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Glorification of the Prophet Muhammad in the Poems of Sa’adi

Prof. Gholamreza Aavani

One of the main themes in almost all the traditional poets in the

classical Persian Poetry in the glorification of the prophet Muhammad,

upon whom be the blessings and the benedictions of Allah. Going

through these poems, reveals to us the traditional image of the prophet

Muhammad in the view of the traditional Muslims and the love and

respect they had for him, which is analogous to that which the adherents

of other religions show to the founders of their respective religions. For

us today, who live in a more or less secular culture, it is very difficult to

envisage a traditional spiritual community wherein the sacred poems of

the revelation, the sacred authority of the Word of God and the supreme

personality of the prophet prevailed. In this paper, I hope to communicate

to you some of the distant echoes of these vibrating spiritual pulse felt in

the heart of all believing Muslims.

In the beginning I should say a few words about the very name of

the Prophet Muhammad. This name like most other names of the prophet

such as Ahmad, Muhammad etc. is derived from the Arabic root Hamd,

which means intrinsic praise and glorification, which belongs only to God

and to no one else. In Arabic one makes a distinction between two

cognate roots ḥamd and madḥ both of which signify praise and

glorification with the difference that the former (ḥamd), which means

praising one who essentially and intrinsically deserves it, is only applied

to God who is the possessor of essential attributes whereas the latter

(madḥ) is only predicated of human beings who might or might not

deserve it. It is noteworthy that most of the names of the holy prophet are

derived from the root ḥamd, which as we said is predicated of God alone.

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This symbolically indicates that the prophet is a total terrestrial reflection

and manifestation of the Divine Attributes. He embodies in himself in a

terrestrial and mundane level all the perfections of the Divinity. He is the

total manifestation of the Divine Names and Attributes.

Most of the descriptions and epithets applied by Sa’adi to the Holy

Prophet are later either from the Holy Quran or from the compendia of

the Holy traditions (i.e. reports of the words and the deeds of the Holy

Prophet).

In one verse, for example, Prophet is said to have been sent as a

mercy unto all beings (Quran, XXI, 107), which means that other than

being sent to humankind as Prophet and spiritual guide he has a more

important ontological role to play as the mercy of God upon the whole

creation. As a matter of fact, he is the intermediary between God and

creation. Nay he is the ontological bestowed upon the creaturely order. In

a sacred tradition it is a narrated that "Had it not been for you, I would not

have created the spheres". Muslim Gnostics have gone a long way to

elaborate on the issue of the Muhammadan reality (al-haqiqah al-

Muhammadiah), which is the intermediary between the Divine and the

creaturely order. playing the role of the Logos in certain Christian mystics

or Buddha-nature in Buddhism.

Sa’adi alluding to this fact and addressing his patron says:

توئي ساية لطف حق بر زمين العالمين پيمبر صفت رحمه

"You are the shadow of the Grace of God, upon the Earth; you are like

the prophet, a mercy upon all beings".

It is due to this ontological intermediary role that the prophet is

able to act as an intercessor for the forgiveness of human sins. The

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function of the Holy prophet as the Intercessor (shafi’) is much

emphasized by Sa’adi.

خدايا گر تو سعدي را براني شفيع آرد روان مصطفي را

محمد سيد سادات عالم چراغ و چشم جمله انبياء را

O My God, if you cast away Sa’adi from your favor

He will bring as an intercessor the Soul of the Chosen one,

Muhammad, the overlord of the dignitaries of the world

The light and the eye of all the prophets

***

گر خواجه شفاعت نكند روز قيامت شايد كه ز مشاطه نرنجيم كه زشتيم

باشد كه عنايت برسد ورنه مپندار با اين عمل دوزخيان كاهل بهشتيم

سعدي مگر از خرمن اقبال بزرگان يك خوشه ببخشند كه ما تخم نكشتيم

Of the Lord (Muhammad) does not intercede on the Day of Resurrection

Being ugly, we may not be offended by the hairdresser

We hope the mercy of God shall overtake us, otherwise do not think

that with the deeds of the damned we shall be saved

O Sa’adi let us hope that we shall be given a bunch from the harvest of

the Great, because we have not sown a single seed.

Following the prophet's example

Prophet is the best example to be followed in religion: "You have

had a good example in God's Messenger for whosoever hope for God and

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the Last Day and remembers God oft". (Qur. XXXIII, 21). To love the

prophet makes one the beloved of God. To follow the prophet, makes

one, again to be loved by God.

"Say: if you love God, follow me, and God will love you, and

forgive you your sins; God is all-forgiving, all-compassionate". The

prophet zalls all believers to follow the path of God with full assurance

and with sure and certain knowledge "Say: this is my way I call to God

with sure knowledge, I and whoever follows after me. To God be glory!

