National Day of Saadi

April 21^st marks the birthday of Saadi and is called National Day of Saadi .  Given the current outbreak of covid-19 throughout the world, many scholars and even politicians quote some of his poems and advices which emphasize on unity of humanity and necessity of loving and helping each other.

Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain.

In the national Iranian calendar, April 21 marks the birthday of Saadi, a prominent Persian poet. On this day, Iranians attend services in commemoration of the master of eloquence.

Abu-Mohammad Mosleh al-Din bin Abdallah Shirazi, better known by his pen-name as Saadi was one of the major Persian poets of the medieval period. He is recognized not only for the quality of his writing, but also for the depth of his social thoughts.

A native of Shiraz, his father died when he was an infant. Saadi experienced a youth of poverty and hardship, and left his native town at a young age for Baghdad to persue a better education. As a young man he was inducted to study at the famous an-Nizzamiya center of knowledge (1195-1226), where he excelled in Islamic Sciences, law, governance, history, Arabic literature and theology.

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 Golestan (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 Golestan 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.

Courtesy of Young Journalist Club /Iran Front Page