Nizām-al-Din ʿAlī-Shīr Herawī (Chagatai/Persian: نظام الدین على شير هروی;Uyghur: ئەلىشىر نەۋائى‎ Elishir Newai; Uzbek: Alisher Navoiy) (9 February 1441 – 3 January 1501) was a Central Asian politician, mystic, linguist, painter, and poet of Uyghur origin who was born and lived in Herat. He is generally known by his pen name Navā'ī (Persian: نوایی, meaning "the weeper"). Because of his distinguished Chagatai (Middle Turkic) poetry, he is considered by many throughout the Turkic-speaking world to be the founder of early Turkic literature. In particular he is claimed by the Uzbeks as their national poet, as the modern Uzbek language is descended from Chagatai.