SHAH-ISMAIL (1485-1524) was the founder of the shah dynasty of the Sefevides (1502-17S6). Writing under the pen-name of Hatai, he produced a large volume of lyric poetry in Azerbaijani, and also a number of didactic and philosophical works, among them the poems Ten Letters and The Book of Morals. In the reign of Shah-Ismail Hatai, Azerbaijani, was promoted to state language on a par with Persian. Hatai's poetry is graceful and polished and his language closely approaches to folk idiom.
