Salim of Sina is the son of Sheikh Ahmadi Takhtai. His ancestors belong to Sheikh Mustafa Takhtai of the Mardokhi family.
Salim was born in 1848 in the village of Takhta, which is located south of the city of Sina, Eastern Kurdistan. He began his education with his father. He studied in Sina, then went to Biara Hawraman, and returned to Sina thorugh Mariwan.
After that he moved to Sablagh (more commonly known as Mahabad) and studied with Mullah Abdullah Pirababi. He completed his final education in Sablagh and received a mullah's license in 1874. He then returned to the city of Sina and became a teacher in the mosque that later became known as the Sheikh Salim Mosque.
After a while, he received permission from Sheikh Omar Biara (Ziaddin) and became a Sufi of the Naqshbandi sect.
Salmi Sanaa spent his entire life teaching and died in 1911 in his home city of Sina, and was buried in his mosque.
Sheikh Salim used the name Salim as a nickname for his poetry. In the literary center, he became known as Salmi of Sina so as not to be confused with Salim of Sulaymaniyah, who is another well renowned Kurdish poet.
Salmi's poetry belongs to the classical poetry of South Kurdistan. His work was a revolution in the region because the main language of the Ardalan Empire and the language of writing and speech among the people was the Gorani dialect. Therefore, his new poetry played an important role in the spread of the literary movement in Sulaymaniyah. The poet generally presents himself as a Sufi of the sect. He uses Sufi words and terms, thus bringing his work closer to educational poetry than to cosmic Sufi poetry.[1]