MAUSOLEUM OF SHEIK SA’DI
MAUSOLEUM OF SHEIK SA’DI
- Known as Sheikh Sa’di, the famous poet was born in Shiraz in 1210. During his early days, he faced adversity and poverty which forced him to leave for Baghdad to pursue a better education. He thereafter spent almost thirty years wondering around Muslim lands where he met numerous people fleeing the Mongol invasion. He travels took him to Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, Pakistan, India, China and Arabia.
- While in Palestine, Sa’di was captured by Crusaders at Acre and forced into slavery. He spent seven years digging trenches outside its fortress before being ransomed by the Mamlukes.
- His two most famous works are Bustan and Gulistan. Bustan comprises the accounts of his travels and his interactions with other people and their thoughts during that period. Gulistan (The Flower Garden) is his masterpiece which is a collection of his exceptional poems. Due to the wisdom it holds, his book has been dubbed a ‘poetry of ideas’ and is highly regarded in the East and West alike.
- One of his famous couplets which adorn the entrance of the United Nations building is:
- The sons of Adam are limbs of each other,
2. Having been created of one essence.
3. When the calamity of time affects one limb
The other limbs cannot remain at rest.
If you have no sympathy for the troubles of others,
4. You are unworthy to be called by the name of a Human.
- His mausoleum is located inside a garden where beautiful flowers and several cypress trees are planted.
