Sadi

Sadi,or Saati, Sheikh Moslih Eddin (1175-1301), a famous Persian poet, was a student of Baghdad, and was initiated into theological learning by a zealot of note, named Sophi abd al Kadir Ghilani, with whom he went to Mecca. This was the first of a series of fifteen pilgrimages to the holy place undertaken by Sadi, who several times aided the war against the infidels, and extended his wanderings into Asia minor and India. He was taken prisoner by the Turks on one expedition, and was condemned to work as a slave at the fortifications of Tripoli. A rich merchant of Aleppo ransomed him, and gave him his daughter in marriage. Sadi spent the remainder of his life in a hermitage, which he had built near Shiraz, and was there buried. His tomb was visited as a holy place for generations. His poems are very beautiful, and have been often translated. Most remarkable of his works is The Gulistan, a collection of tales in prose interlarded with poems.