Saadi (poet)

Muslih-ud-Din Mushrif ibn-Abdullah Shirazi
Saadi in a Rose garden, from a Mughal manuscript of his work Gulistan, c. 1645
Born	1210 Shiraz, Iran
Died	1291 or 1292 Shiraz
School	Persian poetry, Persian literature
Main interests	Poetry, Mysticism, Logic, Ethics, Sufism

Abū-Muhammad Muslih al-Dīn bin Abdallāh Shīrāzī (Persian: ابومحمد مصلح‌الدین بن عبدالله شیرازی‎‎), better known by his pen-name Saadi (سعدی Saʿdī( Saadi )), also known as Saadi of Shiraz (سعدی شیرازی Saadi Shirazi), was one of the major Persian poets and literary men of the medieval period. He is not only famous in Persian-speaking countries, but has been quoted in western sources as well. 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.

Born in Shiraz, Iran, c. 1210, his father died when he was a child. He narrates memories of going out with his father as a child during festivities.

In his youth, Saadi experienced poverty and hardship and left his native town for Baghdad to pursue a better education. As a young man he enrolled at the Nizamiyya University, where he studied in Islamic sciences, law, governance, history, Arabic literature, and Islamic theology.