Afzal Ali (poet)
{{Short description|Medieval Bengali poet}}
{{infobox writer
| name = Afzal Ali
| native_name = আফজল আলী
| native_name_lang = bn
| birth_date = 16th century
| occupation = Poet
| language = Bengali
| birth_place = Satkania Upazila, Chittagong District
| notable_works = Nasihatnama, Padabali}}
Afzal Ali ({{langx|bn|আফজল আলী|Afzol Ali}}) was a medieval Bengali poet. He is best known for his magnum opus, Nasihatnama. Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad claims that he belongs to the 16th-century,{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.98119/page/n623/mode/2up|title=A Descriptive Catalogue Of Bengali Manuscripts|author1=Abdul Karim, Munshi|author2=Sharif, Ahmed|editor=Hussain, Syed Sajjad|location=Dacca|publisher=Asiatic Society of Pakistan|year=1960}} although Banglapedia places him in the 17th century.{{cite Banglapedia|author=Mohammad Daniul Huq and Aminur Rahman|article=Bangla Literature}}
Early life and family
Afzal Ali was born into a Bengali Muslim family from the village of Milua in present-day Satkania, Chittagong District.Bangla Academy Chharitavidhan (Dictionary of Biography), 3rd edition, June 2011, page: 32-33 language=bn His father was known as Bhangu Faqir.{{cite news|url=http://dailypurbodesh.com/%E0%A6%AE%E0%A6%A7%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%AF%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%97%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%AA%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%81%E0%A6%A5%E0%A6%BF-%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B9%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A7%87/|script-title=bn:মধ্যযুগের পুঁথি সাহিত্যে ব্যবহৃত সনসমূহের আলোকে বঙ্গাব্দের অবস্থান|publisher=Daily Purbodesh|language=bn|accessdate= October 7, 2020}}
Career
Afzal Ali was known to have written Nasihatnama (নসীহতনামা) around 1662 C.E., as well as Padabali, which were a few verses written in Vaishnava style. The former is a notable Muslim literary work of Bengal as only few Islamic have been found in Bengali during that period. The book contains references to sermons in simple language, and Ali had a good reputation as a writer. Many Bengali authors wrote books titled "Nasihatnama", with the next-known poet being Sheikh Paran (1550-1615).{{Cite web |script-title=bn: বাংলা সাহিত্য |url=http://bn.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%82%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%BE_%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B9%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF |access-date=October 7, 2020 |publisher=Banglapedia |language=bn}}