during world war rahimov joined a soviet unit and moved to tabriz, iranian azerbaijan. during this time he wrote under the pen-name of "sangarli" (, lit. with trench). rahimov wrote a novelette called "death of grandmother" (nənənin ölümü), describing life of children in tabriz. suleyman rahimov became the chairman of the union of azerbaijani writers multiple times (1939–1940, 1944–1946 and 1954–1958).