Sa’di: The “Prince” of the Persian Poetry

By:
M.S. Tajar, Ed. D. Ph. D.
Former lecturer, Persian language & culture
University of the Phillipines, Diliman

“The green leaves of the trees,

Which dance with every breeze,
In the eyes of the wise people,
Are God’s love-letters, to please!”
Sa’di (1207-1291 A.D.)

“Take a leaf from my garden,

O’ wise men of the world, and refresh;
Flowers last only for a few days,
But, my poems are forever fresh!”
Sa’di (1207-1291 A.D.)

It was the well-known Irish poet of the early 20th Century, Mr. William Butler Yeats
(1865-1939) who once said: “poetry is born out of the quarrel with oneself” (this reminds
us of Dr. Jose Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines, who, before being executed by
the Spanish colonizers, expressed his own feelings in a sad poem. In his last poem, entitle
“Mi Ultimo Adios” (My Last Farewell), he ended his poem this way: “Morir es
descansar” (that means, to die is to rest from all conflicts, abuses, oppressions, etc.)

But, then again, centuries before these two gentlemen, the poets of Persia, who
had dominated the field of poetry since the dawn of civilization, beginning with
Zoroaster 9628-5451 B.C.) And Maani (216-274 A.D.) the two great Persian prophets,
and the earliest well-known Persian poets, had said almost the same thing.

Later on, some other Persian poets (like Firdausi, Hafiz, Rumi, Omar
Khayyam, Nizami, Attar, etc.) have opined that: “A good poetry comes from a broken
heart, and a contrite soul.” (Like the Psalms of Prophet David A.S. in the Old
Testament).
A Persian poem reads as follows:

“Everything broken,
Becomes useless outright!
Except the broken heart,
That becomes so bright!”
A second Persian poem says:

“A mush kept inside a jar,

Is not of any use;
Break it, and you shall smell,
The aroma, O’Muse!”

Still another poem, but this time in the form of a song, by the popular Iranian lady singer,
Mahasti, says:

“The song of all people,

And their story,
Are their defeats,
Or their glory.”

The Origin of Poetry

Nobody can say, for sure, when and where poetry was born, though some
Sociologists believe that the rhythmic chirpings of the birds, or the melodious galloping
Of the horses, or the bells of the camels or the herds, could have started some rhymes in
the minds of the primitive man, some 35,000 years ago, and it later evolved into the
earliest forms of rhyme, music and ultimately poetry, as we know it today.

As for the Persian poetry, which has the most outstanding collections of poetry in
the world of literature, (according to Professor Akhtar Mahdi of the Jawaharla’l
Nehru University of India and Sir Seyyed Ahmad Khan of the Aligarh University,
also in India, and many other scholars around the world) we don’t have much accurate
information about its beginnings either, but definitely it gopes beyond 3,000 years,
because, as we have seen before, the Book of Avesta (or Zand-Avesta) which contains
the Psalms of the Persian Prophet, Zoroaster, is more than 2,500 years old, already.

What makes a Good Poetry?

That is a tough question to answer. Because, everybody is different, and thus,

based on their different tastes, the peoples’ choices of poetry also differ greatly;
nevertheless, just like in many other abstract ideas, the answer could also be as easy as:
“The air is fresh, because I can feel it!”

On the more technical side, we know that the two most important elements in
poetry are as follows:
1. what is being said
2. How well it is being said.

However, the “How well it is being said,” in poetry is more important than the
“What is being said,” meaning, the form in poetry is more important than the
substance although, both of them are very important (just like in painting, in
 which the paints and the brush are the same, but a Picasso or a Van Gogh painting
is totally different from the work of an amateur). For further studies regarding the
elements of form and substance in poetry, I would like to refer the readers to the
school of “Formalism” which flourished in the early 19th Century, in Russia; But
here, I just would like to quote a well known Muslim scholar, by the name of Al-
Jahez, who was an authority in the field of literature in general, and poetry in
particular, Al-Jahez in his famous work entitled “Al-Hayawan” says:

“Every nation and every people possess some words of wisdom of their own,
But, what makes one literature or poetry shine above the others,
Is not much about what it says, but rather how well it says it!”

In Persian poetry, the “How to say it” or the beautiful form of the poetic
expression is second to none; in fact, it is the number one!

