P rominent t ajik f igures of the

Mirzoev, Abdulghani
Tajik intellectual and literary critic Abdulghani Muhammadovich
Mirzoev was born in 1908 to a religious family in Kitab in the
Qashqadariya region of Uzbekistan.
Mirzoev graduated from the Institute of Oriental Studies of the State
University of Leningrad in 1939. Thereafter, until 1942 he taught lin-
guistics and Persian literary history at the Dushanbe Pedagogical Insti-
tute. Between 1942 and 1961, when he became a professor, he served in
a number of important positions both at the Republic and the Union lev-
els. These include Soviet Attaché in Iran (1942-1944), Director of the
literature division of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences
of the Soviet Union (1945-1947) and as the Director of the division it-
self (1947-1951), Director of the literature division of the Academy of

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Iraj Bashiri

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Sciences of Tajikistan (1951 to 1958), and Director of the Oriental

Studies of the Academy of Sciences (1956-76). He became an Corre-
sponding Member of the Academy of Sciences in 1951, and an Acade-
mician in 1957, after he received his doctorate degree, and in 1961, he
became a professor.
Mirzoev's early articles appeared in Ovozi Tojik, Bidorii Tojik, Toji-
kistoni Surkh, and Baroi Adabiyoti Sotsiolisti. His studies in folklore in-
clude Saido va Maqomi U dar Adabiyoti Tojik (Saido and His Position
in Tajik Literature, 1947). He also has a number of publications dealing
with the lives and works of the historical figures of the Perso-Tajik peo-
ples, Divoni Muntakhabi Saido (An Anthology of Selected Poems of
Saido,1944). Mirzoev's other contributions include Rudaki va Inkishofi
Ghazal dar Sadahoi Dah to Ponzdahi Milodi (Rudaki and the Discovery
of Ghazal during the 10
th
 to the 15
th
 Centuries, 1958), "Risola yo Mu-
khtasari az Ta'rikhi Saltanati Amironi Manghitiyai Ahmad Donish"
("Risola or a Brief Note on Ahmad Danish's History of the Rule of the
Manghit Amirs of Bukhara," 1960), Osori Rudaki (Rudaki's Works,
1958), Osori Jomi (Jami's Works, 1964); Amir Alisher Navoi va Abdur-
rahmon Jomi (Amir Alisher Navoi and Abdurrahman Jami, 1968), Sizda
Maqola (Thirteen Articles, 1977), and others.
Mirzoev joined the Union of Writers of Tajikistan in 1948. He
received two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, the Badge of Honor,
and the Honorary Order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of
Tajikistan.
Mirzoev died in Dushanbe in 1976.