Abdul-Qader Bedil

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Abul Ma'āni Mirzā Abdul-Qāder Bedil or Mawlānā Abul Ma'āni Abdul Qader Bedil also Bidel Dehlavi (1642–1720) (Persian: مولانا ابوالمعانی عبدالقادر بیدل) was a famous Persian poet and Sufi born in Azimabad (present day Patna, India); his family was from Badakhshan (present day Afghanistan). According to some other sources, he was born in Khwaja Rawash, an area of Kabul province in today's Afghanistan.

He mostly wrote Ghazal and Rubayee (quatrain) in Persian. He is considered as one of the prominent poets of Indian School of Poetry in Persian literature, and owns his unique Style in it. Both Mirza Ghalib and Iqbal-e Lahori were influenced by him. His books include Telesm-e Hairat (طلسم حيرت), Toor e Ma'refat (طور معرفت), Chahār Unsur (چهار عنصر) and Ruqa'āt (رقعات).

Possibly as a result of being brought up in such a mixed religious environment, Bedil had considerably more tolerant views than his poetic contemporaries. He preferred free thought to accepting the established beliefs of his time, siding with the common people and rejecting the clergy who he often saw as corrupt.

Upon his emergence as a poet, Bedil gained recognition throughout the Iranian cultural continent. Since late 18th century his poetry gradually lost its position among Iranians while it has been much welcomed in Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan. Bedil came back to prominence in Iran in 1980s. Literary critics Mohammad-Reza Shafiei-Kadkani and Shams Langrudi were instrumental in Bidel's re-emergence in Iran. Iran also sponsored two international conferences on Bedil.^[1]

The Indian school of Persian poetry and especially Bedil's poetry is criticised for its complex and implicit meanings, however, it is much welcomed in Afghanistan rather than other Persian countries^[2]. The main reason could be the familiarity of Bedil's linguistic style and expressions among the Persian-speaking Tajiks^{[citation needed]}. In Afghanistan, a unique school in poetry studying is dedicated to Bedil's poetry called Bedil Shināsī (Bedil studies) and those who have studied his poetry are called Bedil Shinās (Bedil expert). His poetry plays a major role in Afghan classical music as well. Many Afghan classical musicians, i.e. Mohammad Hussain Sarahang, have sung plenty of Bedil's ghazals.

His grave, called Bagh-e-Bedil (Garden of Bedil) is situated at Mathura Road in Delhi. Ustaad Sayed Mohammad Daoud Al'Hossaini, an Afghan Bedil expert, arguably showed that seven months after his funeral, Bedil's body was brought back by friends and relatives from Delhi to Khwaja Rawash in Kabul, where the relatives of Barlas-e Tshaghatai lived. The grave is also called Bagh-e-Bedil (Garden of Bedil). Sallahouddin-e Saljouqi proves this thesis on p.87 of his book "Naqd-e Bedil", that Bedil's grave does not exist in Delhi, but in Khwaja Rawash.