Signature Poetry

A unique quality of the Persian poetry which deserves to be mentioned here is

what we call a signature poetry. Unlike the western forms of art, in which only the
paintings and sculptures are “signatured” but not the poetry, in Persian poetry, almost all
the great poems are signed. In this technique, which is called “Takhallus,” the poet
weaves his/her own name into the last part of the poem, (just like a jewel, that is woven
into a masterpiece Persian rug) and the composer of every great piece is known, by
looking at the end of his/her composition.

But, in the western poetry, this “signature system,” is absent, probably because
poetry has never been that strong form of literature in the wets, as it has always been in
the east.

Just to realize the difference between the two forms of poetry, one should
consider that, while in English, and other Western poetry, there are no more than a dozen
styles, in the Eastern poetry, and particularly in Persian, there are more than 537 styles!

(For reference, see Professor G.Mateen, Lecturer of the social sciences,

University of Bishkik, Republic of Kirgizistan. Also “The Persian Letters,” Tehran,
Iran 1995, p.152.)

Sa’di’s Poetry and Prose

While most of the good poets of the world are not very successful in prose and
many excellent writers of the world could not be categorized as good poets, as well, yet,
Sa’di is an exceptional case, a class of his own; he is truly a Supreme Master of both the
poetry and prose. And no other Master, in Persia or elsewhere in the world, could match
his sweetness and style.
 His two Masterpieces are:

1. The Golestan (Rose Garden), which shows his mastery of prose, as well as
poetry, and a unique combination of both (something that Shakespeare and
Dante tried to create in later periods).
2. The Boostan (the Orchard) which stands at the zenith of the world poetry in
Ghazal or the odes.

The twin books are unmatched, in their sweetness and style, not only in the Persian
Literature, but in the world literature, as a whole; and they have often been imitated,
but have never been equaled.

That is why, Sir Seyyed Ahmad Khan, the great Indian Educator, and founder of
the Aligarh University of India, says:

“The greatest Greek and Latin poets are no match for the Master poets of
Persia.” (The Persian Letters’ Sum. 2,002 P.129)

And his countryman, Professor Akhtar Mahdi of the Jawaher La’l Nehru
University of India confirms his belief by saying:

“The Persian language possesses the richest literary heritage in the world, today.”
(Ibid)

Sa’di himself was aware of this fact, because some 700 years ago, he said:

“My compositions and writings are reaching China and beyond, and the people
are presenting them to each other as if they were plates of gold and silver!” (Sa’di,
the Golestan. P.15)

Many years later (or almost a century after Sa’di) his famous compatriot, i.e. the
Great Hafiz of Shiraz, raised the bar of the Persian Poetry with his excellent love songs
or the Odes, even higher.

The Hafiz of Shiraz (1325-1390 A.D) whom the American translator, Mr.
Daniel Ladinskey calls “The greatest poet who ever walked this earth,” said:
“The Parrots of India,
Will sing the love songs,
With this sugar, that I send,
From Persia to Bengal!”

So while Sa’di was conquering the vast regions of the Central Asia and China
through the Silk Road by his poems and his prose, the Hafiz of Shiraz went on to
conquer the eastern flank of Persia, i.e. the Indian subcontinent and the Bengal region
(No wonder still there are more than 5,000 manuscripts of Sa’di and Hafiz’s Divan in
these areas, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Kashmir and up to
China!)

These two compatriots, alter reached even Europe, and they charmed many
intellectuals of the West, like W.G. Goethe (the greatest poet in Europe and the national
poet of Germany) who even wrote his great work titled “The Eastern Divan” as a tribute
to those great Persian poets.

And thus, these two masters, who both originated from the historic city of Shiraz-
the site of the Persepolis and the grandeur of the ancient Persia, started to conquer the
world literature, from the ruins of the Old Persian Empire- the Oldest Empire in the
world.

But, the difference thugs time was that, while Cyrus the Great (who was called
Great some 200 years ahead of Alexander the Great) and his compatriots, Darius the
Great and Xerxes, conquer the world, with their armies, and they established the first
empire in the history, that stretched from Ethiopia up to India, with the 127 provinces and
28 different nationalities (see Prof. Arthur Pope‘s “The History of the Persian
Civilization”), their descendants like Sa’di and Hafiz, from the same capital of
Persepolis, started to conquer the world of literature, “Not by might nor by power, but by
love and by the pen!”

