Ahmad Muxtar Jaff's diwan

 1.

Ahmad Muxtar was arrested while attempting to pass through the realm of Mahmud Barzanji. At the time, relations between the Kurdish movement and the ruling Jaff family of Halabja were strained. 

Muxtar appears to have understood exactly how to appeal to Mahmud. He frames his request for freedom not as a protest, but as an affirmation of loyalty to the Kurdish struggle and a celebration of the ruler’s virtues. The petition is carefully crafted to resonate both politically and emotionally, blending devotion, humility, and shared political sentiment. Barzanji responded quickly and released him upon receiving the letter and its accompanying poem: 

O gentle wind breeze, carry all that is sincere in me into the service of the king whose realm is all of Sulaymani.

May I be your sacrifice, O Saladin Ayyubi! Strong of hand like Haydar, fair of countenance like Joseph.

Praise and thanks be to God, who delivered us from the hands of the disbelievers, through your hand, your sword, and your noble resolve, O Lion of God.

O Lord, by Your grace, keep the evil eye far from him, for the sake of the Master of the Messengers, and by the spirit of the Shah of Gilan.

After all this reverence, I ask that sovereign of the age: What crime has Ahmad committed, that he has been cast into prison?

If it has truly been proven that he failed in your service, then forgive him through your generosity, for you are the very fountain of benevolence.

If no crime exists, then why should your humble servant remain imprisoned?

Alone in confinement, he reflects on proper human conduct.

Should Your Excellency require a guarantor, my estate shall stand security a hundredfold, in honor and in faith.

Until death, like a faithful servant, he will remain in the service of the King of Kurdistan, sacrificing his life for every command and decree.

I count this imprisonment an honor, so long as it serves the dignity of the Kurds.

In truth, I am your servant; may your favor endure forever.

By your peerless and holy being, by the light of Ahmad, the Chosen Messenger, my lord, I swear by every verse of the Quran.

In your grace and mercy, forgive this servant of yours.

Look not upon his faults, his errors, and his forgetfulness.

Beyond your grace, Muxtar has no other plea.

Neither friends, nor kinsmen, nor loved ones have been able to help him.

(parts of the original poem are recited here)

Translations are my own. They are not literal, word-for-word renderings. Instead, I try to balance clear understanding, natural flow, and something of the original listening experience as it might be felt by native speakers. At certain points, the translation departs from literal rendering in favor of interpretive meaning.