Introduction: Saadi Shirazi or Saadi was an Iranian poet who was born in Shiraz in 1184. He wrote the Bustan (in Persian, meaning “The Orchard” ) in 1257, the Golistan (in Persian, meaning “The Rose Garden” ) in 1258, and a collection of lyrics (Divan). When Saadi was very young, he left Shiraz for Baghdad to study Arabic literature and Islamic sciences at Nizamiah University.
Saadi liked to travel and after Iraq he spent almost thirty years in many Islamic countries. He wrote short stories and poems about his adventurous life in Golistan and Bustan. Saadi was presented to the West in 1634 by a partial French translation of the Golistan.
He died in Shiraz around 1283. His tomb was greatly elaborated in 1952 and has since become a tourist attraction. One of his more famous quotes is, “Whatever is produced in haste goes easily to waste.”
Parable:
A poet was given a bit of ordinary clay.
The clay smelled so vibrantly of sweet perfume that its fragrance filled the room.
“What are you, musk or ambergris?”, he asked.
“I am neither”, it answered. “I am just a bit of common clay.”
“From where then do you have this rare perfume?” the poet asked.
It replied, “I have been all summer in the company of the rose.”
Simerg - Insights from Around the World 