Furqat
Furqat | |
|---|---|
| Born | Zokirjon Xolmuhammad oʻgʻli 1859 Kokand, Russian Turkestan |
| Died | 1909 (aged 49–50) Yarkant, China |
| Occupation | author, poet, and political activist |
Zokirjon Xolmuhammad oʻgʻli (Uzbek: Zokirjon Xolmuhammad oʻgʻli, Зокиржон Ҳолмуҳаммад ўғли) (1859–1909), better known by his pen name Furqat, was an Uzbek author, poet, and political activist. He had a major influence on the development of modern Uzbek literature. He wrote one of the earliest pamphlets and satirical articles in Uzbek.
Furqat, like may other writers of the tsarist colonial period, was forced to praise the Russian Empire and its culture in his work. When he started to write poems that were critical of the cruelty of Russian rule, he was exiled to Chinese Turkestan.