Siraj-ud-Din Ali Khan Arzu

{{short description|Mughal Indian Urdu language poet}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}}

{{Use Indian English|date=September 2018}}

Siraj-ud-Din Ali Khan ({{langx|ur|{{Nastaliq|سراج الدین علی خاں آرزو}}}}) (1687-1756), also known by his pen-name Arzu, was a Delhi-based poet, linguist and lexicographer of the Mughal Empire.{{cite book | author1=Braj B. Kachru | author2=Yamuna Kachru | author3=S. N. Sridhar | title=Language in South Asia | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=89aPZJ3qCD4C&pg=PA106 | date=27 March 2008 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-0-521-78141-1 | page=106}} He used to write mainly in Persian, but he also wrote 127 couplets in Urdu. He was the maternal-uncle of Mir Taqi Mir. He taught Mir Taqi Mir, Mirza Muhammad Rafi Sauda, Mirza Mazhar Jan-e-Janaan and Najm-ud-Din Shah Mubarak Abroo.

Arzu was born in Agra. He was the son of Sheikh Hisam-ud-Din, a soldier who held many high offices in the court of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. He was highly proficient in Persian and Arabic, the two languages which he learned as a child. He also learned Urdu and Sanskrit.{{cite book | author=Abida Samiuddin | title=Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Urdu Literature | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-otQriwQ9z4C&pg=PA75 | year=2007 | publisher=Global Vision Publishing Ho | isbn=978-81-8220-191-0 | page=75}}

Arzu started writing at the age of fourteen, and came to Delhi in 1719. He was introduced to Nawab Qamar-ud-din Khan by Anand Ram 'Mukhlis'. Qamar-ud-Din, who was the prime minister at that time, gave him a suitable job. Arzu used to hold mushairas at his home, and attracted many disciples including Mir Taqi Mir. In 1751, he wrote an Urdu-Persian dictionary called the Navadirul Alfaz.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1eANAAAAYAAJ&q=Navadirul+Alfaz |title= Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft:Volume 119 |date=1969|author= Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft |page=267 }} He migrated to Lucknow in 1754, and subsequently to Ayodhya, which was once the residence of his great-grandfather. He died in Lucknow in 1756, and was buried in the Vakilpura area of Delhi.