Saadi (سعدی in Persian) (Real name: Mushrif-ud-Din Abdullah) (1184 - 1283/1291?) was an Iranian poet, a native of Shiraz. He wrote "The Orchard" (Bustan) in 1257,"The Rose Garden" (Golistan) in 1258 and a collection of lyrics (Divan). There is some discrepancy about the date of his death, but he may have died a centenarian.

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 Bustan .

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

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,

Thusly 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.

See also: Persian literature.

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).