(Here, a popular Biblical song comes to mind that says: “Not by moght, nor by
power, but my words, says the Lord.” As the late Ayatollah Khomeini also used to
say: “The pen is mightier than the sword.”)

This new generation of the Persians, re-energized by the new Islamic spirit of
culture and civilization, started a new wave of world conquest, in a new way, the
conquest of hearts and minds. Their conquest which did not bring any harm or bloodshed,
but rather love and friendship to the nations, has lasted much longer than the armies of
Cyrus the Great, Darius the Great, Xerxes, Saladin, Shah Abbas and Nader Shah of
Persia, combined. (It just proves that the “Dialogue of Civilizations” proposed by the
former Iranian President Dr. Muhammad Khatami in the year 2000 was a better way to
universal peace, than the American Philosophy of “Clash of Civilizations!” Incidentally,
The “Dialogue of Civilizations” proposed by the Iranian President, was adopted by the
Untied Nations, just a few months before the 9/11 tragedy. A long time ago, another
Persian Poet, who was also a great Sufi and composed many Rubaiyyats, by the name of
Baba Taher, had said: “I am a Sufi, king of the kings/ my throne is tied to my shoe
strings!”)

After the poems of Sa’di and Hafiz, and many other poets from Persia influenced
the foreign lands from India to Central Asia, Turkistan to China, and Turkey up to the
Balkans in the Eastern Europe, a unique phenomenon in the world literature took place.
Thousands of foreigners, whom were greatly influenced by the Persian Poetry and
Literature, like the Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Kashmiris, Turks, Albanians,
Yugoslavs, Bosnians, etc. started to compose their pomes, not only in their own native
tongues, but in Persian as well, just like a “Baptismal of Fire” in the field of Poetry.
Because, by now, The Persian Poetry had already emerged as the “Standard of Poetry” in
the East.

Within the span of 1000 years, the Indian Subcontinent alone, there emerged
some 10,000 poets and writers who produced their works and compositions in a foreign
language, namely Persian, thanks to Sa’di and Hafiz and many other Persian Masters of
poetry who had shown the way.

This magic of Persian poetry went so far that even the Moghul Emperors in
India like Babur Shah and many of their ministers, started to make their own
compositions in {Persian. (Could you imagine the children of Genghis Khan, the terror,
turning into some poetry-loving rulers! Truly that is magic!)

Not only the Moghuls, but even the Turkish Ottomans, who conquered parts of
Europe, would seek their leisure and relaxation in composing poems, not in their own
native Turkish language, but in Persian, as a standard language of poetry and romance.
Ghaleb of Delhi and Iqbal of Lahore

Ghaleb of Delhi (1875-1940 A.D) who is considered as the “Father of the Urdu
Poetry” in the world, used to compose most of his poems in Persian, rather than in his
own mother tongue (Urdu/Hindi).

Once, he even said:

“Look at Persian
To see all that,
Glamour and Beauty;
Forget the Urdu,
Which is a colorless,
Collection of mine!”

Indeed, Ghaleb, or “Mr. Urdu” himself was so fascinated with the Persian poetry that not
only did he compose his own masterpieces in the Persian language (80%) of his poems)
but he even went so far as to declare himself “A Persian Nightingale”. (Just like a true
Sufi, who becomes one with his beloved)

Ghaleb said, and I quote:

“Ghaleb was indeed,
A lovely nightingale,
Of the Persian Rose Gardens;
I, mistakenly,
Called him Parakeet,
Of the Indian Soil!”

Not only Ghaleb, and his brilliant student Altaf Hosain Hali (1914-1955 A.D) but many
other earlier Indian poets, as well were sop in love with Persia, and anything Persian,
especially with its poetry and romance. Even the contemporary Indian and other South
Asian poets are very much fascinated by it. For example, the late Dr. Mohammad Iqbal,
the greatest poet-philosopher of the 20th century Indian Subcontinent, who later on
became the national poet of Pakistan, and was given the title of the “Poet of the East”,
composed 60-70% of his poems in Persian, rather than in his own mother tongue (Urdu
or Hindi). Once Dr. Iqbal said:

“Though Hindi is as sweet as the sugar, Persian language is even sweeter!”