And I am not among the idolaters" (Qur. XII, 108)

خالف پيمبر كسي ره گزيد كه هرگز به منزل نخواهد رسيد

مپندار سعدي كه راه صفا توان رفت جز در پي مصطفي

He who chooses a path contrary to that of the prophet

Shall never reach the destination

O Sa’adi, Do not think that one can tread that the way of purity

Except in the wake of the Chosen one.

But one should not trespass the bounds and limits set by the Holy

prophet, even in piety and abstemiousness.

ق و صفابزهد و ورع كوش و صد و ليكن ميفزاي بر مصطفي

Exert yourself in piety, abstention, truthfulness and purity

But do not add to that prescribed by the Chosen one.

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Muhammad as the Perfect Man the final end of creation

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Muslim philosophers, mystics and sufi poets have elaborated on

the theme of the perfect man as the final end of creation. Everything in

the created order has been made for an end and purpose; otherwise its

creation would be futile and vain. Imagine a gardener who plants a tree in

a garden. In order to sow the seed he has to make a lot of preparations. He

has to by the land. He must do a lot of spade-work to make it ready for

tilling. He must make the soil ready for the growth and the development

of the tree. But why does he plant the tree? Is it for the root, for the trunk,

the wood, the leaves or the blooms? Is it for the fruit which is the final

end and the culmination of the tree? For this reason, philosophers say that

the final end is the first in the order of thought (fikr) but the last in the

order of being (wujūd).

The sufi Najm-al-Din al-Razi in his famous Mirṣād-al-Ibād has

tersely alluded to this point saying that just as in the case of a tree one

first a seed which the grows into a plant that gives branches, then leaves,

then blossoms, then fruit which in turn contain the seed, so did the cycle

of prophecy begin with the Muhammadan Reality, with the envier reality

of Muhammad, while it ended with the human manifestation of him. He

is thus inwardly the beginning and outwardly the end of the prophetic

cycle which he synthesizes and unifies in his being. Outwardly he is a

human being and inwardly the Universal Man, the norm of all spiritual

perfection. The prophet himself referred to the inner aspect of his nature

as in the Hadith "I am Ahmad without the Mim (That is aḥad meaning

the Unique, one of the Attributes of God), I am an Arab without ‘ain (that

is Rabb, meaning the Lord, again another of the Divine Names). The

same theme is reiterated in the beautiful verse of Mahmoud Shabistari, in

his masterpiece, Gulshan-i-Raz (Secret Rose-Garden of Mysteries)

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ز احمد تا احد يك ميم فرق است جهاني اندرين يك ميم غرقست

Between Ahad and Ahmad there is a difference of a single mim (M)

The whole world of creation is immersed in that single mim.

In the same view Sa’adi has elaborated in some of the finest of the

Persian poetry, on the theme of the tree of existence whose root is the

Reality of Muhammad and the rest of creation being the trunk, branches,

leaves and offshoots. Were it not for the Muhammadan Reality God

would not have created the sublime and majestic spheres.

خدايت ثنا گفت و تبجيل كرد بوس قدر تو جبريل كرد زمين

بلندآسمان پيش قدرت خجل تو مخلوق و آدم هنوز آب و گل

تو اصل وجود آمدي از نخست دگر هرچه موجود شد فرع تست

ندانم كدامين سخن گويمت چه من گويمت كه واالتري زآن

ترا غرلوالك تمكين بس است ثناي تو طه و يس بس است

God made your praise and uttered your glorification

He made Gabriel kiss the threshold of your mystic rank

The lofty heaven is ashamed before your sublime worth

You were created while Adam was being kneaded of water and clay

You were the primordial starting-point of creation

Whatever came into being thence forward was your offshoot and branch

I am bewildered by what kind of words to oddness you

Because you are more sublime than what I say about you

Suffice is for your glorious rank the Divine utterance "Were it not for

you…" and enough for your glorification the names of Taha an Yasin

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Sa’adi and the nocturnal Journey

(Mi’rāj)

