Mir Jalal Mir Ali oglu Pashayev was born on April 26, 1908, in the village of Andabil near the city of Ardabil, South Azerbaijan. However, fate took him to the ancient city of Ganja since childhood.
   
After his father's death in 1918, he had lived under the care of his elder brother. In 1918-1919, he studied at the primary school of the Ganja Charitable Society. In 1924-1927, he studied at Ganja Pedagogical College named after M.F. Akhundov. In 1925, he was admitted to the Komsomol. During his student years, he was actively involved in public works, was elected the chairman of the student-youth organization of the college, and then the student-youth trade union organization of Ganja.

After graduating from the Pedagogical College, he started teaching in Ganja, and then worked as the principal of a seven-year school in Gadabay district.
  
In 1929-1930, he worked as the principal of the city school in Ganja.
  
He was a member of the Ganja branch of the Union of Azerbaijani Writers.

In 1926-1930, Mir Jalal, who entered the literary environment of Ganja, in addition to poems and short stories translated into his native language, he published his first works in the newspaper "Yeni Fikir", in the collections "Gizil Ganja", "Ilk Addymlar", "Khujum".
  
In 1930-1932, Mir Jalal Pashayev studied at the department of language and literature of Kazan Eastern Pedagogical Institute. In 1932-1935, he studied at the postgraduate course of the Azerbaijan State Scientific Research Institute, at the same time he served as a department head in the "Communist" newspaper, and as the responsible secretary of the "Gandj ishchi" (Young worker) newspaper.

In 1932, a collection of essays authored by Mir Jalal Pashayev "Saghlam yollarda" (On Healthy Ways) was published. In 1933, he worked as a junior researcher in the department of social sciences of the Azerbaijan branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. He directly participated in the establishment of the Institute of Literature, where he served as the head of the department of the 20th century Azerbaijani literature.  

In 1933, Mir Jalal Pashayev married Mrs. Pusta (1914-2001), who he worked with in the newspaper "Communist".

In 1936-1941, Mir Jalal Pashayev delivered lectures at the Azerbaijan Pedagogical Institute and Azerbaijan State University. In 1940, he defended a PhD thesis titled "Poetic features of Fuzuli.
 
Apart from numerous works of literary criticism, Mir Jalal has written more than a dozen novels and nearly one thousand short stories. In 1935-1939, Mir Jalal Pashayev's books "Boy" (Height) (novellas), "Bostan oghrusu" (The thief in the garden) (stories), "Gozun aydın" (Congratulations) (stories and essays), "Dirilan adam" (Resurrection man) (novel) were published in mass circulation. During the Second World War, Mir Jalal, both in the books "Stories about the Motherland" (1942), "Ilyas" (1942), "Israfil" (1942), "Wounds of the Motherland" (1943), "Homeland" (1944), and in the stories published in the periodical press, tells about the heroic struggle of the Azerbaijani people against fascism on the rear and on the front line.

Both in his novels and short stories the prose style of Mir Jalal is extremely lucid, simple and vividly descriptive. After his first novel - "The Resurrected Man"  (1934-1935), he created wide epic pictures of life in his novels like " The Manifest of a Youth" (1939), " The Open Book"  (1941-1944), "My Peers" (1946-1952), "New City" (1948-1950), "Which way we go?” (1952-1957). Mir Jalal has become one of the most admired prose writers of Azerbaijan.

Mir Jalal Pashayev joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1944.

In 1947, he defended the doctoral dissertation on "Literary schools in Azerbaijan".

In 1944-1960, Mir Jalal Pashayev served as the head of the Soviet literature department of the Institute of Literature and Language of the Azerbaijan branch of the USSR Academy of sciences and as an associate professor of the Azerbaijani literature department of the Azerbaijan State University named after S. M. Kirov. In 1948, he was conferred the degree of professor at the ASU named after S. M. Kirov.

Mir Jalal Pashayev was also a prominent researcher of the Azerbaijani literature. He was engaged in research of the works of Nizami Ganjavi, Mahammad Fuzuli, Abulgasim Nabati, Mirza Fatali Akhundov, Nariman Narimanov, Jalil Mammadguluzade, Mirza Alakbar Sabir and made a significant contribution to writing the history of the Azerbaijani literature. 
   
Since 1961, Mir Jalal Pashayev served as the head of the Department of Azerbaijani Literature of the Azerbaijan State University, and strived for the training of scientific and pedagogical personnel. He conducted research on the theoretical problems of aesthetics, poetics, and delivered lectured on the theory of literature at the university for a long time.
    
In 1969, Mir Jalal Pashayev was awarded the honorary title of Honored Scientist.

Mir Jalal Pashayev's most famous novel "The Manifest of a Youth" was a new event in the Azerbaijani literature. This novel was awarded the Lenin Komsomol Prize of the Republic in 1968 by the decision of the Central Committee of the Lenin Komsomol Youth Union of Azerbaijan.

For his literary, pedagogical and scientific services Mir Jalal was awarded the Order of Honor (twice - in 1950, 1958), the orders of the Red Banner of Labor (1967), the "October Revolution" (1948, 1978), also the medals "For Valor of Labor" (twice - in 1944, 1945), "For the defense of the Caucasus", "For selfless work in the Great Patriotic War in 1941-1945". He was awarded the Honorary Decrees and the "Advanced Educationalist" badge of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Azerbaijan SSR.

Mir Jalal Pashayev died on September 28, 1978, and was buried at the Second Alley of Honor in Baku.

Recommended literature:

1. Mir Cəlal yaradıcılığında vətən sevgisi: görkəmli Azərbaycan yazıçısı Mir Cəlal Paşayevin anadan olmasının 100 illiyinə həsr olunmuş konfransların materialları, 2008 / Regionların İnkişafı İctimai Birliyi ; red. T. Həmid ; tərt. İ. Əhmədov. - Bakı : Çaşıoğlu, 2009. - 208 s.
2. Mir Cəlal: 2 cilddə / tərt.-müəl. T. Ə. Əhmədov, red. Ə. M. Paşayeva. - ISBN 978-9952-490-18-3. I cild : Həyatı, mühiti, ədəbi, elmi və pedaqoji fəaliyyəti. - Bakı : Nurlar NPM, 2014. - 348 s.
3. Mir Cəlal: 2 cilddə / tərt.-müəl. T. Ə. Əhmədov, red. Ə. M. Paşayeva. - ISBN 978-9952-490-18-3. II cild : Fotosənədlər, əlyazmalar, epistolyar irs. - Bakı : Nurlar NPM, 2014. - 380 s.
4. Pənah, Gülxani. Mir Cəlalın elmi-nəzəri görüşləri : monoqrafiya / G. Pənah ; elmi red.: Q. M. Namazov, İ. S. Əliyeva, R. B. Rüstəmzadə. - Bakı : "Poeziya günü" NE, 2013. - 524 s.
5. Cəfərov, Nizami Qulu oğlu. Mir Cəlalın milli ideyaları / N. Q. Cəfərov ; elmi red. K. M. Tahirov ; Azərbaycan Respublikası Mədəniyyət və Turizm Nazirliyi, Azərbaycan Milli Kitabxanası. - Bakı : Zərdabi LTD MMC, 2018. - 112 s.