“The Persian Letters” p.203

And one day, when somebody asked Dr. Iqbal why his poems were mostly in
Persian, rather than inn his own native language, he replied: “I don’t know; I just receive
those inspirations in Persian!” Then Dr. Iqbal went on to say: “Actually, my soul is
Persian!” (Ibid)
The Role of Sa’di in Persian Literature

There have been many educators, teachers, gurus and Sufis in the world, each one
with his own special style and way of reaching out and touching other peoples’ lives and
their hearts and minds. A Persian proverb expresses this fact by saying: “Every flower
has its own unique aroma.”

If we compared Sa’di with all other great teachers and the literati, who have
played some fundamental roles in the field of literature, we should say that his unique
style stands out as the “Rose: in comparison to others flowers.

Socrates and Rousseau Rolled into One

While the French philosopher-educator Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778

A.D.) wrote his famous book on child education titled “Emil” with the concept of letting
student (i.e. Emil) learn his lessons in life, through the “University of Experience) (which
“tests” you before teaching you a lesson”), and while some 2,500 years before him,
Socrates used the question system, to let the students realize what “they already knew
deep within themselves, but they did not know that they knew it,” Sa’di combined all of
the above, but this time with a unique style combined all of the above, but this time with
a unique style of weaving poetry and prose together, and by creating a sweet language
that no one could match, before or after him.

And he said:
If truth is bitter, as I know,
I will use sweet words, as I can,
And I will be patient, to utmost,
Until you do fully understand!”

Sa’di As a Man of Reason, for Every Season

In his Rose Garden (The Golestan) Sa’di divides his masterpieces into different
chapters, in order to talk to every generation, in their own levels of understanding.

In the first chapter, he talks about “Childhood and Youth.” In the next, he talks
about “The Rulers and Their Subjects” (employees/employer) etc.

Take note of these poems by Sa’di about good governance and the abuse of
authority, which is a hot topic, nowadays:

Sa’di says:
“If the king picks just one apple, by force,
From the tree of a helpless farmer,
His soldiers will uproot
All apple tress, all over the land!”
(Boostan p.281)
Again he says:

“A tyrant cannot stay in power forever,

But the curse on him will be eternal!”
(Boostan p.89)

Or he says:

“A king must look after his poor subjects’ welfare

Like a loyal guard!
For it is not the lamb,
That’s for the shepherd
But, rather it’s the shepherd
That for the sake of the lamb
Has already been hired!
(Boostan p.95)

And his advice to the government leaders:

“In the time of peace, prepare for the war

When the flood rises,
It’s too late to build a dam!”

In each chapter Sa’di uses his own vast experiences from his many years of travel,
his happiness and sadness, successes and defeats, to share them with his readers-
especially the youth, who are the future of every nation.
While we all admire the 16th Century Spanish novelist, Miguel de Cervantes’
“Don Quixote”, as one of the best novels in history, yet when it comes to sweetness and
practicality, every story of Sa’di touches more hearts and teaches more lessons in life,
than probably the entire book of Don Quixote- both in idealism and the practicalities of
life.

Look at these poems, for example:

“O thou foolish man, bread pleases thee not!

She is my sweetheart, who appears ugly to thee!
To those in Paradise/Purgatory seems like hell
But to those in Hell/Purgatory is Paradise!”
(Boostan p.29)
 Again he says:

“if you wanted to know,

the state of an ant,
under your crushing foot,
imagine yourself,
under the foot,
of a mighty elephant!”
(Boostan p. 72)

Sa’di as a Traveler

One of the things that make Sa’di very much different from his formidable “rival”
the Great Hafiz of Shiraz is his extensive travels abroad. And those travels gave him
many stories to tell. Look at these stories, for example:

Story No.1

“On my way to Mecca for the haji pilgrimage, I had torn my shoes, for I was
walking in the desert. I complained to Allah: “O Allah! Is this how you take care of your
visitors? I don’t even have a shoe left to walk to your house!” “While I was complaining
about my own lack of shoes, suddenly I saw a man who had no feet!”

Story No.2

“When we were in the City of Damascus’ there came a time of hardship and
starvation. The famine was so severe, and the prices were so high, and the people were so
concerned with their daily living, that nobody cared much about love, romance and arts,
anymore!”

