Text in English & Persian. Is the Gulistan the most influential
book in the Iranian world? In terms of prose, it is the model,
which all writers of Persian seek to emulate. In terms of moral,
philosophical or practical wisdom, it is endlessly quoted to either
illustrate or prove a point. Sir John Malcolm even relates being
told that it is the basis of the law of the Persians. It also
travelled abroad. Voltaire, Goethe, Arnold, Longfellow, Emerson,
Thoreau, Melville, and Franklin discovered, read, and took
inspiration from the work. Moreover, travelers to Iran have often
point out that to understand the mind of the inhabitants, one
should read the Gulistan. Written some seven and a half centuries
ago by Sa'di of Shiraz the Gulistan or Rose Garden is a collection
of moral stories divided into eight themes: "The Conduct of Kings",
"The Character of Dervishes", "The Superiority of Contentment",
"The Benefits of Silence", "Love and Youth", "Feebleness and Old
Age", "The Effects of Education", and "The Art of Conversation." In
each section stories are told from which the reader learns how to
behave in a given situation. Sa'di can be moral. "Honesty gives God
pleasure. I haven't seen anyone get lost on the right road." He may
be practical. "If you can't stand the sting, don't put your finger
into a scorpion's hole." He is philosophical in these lines which
are engraved at the entrance of the United Nations: "The members of
the human race are limbs one to another, for at creation they were
of one essence. When one limb is pained by fate, the others cannot
rest." The Gulistan is considered the essence of elegant but simple
Persian prose. For 600 years, it was the first book placed in the
learner's hand. In Persian-speaking countries today, quotations
from the Gulistan appear in every conceivable type of literature
and is the source of numerous everyday proverbial statements, much
as Shakespeare is in English. This is the first complete English
translation of the Gulistan in more than a century. Wheeler M.
Thackston, Professor of Persian at Harvard University, has
faithfully translated Sa'di into clear contemporary English. To
help the student, the original Persian is presented facing the
English translation. A 3,600 word Persian-English and
Arabic-English glossary is included to aide with the more difficult
meanings. The Gulistan is imbued with a practical wisdom of life.
Sa'di recognizes people for what they are. Every personality type
that exists is found in the Rose Garden, the good, the bad, the
weak, the strong, the pious, the impious, honest folk, and the most
conniving of cheats. Hypocrites abound, foolish kings appear with
their wily ministers, wise rulers vie with their malevolent
courtiers, boastful young warriors turn tail and run. The beauty of
Sa'di's wisdom is that it is timeless. What is expressed is in a
setting so close and familiar to the modern experience that it is
as relevant today as it was six hundred years ago.
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