Poet: Saadi Shirazi

Sheikh Muslihu’d-Din, known as Saadi, was descended from Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed. Saadi’s father apparently died when he was a boy.

Although Saadi was born and died in Shiraz, Persia (Iran), during his life he traveled extensively. He is said to have traveled for thirty years throughout the Islamic world. Iran has filled the centuries with some of the world’s finest poets, but Iranians consider Saadi to be one of the greatest.

Historians often divide his life into three parts. His first twenty-five years were spent studying in various countries, going to university at Baghdad. During the next thirty years he traveled widely, east to India and as far west as Syria. He made his pilgrimage to Mecca fourteen times. Finally, Saadi returned to Shiraz where he devoted himself to writing and to teaching.

Saadi was a disciple of the Sufi master Sheikh Shahabud-Din Sahrawardi.

Saadi’s two best known works are the Bustan (the Garden), composed entirely in verse, and the Gulistan (the Rose Garden), in both prose and verse. He was particularly known for the wry wit he injected into his poems.

Saadi is probably the first Persian poet to have been translated into European languages. A German version of the Gulistan appeared in 1654.

Saadi’s tomb can be seen in the town of Shiraz. Lines from Saadi’s poems are still commonly used in conversations by Iranians today.

All Adam’s race are members of one frame;

All Adam’s race are members of one frame;
Since all, at first, from the same essence came.
When by hard fortune one limb is oppressed,
The other members lose their wonted rest:
If thou feel’st not for others’ misery,
A son of Adam is no name for thee.