The Rose Garden - Sa'di

Sa'di was a medieval Persian poet deeply concerned for human race as it dwells on earth, and in his works, he strove to give his readers social maxims, so that they might improve their mortal condition (Wikipedia biography).

The Rose Garden is a collection of didactic stories intended to instruct readers on the subjects of honor, justice, love, mercy, etc. The poetry interspersed within these stories contains memorable advice--its purpose not to astound intellectuals with beautiful phrasing, but to provide a moral guide to regular men.

It was in Saadi's maxims and poems that I began to realize the importance of physical beauty to the Persian intellect. There is some sense of outer beauty revealing an inner beauty, but physical "perfection" needs no moral/spiritual purity to be worthy of the poet's praise--it is an end in itself. It seems to be viewed as the craftmanship of God--praised because God created it perfectly. The poet finds spiritual completion in merely viewing a beautiful woman.

Knowledge and education are also highly praised--because they spring from a never-ending fount, and cannot be extinguished as beauty, fame, power, fortune, or property can be by time. Saadi encourages young men to gain the knowledge of their fathers, and then to add to that knowledge, making their own merits the criterion for judgment after death.

Piety (especially that of the dervishes, those who have accepted poverty as a means to draw nearer God, as a disconnection with worldly goods and concerns) is praised a great deal, as could probably be expected. A complete giving over of control to God's will was demanded by the poet, praising God in the midst of suffering, remembering Him in prosperity. Vanity is considered a crime against the soul; pride, however, is valued--as it applies to honor. Mercy should be alotted when possible, but justice should always be served, for it is God's will that justice be meted out by humans on earth.

The image at the top right is a poem by Sa'di, and can be found at the Iran Chamber Society webpage. The image at the left is a page from Sa'di's Rose Garden, or Gulistan, and was found at the Chester Beatty Library image gallery.