Hundred Great Muslims

HundredGreat Muslims
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During the last days of his life, Saadi retired to a secluded hut built in the
suburb of Shiraz. He spent his time in prayers and fasting. Here the rulers and
the ruled often assembled to pay their respects to the great moralist.
Saadi combined in him the rare qualities and capabilities of a poet, a sufi,
a jurist and a moralist. He had observed life from diverse angles. On his return
to his native town, Shiraz, in 1256 A.C. he settled down to literary work. This
marks the beginning of the third period of his life lasting till his death, being
the most important period of his life mainly devoted to literary creations. In
1257, he wrote his famous 'Bostan' (Orchard) in verse, and a year later in 1258,
he completed his well-known 'Gulistan, (Garden) in prose, a collection of
anecdotes, drawn from rich stories of observation and experience, based on
ethical reflections and maxims of worldly. wisdom. "Both the books are so
well-known", writes Browne, "and have been translated so often in so mar.y
languages that it is unnecessary to discuss them at length". His 'Gulistan' and
'Bostan' are the first classics to which the student of Persian is introduced. In
Persian lyric, he occupies a place only second to Hafiz.
His Gulistan and Bostan are undoubtedly the most popular ethical works
in the world. These have been widely translated into Western as well as Eastern
languages including English, French, German, Russian, Latin, Polish, Turkish,
Arabic, Urdu and Hindi. The oldest copy of the 'Kulliyat-i-Sneikh' (The works
of Saadi) exists in the London Museum Library. This was copied by Abu Bakr
ibn Ali ibn Muhammad, 36 years after the death of Saadi, It contains 'Gulistan',
'Bostan', Arabic and Persian panegyrics, elegies, lyrics, quatrains, etc. But the
works which have established his fame and immortalised his name among the
men of letters in the world are Gulistan, Bostan and his Persian lyrics. Saadi is
very popular in Europe. His book 'Bostan'. was published in Vienna in 1850 and
in London in 1891. The German translation of the book was published in lena
in 1850 and in Leipzing in 1882; the French translation was published in 1880
and the English translation was published in London in 1879. His other hook
in prose, 'Gulistan', was even more popular than 'Bostan'. The book was published
in Englishin Calcutta in 1806, in Hertford in 1850 and again in 1863, in London
in 1823, 1852, 1880 and 1890; in French it was published in 1631, 1704, 1789
and 1858; in Latin it was published in 1651 and again in 1655; in German it was
published in 1654, 1822 (in Hamburg), 1846 (in Stuttgart) and 1806 (in Leipzig);
in Russian it was published in Moscow in 1857; in Polish it was published in
Warsaw in 1879; in Turkish it was published in Constantinople (Istambu1) in
1874 and again in 1876; in Arabic it was published in 1263 A.H. and in Urdu it
was published in Calcutta in 1852. [Sherul Ajam of Maulana Shibli Nomani).
Saadi, as nosed before, had a many-sided personality. But his real fame
rests onhis ethical writings. Both in verse and prose he is matchless and unique
as a moralist and ethical teacher. Even before Saadi, ethical poetry existed in
Persian and produced such well-known poets as Sinai, Khayyam and Attar, but
Saadi carried it to a height where none could reach. His ethical writings do not
suffer from the insipidity of a missionary. Ethical teachings when deprived of