When he was very young, Saadi left Shiraz for Baghdad to study Arabic literature and Islamic sciences at Nizamiah University (1195-1226).

Saadi liked to travel and after Iraq he visited many Islamic countries: Iran, Shamat (Syria), Palestine, Hijaz (Arabia), Yeman, Rum (Turkey), and Egypt for almost thirty years. He wrote short stories and poems about his adventurous life in Gulistan and Bostan.

Saadi died in his hometown of Shiraz. His tomb was greatly elaborated in 1952 and has since became a

One of his more famous quotes is, "Whatever is produced in haste goes easily to waste."

Another famous poem focuses on the kinship of all humans. The same poem is used to grace the entrance to the Hall of Nations of the UN building in New York with this call for breaking all barriers: [1]

"Of one Essence is the human race,

thus has Creation put the Base;

One Limb impacted is sufficient,

For all Others to feel the Mace."

Andre du Ryer was the first European to present Saadi to the West, by means of a partial French translation of Golistan in 1634. Adam Olearius followed soon with a complete translation of the Bustan and the Golistan into German in 1654.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was also an avid fan of Sa'di's writings, contributing to some translated editions himself.

References used

• E.G. Browne. Literary History of Persia. (Four volumes, 2,256 pages, and twenty-five years in the writing). 1998. ISBN 0-700-70406-X
• Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company. ASIN B-000-6BXVT-K

See also

• List of Persian poets and authors
• Persian literature
• Islamic scholars

External links

• The Gulistan of Sa'di http://classics.mit.edu/Sadi/gulistan.html
• Sa'di, Muslih al-Din, a biography by Professor Iraj Bashiri, University of Minnesota.
• Sa'di's Tomb in Shiraz
• Scholarly article on Sa'di & his work, Enyclopaedia Iranica (Columbia University).
• Saadi quotes

Life

Very little credible information is known about Hafez's life, particularly its early part - there is a great deal of more or less mythical anecdote. Judging from his poetry, he must have had a good education, or else found the means to educate himself. Scholars generally agree on the following:

His father Baha-ud-Din is said to have been a coal merchant who died when Hafez was a child, leaving him and his mother in debt.

It seems probable that he met with Attar of Shiraz, a somewhat disreputable scholar, and became his disciple.

He is said to have later become a poet in the court of Abu Ishak, and so gained fame and influence in his hometown. It is possible that Hafez gained a position as teacher in a Qur'anic school at this time.

In his early 30's Mubariz Muzaffar captured Shiraz and seems to have ousted Hafez from his position. Hafez apparently regained his position for a brief span of time after Shah Shuja took his father Mubariz Muzaffar prisoner. But shortly after, Hafez was forced into self-imposed exile when rivals and religious characters he had criticized began slandering about him. Another possible cause of his disgrace can be seen in a love affair he had with a beautiful Turkish woman, Shakh-e Nabat. Hafez fled from Shiraz to Isfahan and Yazd for his own safety.

At the age of 52 Hafez once again regained his position at court, and possibly received a personal invitation from Shah Shuja, who pleaded with him to return. He obtained a more solid position after Shah Shuja's death, when Shah Shuja al-Din Muzaffar ascended the throne for a brief period, before being defeated and killed by Tamerlane.

When an old man, he apparently met Tamerlane to defend his poetry against charges of blasphemy.

It is generally believed that Hafez died at the age of 69. His tomb is located in the Musalla Gardens of Shiraz (referred to as Hafezieh).