Fuzuli's work was widely known and admired throughout the Turkic cultural landscape from the 16th to the 19th centuries, with his fame reaching as far as Central Asia and India.

[18] As a child, he studied literature, mathematics, astronomy, and languages,[19] learning Persian and Arabic in addition to his native Azerbaijani.

By the time of the Safavid takeover, Fuzuli was already a popular young poet[22] and had dedicated his first known poem, a Persian qaṣīdah (eulogy), to Shah Alvand Mirza of the Aq Qoyunlu.

[30] One of these officials, Celalzade Mustafa Çelebi [tr], was appointed nişancı (head of the Ottoman Empire's imperial chancery) while in Baghdad and arranged for the poet to receive a daily grant of nine akçes from the excess of donations made to Shia shrines.

[3] When Fuzuli was unable to obtain the money from the officers of the Ministry of Evkaf, who were responsible for distributing it, he expressed his disappointment in a poetic letter called Şikāyatnāmah (lit.

[40] The Encyclopædia Iranica distinguishes his work by "the way in which he integrates the mystic and the erotic, in the combination of the conventionality of his topics with the sincerity of his style, and in his intense expression of feelings of passionate love, of pity for the unfortunate, and of patience in the face of adversity".

[5] Abdülkadir Karahan, a scholar of medieval Turkic literature, notes that what distinguished Fuzuli was his "sincerity, enthusiasm, simplicity, sensitivity, and power of expression".

[36] Alireza Asgharzadeh, an academic studying Iranian and Azerbaijani culture, describes Fuzuli's poetry as having "manifested the spirit of a profound humanism, reflecting the discontent of both the masses and the poet himself towards totalitarianism, feudal lords, and establishment religion".

[41] His poems have also been described by the literary researcher Muhsin Macit as having a "multi-layered structure" because of his "skillful use of metaphors and mystic symbols".

It was majestic in its calm repose And awe-inspiring, for above it soared Swift-winged falcons, and within were stored, Deep in its bowels, such precious stones and rare As can but be imagined.

Irina Zheleznova[43][g] Fuzuli is best known for his works in Azerbaijani, especially his ghazals (a form of love poem) and his mas̱navī Leylī va Macnūn (lit.

Fuzuli reveals in the work that he was prompted to write it upon the request of some Ottoman poets who had accompanied Sultan Suleiman during his invasion of Baghdad.

[3] For instance, while Nizami's work concludes with Majnun's death, Fuzuli's version sees the two lovers reunited in heaven and their graves transformed into türbahs.

[49] His interpretation of the story generated more interest than previous Arabic and Persian versions, which the Turkish literature scholar İskender Pala attributes to the sincerity and lyricism of the poet's expression.

[49] The work has been described by the Encyclopædia Iranica as "the culmination of the Turk[ic] mas̱navī tradition in that it raised the personal and human love-tragedy to the plane of mystical longing and ethereal aspiration".

[3] Through his interpretation, the story of Leylī and Macnūn became widely known and Fuzuli's poem is considered one of the greatest works of Turkic literature.

'The Garden of the Blessed'), which is about the death of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, in the Battle of Karbala, which he fought in 680 CE against the second Umayyad Caliph Yazid I.

'The Garden of Martyrs'), it is considered a masterpiece of the Turkic maqtal genre and is the most popular among contemporary works covering the Battle of Karbala.

[58] Karahan regards several of the qaṣīdahs in the dīvān as masterpieces, including the radif (couplet poems with same end-word) eulogies to Muhammad titled Ṣabā (lit.

[59] Other works by him in Azerbaijani include the allegorical-satirical poem Bang va Bādah, which is over 400 couplets long[j] and imagines a dispute between wine and hashish over their respective merits;[60] a translation of the Persian poet Jami's Forty Hadith titled Ḥadīs̱-i Arba'īn tarcümasī [azb] (lit.

Hamide Demirel[64][k] Fuzuli also wrote several works in Persian, including a dīvān that comprises 410 ghazals, 46 qiṭ'ahs, several dozen qaṣīdahs, over a hundred rübā'īs, and more.

[66] The collection opens with a prose preface, where the poet praises the merits of poetry, his enduring fascination with it, and its ability to turn pain into pleasure.

Zāhid is trying to guide Rind to live according to Sharia (Islamic religious law) by encouraging him to attend the mosque, read the Quran, and avoid writing poetry.

[m] The prose work analyses the origins and destiny of humanity according to the Islamic theological discipline ʿIlm al-Kalām.

[79] His work also had an impact on literature written in Chagatai, a Turkic literary language that was once widely spoken across Central Asia; later writers in Ottoman and Chagatai literature drew on the poet's work because of his ability to reinterpret traditional themes and ideas through his poetry, which brought the two literary traditions closer together.

[o][80] His work has been characterised as a successful reconciliation of Azerbaijani, Persian, and Arabic literary practices, as well as of Shia and Sunni beliefs.

[p] Fazli is believed to have received his poetic education from Fuzuli, and wrote both religious and secular poems in Azerbaijani, Persian, and Arabic.

This has elevated Fuzuli's prominence among South African Muslims, who view Leylī and Macnūn as the "Islamic equivalents of what Romeo and Juliet have stood for culturally, and literarily, in the West", as described by the literary scholar Salvador Faura.

[83] Fuzuli's poetry played an important role in the development of the Azerbaijani language, with the modern scholar Sakina Berengian referring to him as the "Ferdowsi and Hafez of Azeri literature", comparing him to two poets regarded as among the greatest in Persian literature, and stating that Azerbaijani poetry and language reached new heights in his writings.

While he drew inspiration from earlier Persian works for most of his Azerbaijani pieces, he was able to add a "particular stamp of his personality" on his interpretations of subjects, which made them popular.