دهاتی

Abū-Muhammad Muslih al-Dīn bin Abdallāh Shīrāzī, better known by his pen-name Saadi (سعدی Saʿdī) also known as Saadi of Shiraz , was a major Persian poet and literary  of the medieval period. 

He is recognized for the quality of his writings and for the depth of his social and moral thoughts. Saadi is widely recognized as one of the greatest poets of the classical literary tradition, earning him the nickname “Master of Speech” (or “The Master” among Persian scholars. He has been quoted in the Western traditions as well.

Saadi is well known for his aphorisms, the most famous of which, Bani Adam, is part of the Gulistan. In a delicate way it calls for breaking down all barriers between human beings:

بنى‌آدم اعضای یک پیکرند که در آفرینش ز یک گوهرندچو عضوى به درد آورَد روزگار دگر عضوها را نمانَد قرارتو کز محنت دیگران بی‌غمی نشاید که نامت نهند آدمی

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“All human beings are members of one frame, Since all, at first, from the same essence came. When time afflicts a limb with pain The other limbs at rest cannot remain. If thou feel not for other’s misery A human being is no name for thee. - Saadi

Jewish Couple at the traditional henna table, Herat, Afghanistan, 1963

Students study with their teacher in a Madrassah (religious school) in Samarkand (present-day Uzbekistan in Central Asia, then part of the Russian Empire).

Throughout history, Islamic madrassahs produced some of the finest minds in human history, ranging from theologians, philosophers, and mathematicians to jurists, poets and scholars.