani is an author of more than 20 famous writings and researches related to Mathematics and Astronomy. He was the happiest creation of Allah! Not only was he a genius that had risen to the top-most pedestal in the field of Mathematics and Astronomy, he also was a genius who wrote his name into the chronicles of history in different fields of science! Tusi had invaluable contribution in the fields of science such as Physics, Economics, Philosophy, Medicine, Geography, Mineralogy, Ethics, Logic, etc., and he has written more than hundreds of scientific papers. Writings called the “Theory of light reflection and refraction”, “Euclid’s optics” written by this great man are important to people engaged in the field of Mathematics and Physics; his paper “Medical laws” is vital to medical workers, the “Theory on investigating the rainbow” is likewise essential for people engaged in the field of Astronomy, the “Book on valuable stones” – for people in the field of Mineralogy, the “Theory on state finance” – for people in the field of Economics, “Choosing the happiest days” – for people in the field of Astrology. Tusi is an author to a number of valuable papers explaining solar and lunar eclipses, light refraction, the generation of the rainbow. “Explaining the marks”, “Geometrical rules”, “On the sphere and cylinder”, “ Apollonius cone-cone intersections”, “Archimedes’ squaring the Circle”, “Menelaus “Sphaericorum”, “On Astrolabe”, “Astronomical memorials”, “On calendar”, “On eternity and endlessness of mankind”, “Commentary on the Almagest” of Ptolomy’s “Almagest”, the “Study of Jewelry”, “In Essence”, “Isolation”, “Thirty seasons”, etc. Many of his works have not been documented yet and are waiting for researchers. His works are spread all over the world. They enrich museums and libraries of Baku, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Oxford, Cambridge, Leipzig, Munich, Florence, Cairo, Istanbul, Kazan, Moscow, and Saint-Petersburg. The work of this Azerbaijani genius for 800 years now will be a topic for hundreds of discussions and investigations. Hundreds of academicians and doctors of science from the past onwards have derived various advantages from his work.


Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi is the first to state theories in the history of political thought!

Directing his attention to human and social relations Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi analyzed the issues of management of himself, family and state, and considered it necessary to manage the people “on the basis of laws on justice, independence and wisdom” in his theory of management. In his works dedicated to the rights of Muslims Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi was a humanist, and considered the protection of the people’s welfare as the main guiding principle. Tusi was also an author of philosophical poems. At present, Tusi’s world view, his socio-political thoughts and opinions on theology roused great interest and up until now bear world significance.

Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi was called “the eleventh intellect” and “revered teacher of the world” for his extraordinary ability, great intellect and unrivaled merits whilst living. This great scientist and person’s merits towards the world’s science, culture and literature are being extensively studied nowadays by world’s famous scientists. His poems are being read with great interest as beautiful works of poetry. Every Azerbaijani living all over the world or Turks in general is proud of the great and extraordinary Tusi. It is no wonder that some nations try to stake their claim on Tusi. Certainly, who will not lay claim to such a genius like Tusi was? Yes, a genius who was able to astound the world with his intellect is really Azerbaijani! We should avert other nations from usurping geniuses such as Tusi, Nizami etc. as their own. It is up to the Azerbaijani youth who live and study abroad to amend misconceptions that abound. They have to strengthen their actions in the dissemination of who these geniuses exactly and rightfully are, the treasure of the Azerbaijani nation and arrange for various events connected with these actions.



Shah Abbas I (1587-1629) pays respect to Тusi and his family by exempting Ordubad from Taxes

The great Azerbaijani Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi’s grandchildren and descendants moved from Maraga to Оrdubad in the 14th century. During the Safavid Empire much attention had been attached to Tusi person, as well as to his heritage and family. Tusi’s three sons: Sadreddin Ali, Asileddin Hassan and Fahreddin Ahmad had been involved in the management of state affairs alongside with science. Avhedi Maragayi (1274-1338) dedicated his "Dahneme" (1306) to Haje Ziyaeddin Yusif ibn Asileddin Hassan, Tusi’s grandson. Tusi’s descendants afterwards lived in Nakhchivan and became famous in the fields of science, literature and art. Shah Abbas I (1587-1629), with his profound respect for Nasir-al-Din al-Tusi and his family exempted the entire Ordubad district, where all his relatives lived from taxes. This decree of his was also inscribed in stone over the gate of the big Juma mosque that was built in Ordubad in the 17th century.
Nowadays a great number of Tusi’s followers live in Azerbaijan and Iran (South Azerbaijan). However the number of his spiritual followers is in the tens of thousands. He is highly respected, remembered and loved by every Turk living all around the world.
As I have already mentioned each and every time when I travel to Iraq I pay homage to his grave. During my last trip, my primary goal as a journalist was to provide on the spot reporting about the war in Iraq to Azerbaijan. Every day there were bombing raids in Iraq. I was praying to Allah to spare Tusi’s, Fizuli’s graves as well as a good number of sacred places. The last time I left Iraq with a heavy heart. I frequently made calls to Iraq to ask about the current situation there. I was hoping that Allah would hear all our prayers and that those places would remain undamaged, at least for reason that they are our nation’s pride. Thank God nothing happened as I prayed for.

However, I am aware of how naïve my happiness had been, missiles or small or great wars can damage a great scholar’s memorial which was built from ancient times but who could destroy an immortal monument which is forever etched in the treasury of mankind!

For more than 800 years, Allah protected the resting places of these geniuses and exceptional citizens with his eternal love. In addition to being an example for the people by showing through his deeds how to live, his humane attitude, his merits before humanity he is a creation who gained the eternal love of Allah due to his works for the sake of future generations. He is genius who as a person added his nation, Azerbaijan into the glorious pages of history. With that he has our eternal love.

Nobody can dismantle the monument built in our hearts. Our eternal love is with you, amazing and unforgettable Tusi!
When I was writing about you it seemed to me as if I forgot the 800 year gap between our ages and history. Despite the passage of time since you had lived, we remember you with deep respect and love! If we can remember respectfully and love you so much today, unlike many others who are alive, then you are alive for us, you are among us!

To the great scientist Tusi, a genius Azerbaijani, congratulations on your 808th birthday!

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