Sheikh Saadi Shirazi - the poet

Abu-Muhammad Muslih al-Din bin Abdallah Shirazi, Saadi Shirazi (1210-1291) better known by his pen-name as Saadi was one of the major medieval Persian poets. He is famous not only in Persian-speaking countries, but has also been quoted in western sources. He is recognized both for the quality of his writings and the depth of his social and moral thoughts. A native of Shiraz, his father died in his infancy. Saadi experienced a youth of poverty and hardship. He left his native town at a young age for Baghdad to pursue a better education. As a young man he was inducted to study at the famous Al-Nizamiyya of Baghdad (1195-1226) a centre of knowledge. There he excelled in Islamic sciences, law, governance, history, Arabic literature, and Islamic theology.
The unsettled conditions following the Mongol invasion of Khwarezm and Iran led him to wander for 30 years abroad through Anatolia. He visited the Port of Adana. Near Konya he met proud Ghazi landlords. In Syria he mentions the famine in Damascus. In Egypt he talked of its music and bazaars, its clerics and elite class. In Iraq he mentioned the port of Basra and the Tigris River. He also refers in his work to his travels in Sindh, Pakistan across the Indus and Thar with a Turkic Amir named Tughral. In India, especially Somnath he encountered Brahmans. In Central Asia he meets the survivors of the Mongol invasion in Khwarezm.
 He also performed the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina and visited Jerusalem. Saadi travelled through war-wrecked regions from 1271 to 1274. Due to Mongol invasions he lived in desolate areas and met caravans fearing for their lives on once lively silk trade routes. Saadi lived in isolated refugee camps where he met bandits, Imams, men who formerly owned great wealth or commanded armies, intellectuals, and ordinary people. While Mongol and European sources - such as Marco Polo - gravitated to the potentates and courtly life of Ilkhanate rule, Saadi mingled with the ordinary survivors of the war-torn region. He sat in remote tea-houses late into the night and exchanged views with merchants, farmers, preachers, wayfarers, thieves, and Sufi mendicants. For twenty years or more, he continued the same schedule of preaching, advising, and learning, honing his sermons to reflect the wisdom and foibles of his people. Saadi's works reflect upon the lives of ordinary Iranians suffering displacement, plight, agony and conflict, during the turbulent times of Mongol invasion. Saadi was also among those who witnessed first-hand accounts of Baghdad's destruction by Mongol Ilkhanate invaders led by Hulagu during the year 1258. Saadi was captured by Crusaders at Acre where he spent seven years as a slave digging trenches outside its fortress. He was later released after the Mamluks paid ransom for Muslim prisoners being held in Crusader dungeons.
I put some extraordinary and illumine quotes from Saadi: "The rose and the thorn, and sorrow and gladness are linked together". "Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy". "Whatever makes an impression on the heart seems lovely in the eye". "People are crying up the rich and variegated plumage of the peacock, and he is himself blushing at the sight of his ugly feet". "The best loved by the Almighty are those that are rich, yet have the humility of the poor, and those that are poor and have the magnanimity of the rich". "Whenever you argue with another wiser than yourself in order that others may admire your wisdom, they will discover your ignorance". "When the belly is empty, the body becomes spirit; and when it is full, the spirit becomes body". "A little and a little, collected together, becomes a great deal; the heap in the barn consists of single grains, and drop and drop make the inundation". "I fear Allah and next to Allah I mostly fear them that fear Him not". "A man is insensible to the relish of prosperity till he has tasted adversity". "An enemy to whom you show kindness becomes your friend, excepting lust, the indulgence of which increases its enmity". "He who is a slave to his stomach seldom worships Allah". "Oman overall has great animal and plant biodiversity because it has mountains, desert, coastal areas and rich coral reefs. Most of the birds of the Old World can be found here, as Oman is on a strategic route for migrating birds". "When Karim and his group heard about Saddam coming, they wanted to kill him, but fate had other ideas".
"If a gem falls into mud, it will still remain valuable. And if the dust descends to heaven, it will still of no value". "The Alchemist dies in frustration and sorrow. And the fool finds a treasure in a ruin". "Green wood can be bent. But once it becomes dry, it can only be straightened by fire". "No one throws stones at the barren tree". "A raindrop, dripping from a cloud, became ashamed when it saw the sea. 'Who am I where is a sea', it said. As it saw itself, from the eyes of humility, a shell embraced him and makes him a pearl". "One who has vanity and conceit in his head, imagine not that he will ever hear the truth." "Make no friendship with an elephant keeper, if you have no room to entertain an elephant". "Deep in the sea there are riches beyond your imagination, but if you seek safety, that is at the shore". "An Arab horse speeds like no other, but it is the camel that though plods slowly, goes by day and night". "If you cannot stand a sting, do not put your hand in scorpions nest". "Ten Dervishes can sleep beneath one blanket but two Kings cannot rein in one kingdom". "Throughout the long night a man wept for the sick man beside him. At dawn the visitor was dead and the patient alive". "One who gives advice to heedlessness is himself in need of an advice".
  "By apology and penitence one may be saved from the wrath of Allah but cannot be saved from the tongues of men". "I asked him what the difference between a scholar and a dervish amounts to. He replied: 'The former saves his blanket from the waves whilst the latter strives to save the drowning man". "He is not a man who possessed no humanity. A man's nature is of earth. If he is not humble he is not a man".
When Saadi reappeared in his native Shiraz he was an elderly man. Shiraz, under Atabak Abubakr Sa'd ibn Zangy (1231-1260) was enjoying an era of relative tranquility. Saadi was not only welcomed to the city but was respected highly by the ruler and enumerated among the greats of the province. In response, Saadi took his nom de plume from the name of the local prince, Sa'd ibn Zangi. Some of Saadi's most famous panegyrics were composed at initial gesture of gratitude in praise of the ruling house, and placed at the beginning of his Bustan. The remainder of Saadi's life seems to have been spent in Shiraz.
 Saadi Shirazi proved himself a great poet in Iran. He used to lead a very simple life. Once on his way for a night to the court of the king of Iran, he took shelter in a noble man's house for the night. He was then in very simple dress. The noble man could not recognize him and the treatment he received offended him. But he did not say anything to him.
The next day Saadi went to the court of the king and was received with honour. He stayed there for a few days. He composed some beautiful poems and entertained the king and his courtiers. He received rich gifts from the king. He put on a very rich and ornamented dress. Thus he was returning to his village. On his way he again visited that noble man's house. This time, the rich man was surprised to see Saadi in a rich ornamental dress. He was delighted to see the change in Saadi and treated him with the best of the foods and comfort.
 While eating, Saadi was surprised to see the rich delicious foods and understood the rich man's attitude. He then instead of eating the foods started putting them into the pockets of his rich adored cloth. This surprised the rich man. The rich man asked: "Why are you putting the foods into the pockets of your dress"? Saadi replied: "I am putting them into the pockets of my dress because these foods are meant for my dress, not for me." The rich man realized his earlier folly and became ashamed.
To end, Saadi says: "Have mercy on the weak among your own people, and no one will be able to defeat you."


The writer is a retired Professor of Economics, BCS General Education Cadre. E-mail: [email protected]