One of the great miracles of the Holy prophet is said to be his

nocturnal Ascension (Mi’rāj), body and soul, to heavens and ultimately to

the Divine Presence. This incident is referred to in the chapter XVII

(Night Journey) which beings with the following verse: "Glory be to Him

who carried his servant by night from the Holy Mosque (Masjid al-

Harām, Ka’ba) to the Further Mosque (Masjid al-aqṣa=Jerusalem) the

precincts of which we have blessed, that we might show him some of our

signs…" (Qur. XVII, 1). The proximity of the Holy prophet to the Divine

presence is described thus in the Glorious Quran: "Then he drew near and

suspended hung, two bows length away or nearer and then revealed to his

servant what he revealed. His heart lies not of what he saw, what will you

dispute with him what he saw"? (Quran LIII, 1-10). In this Journey he

reached the "Late of the Extreme Bounty" and then on to the Divine

proximity. He met with previous apostles and messengers, he witnessed

the paradise and its boons and blessings and the hellfire and the sufferings

of its denizens. Many mysteries were revealed to the Holy prophet in this

Night Journey, which is a journey of ascensions comparable and a

counterpart to the Night of power (Laylat al-qadr) a night when the Quran

was first revealed. A vast literature has been produced on the theme of

this journey and poets have devoted some of their best poems to this

spiritual event. Prophet is reported to have mounted a white and speedy

horse called Burāq. He was accompanies by the archangel Gabriel who

was to guide the prophet, but being itself of an angelic nature could not

go beyond the Angelic realm and in the symbolic language of the Quran

stopped short at the "Lotus of the Extreme Bounty" meaning the

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outermost region of the angelic order where the archangel could not

trespass the boundary. The prophet had to go above to the proximity of

the Divine presence. Sa’adi has recounted this extraordinary event in

beautiful Persian poetry.

شبي برنشست از فلك برگذشت ملك درگذشتبه تمكين و جاه از

چنان گرم در تيه قربت براند كه بر سدره جبريل ازو بازماند

الحرام بدو گفت ساالر بيت كه اي حامل وحي برتر خرام

چو در دوستي مخلصم يافتي عنانم ز صحبت چرا تافتي

بگفتا فراتر مجالم نداد بماندم كه نيروي بالم نماند

اگر يك سر موي برتر پرم سوزد پرمفروغ تجلي ب

One night riding on a mount the surpassed the spheres

He surmounted the angels in rank and glory

He rode so fervently in the wilderness of proximity

That he left behind the angel Gabriel in the Lotus (of extreme bounty)

The Lord of the Holy Mosque (the prophet) told him

O you the apostle of revelation, come forth hither

When you found me devout and sincere in friendship

Why did you withhold the reins of companionship?

The angel answered: "I could not afford to go farther"

I came to a standstill because I exhausted the strength of my wings

If I desired to fly as much as a hair span

The scintillations of the Divine Theophany would burn out my wings

The unlettered prophet

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It is one of the great paradoxes of history that no prophet, no

founder of religion was schooled or trained in academia. This holds as

much about Moses and Jesus as about Muhammad. This historical fact

bears very deep metaphysical significance. It means that the soul of the

prophet is not tainted by purely human knowledge, but receives its

knowledge pure and simple from the Divine sources, not mediated by

auxiliary non-diaphanous veils. The unletteredness of the prophet is

stressed in the Holy Quran. He receives the Divine light directly from the

Divine source: "Those who follow the unlettered (ummi) Messenger and

Prophet whom they find written down with them in the Torah and the

Gospel bidding them to good and forbidding them from evil, making

lawful for them the good things and making unlawful for them corrupt

things and relieving them of their burdens and the fetters that were upon

them. Those who believe in him and succor him and help him and follow

the light that has been sent down with him, they are the prospers…

Believe then in God and in His Messenger, the unlettered prophet who

believes in God and his words and follow him; haply you will be guided.

(Qur. VII, 157-160). A comparison has been made by some between the

virgin nature and Immaculate nature of Mary and the unlettered soul of

the Prophet. "The prophet must be unlettered for the same reason that the

virgin Mary must be virgin. The human vehicle of Divine Message must

be pure and untainted. The Divine word can only be written on the pure

and untouched tablet of human receptivity. If this word is in the form of

flash, the purity is symbolized by the virginity of the mother who gives

birth to the word and if it is in the form of a book this purity is

symbolized by the unlettered nature of the person who is Chosen to

announce this Word among men" (Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Ideals and

Realities of Islam, George Allen & Unwin, 1971, PP 43-4)

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Hafiz, the famous lyric poet of Iran, the town-mate of Sa’adi and

the favorite of Goethe makes a very symbolical allusion to the

unletteredness of the Prophet.

نگار من كه به مكتب نرفت و خط ننوشت آموز صد مدرس شد به غمزه مسأله

My beloved who never visited a school, nor did write a handwriting

By allusion and paradox of fortune became the tutor of hundred erudites

and savants.

Sa’adi , too, wonders both at his unletteredness and is amazed by

the fact that by his unletteredness he copied out the contents of the

heather and infidel scribes.

خانة چند ملت نبشت كتب يتيمي كه ناكرده قرآن درست

An orphan who had not yet received the revelation of the Quran complete

was able to obliterate the libraries of several notions.

