Yūsuf Balasaguni
Yusuf Khass Hajib Balasaguni (, Yūsuf Khāṣṣ Ḥājib Balasağuni; ; ; ; ) was an 11th-century Central Asian Turkic poet, statesman, vizier, Maturidi theologian and philosopher from the city of Balasaghun, the capital of the Kara-Khanid Khanate in modern-day Kyrgyzstan. He wrote the Kutadgu Bilig and most of what is known about him, comes from his own writings in this work. He is also referred to as Yūsuf Balasaguni, derived from his city of origin. Background. Balasaguni's birthplace Balasagun was located at the Burana archaeological site near the present-day city of Tokmok in Northern Kyrgyzstan. His birthdate is  estimated to be 1018 or 1019. His father was one of the prominent and wealthy people of that time. The young poet received his primary education in his hometown. His main influences were Avicenna, Al-Farabi and Ferdowsi. At the age of 54 (either in 1069 or 1070), Yusuf completed his work, "Kutadgu Bilig" ("Blessed Knowledge"). He wrote, as he called it himself, in the Turkic language of the Karakhanid era. Kutadgu Bilig was the first work written in the language of the Muslim Turks during the Muslim Renaissance, as evidenced by the words of the poet at the beginning  of the poem: Middle Turkic: Translation: Many Turkic-speaking peoples can rightfully consider this work as the source or the first masterpiece of their written literature of the Muslim era. Some authors believe that Yusuf allegedly died at the age of 55 and was buried in the southern part of the city of Kashgar. However, there are no direct historical sources about the date and place of death of Balasaguni. Kutadgu Bilig. Balasaguni started to work on the Kutadgu Bilig (Middle Turkic: "Wisdom of Royal Glory") in Balasagun and was about 50 years old when he completed it in Kashgar . After presenting the completed work to the Karakhanid Hasan ibn Sulayman (father of Ali-Tegin) - Prince of Kashgar he was awarded the title "Khāṣṣ Ḥājib", an honorific similar to "Privy Chamberlain" or "Chancellor". Some scholars suspect that the prologue to the Kutadgu Bilig, which is much more overtly Islamic than the rest of the text, was not written by Yūsuf, particularly the first prologue, which is in prose, unlike the rest of the text. He died and was buried in Kashgar, 1077. The following is the excerpt from the Kutadgu Bilig; the first column is the text in the original  (Karluk or Middle Turkic) language, but transliterated into Turkish (Latin) letters. Second column is the text's Turkish translation, while the third one is its English translation. Tomb of Yusuf Balasaguni. The mausoleum of the poet in Tainap, Kashgar was erected in 1865, but it was destroyed in 1972 during the Cultural Revolution and a school was built in its place. After the death of Mao Zedong, the mausoleum was restored to its former location, and the school was transferred to another building. When restoring the mausoleum, several more unknown burials were discovered on its territory. The grave of Yusuf  Balasaguni is decorated with inscriptions in Chinese, Arabic and Uyghur.