Much beloved by Persian-speaking people from his own time to the present day, Sa'di is second, if not equal, to his near-contemporary al-Hafiz. Like Hafiz, Sa'di was born in the city of Shiraz. He spent many years wandering throughout the Muslim world before returning to Shiraz at the age of 50. His great writings date from this period. His best work is the Bustan (the Orchard), a long poem of an extremely moralistic flavor that appeared in 1257. Tradition says that a year later he produced his Gulistan (Rose Garden), a collection of anecdotes, primarily in prose. Critics consider it inferior to Bustan. Sa'di's other major work is his Kulliyat, which contains several forms of poetry, including ghazals in both Persian and Arabic. Living as he did in an age of court patronage (his pen name was taken from that of his patron Sa'd ibn Zangi), Sa'di's work is full of moralistic advice and direction, yet is also realistic and satiric. In his fables, Sa'di made great use of animals to represent, or to contrast with, human characteristics. An innovation was his reversal of the traditional order of Persian fables: He first told the tale; then he gave its moral.
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