Story No.3

When I was visiting Turkistan (The Chinese region of Central Asia, along the Silk
Road) I went to a Madrasah (Islamic seminary) to pay a visit. A young man saw me
sitting there, and he asked:
-“Sheikh! Where are you from?
-:Shiraz!” I answered.
-Do you know Sa’di of Shiraz?” He asked.
-“Yes, I do!” I answered.
-“we recite his poems in our school, everyday!”
And then he recited some of them for me, I listened quietly, with much amusement, but I
said nothing! Then I thanked him and said goodbye.
 The next day, when I was leaving the city with a caravan, I saw the young man
running towards us; when he reached me, he said, while still panting:

“Sheikh! Why, you did not tell me that you were Sa’di, yourself?”

“For so many years I have “seen” you in your poems and your prose, and today I see you
in person, it’s unbelievable!”

Sa’di and Freedom

To Sa’di, freedom was the highest form of living, without which nothing else
would matter. Centuries before the American philosopher Henry David Thoreau (1817-
1832) espoused the “Simplicity of Life” and long before Frank Sinatra sung his classic
song “I have plenty of nothing, and nothing is plenty for me . . .” Sa’di came up with his
own composition that described a happy and free living:

“I don’t have a camel to mount,

Nor am I mounted camel’
Neither am I ruler of men’
Nor am I ruled by any man!

Sa’di and the Human Family

Sa’di was a great believer in one big human family, In which everybody is his
brothers (and sisters’) keeper; and this subject has been discussed in many of his poems,
as well as in his prose.

Many centuries before the late singer John Lennon sung his signature Song:
Imagine all the people”, Sa’di composed his own classic song that is now engraved on
the walls of the United Nations in New York, as a reminder of the “brotherhood of man”.
It goes like this:

“Human beings,
Are parts of one body,
For since creation,
Such do they remain;
The whole of that body,
Will be in trouble,
Should one of its parts,
Suffer and be in pain!
But, if you are not
Aware, O’ don’t care,
About the pains of
 Other brethren,
You don’t’ deserve to
Even be counted,
As member of that
Family of man!

Sa’di’s Life

Born as Moslehud Din (“The reformer of the religion”) to a scholarly family, in

the city of Shiraz, near the Ancient Persian capital of Persepolis, in the year 1207A.D. ,
Sa’di started his early childhood not much different from the rest of the children of his
time and place.

His full name is Sheikh Moslehud Din Sa’di of Shiraz. He toured many
countriesd and regions- Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Arabia, (India), Turkistan (China),
Yemen, Palestine, Egypt and Noth Africa- when he returned home from those arduous
travels, he settled in his native city of Shiraz, and created his two immortal works called
“Golestan: (The rose Garden), which is a unqiue combination of poetry and the best of
Persian prose, a book of literature unlike any other, and his second masterpiece, the
“Boostan” (The Orchard), which contains the purest form of Ghazal (=Odes), which are
the best, not only in Persian Poetry, but in any human tongue that there is! Those two
books, which are unrivalled up to this day! (some 700 years later) in the annals of world
literature, have made Sa’di, probably the best poet-writer in the totem pole of literature in
the history of mankind, and undoubtedly, The “Prince” of Persian poetry.

Allow me to end this article by quoting Professor Mohammad Aali Forooghi,

one of the great scholars and writers of 20th century Iran, and one of the most expert
“Sa’diologists” of our time.

Professor Forooghi said, and I Quote:

“Sa’di is very unqiue in the history of Persian literature, nay, of world

literature, as a whole.”

His prose is so sweet and melodious that it sounds like a poem, and his poems
flow so naturally, and they look so easy, as if they were prose!’

How true! How true!

But, then again, as a famous Persian proverb says:

“Nobody can explain a rose, as a Rose does itself!”

So, here are two more poems from Sa’di that explain his world view, and his
personality, best:
 1.
“Sa’di! A good man,
Who has a good name,
In the Society,
He shall never die!
But, the evil ones,
Who wrong the people,-
Are already dead,
While they’re breathing!”

2.
“Love, has a beginning,
But, love has no end,
On this lovely thought,
One should always depend!”

Thank you!