Text in French. Sadi (1184–1291), the prominent Persian poet, studied in Baghdad. There he met Suhrawardi, the founder of the Ishraqi or "Illumination" School, whose original writings attempted a synthesis of Zoroastrian, Platonic, and Islamic ideas: interpreting Platonic ideas in terms of Zoroastrian angelology. The "Orient" of his "Oriental Theosophy" is the symbolic Orient, the East, and the dawn is the symbol of Spiritual Light and Knowledge. Sadi, having to flee Baghdad because of the Mongol threat, went on a long journey that took him to central Asia and India, then to Yemen and Ethiopia through Mecca. Sadi was captured by the Franks in Syria and worked as a slave labourer until he was ransomed. He proceeded to North Africa and Anatolia, before returning to his native Shiraz in 1256. His Bustan (Fruit Garden), an ethical-didactic text, was composed in mathnawi (rhyming couplets). Even more popular is his Gulistan (Rose Garden), written in rhyming prose. Sadi is also the author of many qasidas (long panegyrics) in Persian and Arabic, of mystic ghazal (love poems), and of satiric poetry. His tomb in Shiraz is a shrine.
Text in French. Sadi (1184–1291), the prominent Persian poet, studied in Baghdad. There he met Suhrawardi, the founder of the Ishraqi or "Illumination" School, whose original writings attempted a synthesis of Zoroastrian, Platonic, and Islamic ideas: interpreting Platonic ideas in terms of Zoroastrian angelology. The "Orient" of his "Oriental Theosophy" is the symbolic Orient, the East, and the dawn is the symbol of Spiritual Light and Knowledge. Sadi, having to flee Baghdad because of the Mongol threat, went on a long journey that took him to central Asia and India, then to Yemen and Ethiopia through Mecca. Sadi was captured by the Franks in Syria and worked as a slave labourer until he was ransomed. He proceeded to North Africa and Anatolia, before returning to his native Shiraz in 1256. His Bustan (Fruit Garden), an ethical-didactic text, was composed in mathnawi (rhyming couplets). Even more popular is his Gulistan (Rose Garden), written in rhyming prose. Sadi is also the author of many qasidas (long panegyrics) in Persian and Arabic, of mystic ghazal (love poems), and of satiric poetry. His tomb in Shiraz is a shrine.