Mirza Fatali Akhundov

Mirza Fatali Akhundov, also known as Mirza Fatali Akhundzade, or Mirza Fath-Ali Akhundzadeh (12 July 1812 – 9 March 1878), was a celebrated Iranian Azerbaijani author, playwright, atheist, philosopher, and literary critic who lived most of his life in the Russian Empire. He became famous mainly for his European-inspired plays written in Azerbaijani.

Akhundzade singlehandedly opened a new stage of development of Azerbaijani literature. Through Persian translation, his plays also played an important role in the birth of modern Iranian theater. He was also the founder of the materialist and atheist movement in the Republic of Azerbaijan and one of forerunners of modern Iranian nationalism. He also advocated switching the Azerbaijani writing system from the Perso-Arabic script to the Latin alphabet.

According to the historian and political scientist Zaur Gasimov, the entirety of Akhundzadeh's intellectual landscape was "densely entangled with Persian thought". Akhundzadeh defined his kinsmen as Turki, but at the same time considered Iran his fatherland. Politically, he has been described as "a tsarist official of impeccable loyalty", and he viewed Russian rule as a force for modernisation in the Caucasus.