Here Sa’adi refers to the orphanage of the Holy Prophet who had

lost the loving custody and care of both his parents at a very tender age.

Even if the prophet had not received his knowledge from a human

source, the ocean of his knowledge was unfathomable due to the fact that

he had received it from an infinite sources, i.e. Divine knowledge.

محمد كز ثناي فضل او بر خاك هر خاطر اي در حال درياي نعم گردد كه بارد قطره

چو دولت بايدم تحميد ذات مصطفي گويم كه در دريوزه صوفي گرد اصحاب كرم گردد

زبان را دركش اي سعدي ز شرح علم او گفتن تو در علمش چه داني باش تا فردا علم گردد

اگر تو حكمت آموزي بديوان محمد رو ش بوالحكم گرددكه بوجهل آن بود كه خود به دان

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Should the glorification of Muhammad's virtues shower upon any one's

heart?

Each raindrop will instantly turn into oceans of blessings

Should I desire fortune I must praise the glory of the prophet's substance

Because in time of need the poor Sufi rambles (wanders) round the

people of charity

Withhold your tongue from expatiating on his knowledge

What do you know about his knowledge wait until tomorrow (in the

Hereafter) the banner of his knowledge shall appear?

If you are in search of true wisdom, go to the threshold of Muhammad

Because Bu jahl is he who through his own knowledge turns into Bul-

hakam

In the last line Sa’adi makes explicit the fact that true wisdom and

authentic knowledge can be gained through the spiritual inheritance of the

prophet Muhammad who is the culmination of the wisdom of all

prophets. True wisdom should not be sought after in the self-styled

philosophers. Sa’adi here makes on allegorical reference to a historical

fact to prove his point. One of the great enemies of the prophet

Muhammad, who was an embodiment of irreligion, impiety and atheism,

was his own paternal uncle, whose nickname was bul-hakam (the father

of wisdom) but was called by God Bujahl (the father of ignorance). This

gees to prove that the wisdom of the world, if cut off from the prophetic

and Divine wisdom is nothing but sheer ignorance.

خداوندا گر افزايي بدين حكمت كه بخشيدي كه از ملك تو كم گردد آن مر افزون شود بي

ن خاكي ز ابر بخششت قطرهفتاد اندر ت مدد فرما به فضل خويش تا اين قطره يم گردد

اميد رحمتست آري خصوص آن را كه در خاطر ثناي سيد مرسل نبي محترم گردد

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O God, may you increase this wisdom which you bestowed upon me

I shall gain in this bargain without you lasing a whit from you infinite

realm

From the cloud of your bounty a drop has fallen into this earth-bound

body of mine

May you succor me that through your grace, it becomes a boundless sea?

Aye, there is hope of mercy especially for him in whose heart there is

constant remembrance of our lord the prophet the Messenger

Muhammad the seal of prophets

Muhammad is considered to be the last of the prophets in the cycle

of prophecy standing with Adam. This is the distinctive feature which

distinguishes him from all prophets who come before him. The Prophet,

as the seal of prophecy integrates in his religion the function of prophecy

as such. According to the Quran "for every nation there has been a

Messenger" (Qur X, 48). God has moreover sent each messenger with the

language of his own folk. In a famous hadith, it is asserted that God has

sent one hundred and twenty four thousand prophets to mankind that is

one to every nation and tribe. So Islam inculcates the universality of

prophecy and hence of religion. Islam has made belief in all previous

prophets, messengers and holy books, incumbent on all Muslims and has

made it one of the articles of Islamic creed.

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Prayer on the prophet

(Salat-al-nabi)

One of main features of Islamic life and spirituality is the "prayer

on the prophet", a prayer which is in general use in Islam and whose

formula is reiterated in the daily canonical prayers. It is a basic formula

repeated many times a day. In Islamic esoterism, it becomes a basic

symbol. Prayer on the prophet has a spiritual foundation in the form of an

injunction "verily God and His angels bless the prophet; O ye who

believe bless him and give him salutation". (Qur. XXXIII, 56). The

meaning of this verse can be construed as follows: God, the Heaven, the

Earth and indeed all beings sent their benedictions and salutation on the

reality of the prophet so you as believers should comply with the

universal harmony of this universal psalmody. The classical formula for

the benediction upon the prophet is as follows: "Oh God bless our lord

Muhammad, thy servant and thy Messenger, the unlettered prophet and

his family and his companions and salute them". It is mostly abbreviated

in the shorter formula: "O God bless the prophet Muhammad and his

family".

In a majestic and sublime Arabic poem Sa’adi says:

الدجي بجماله العلي بكماله كشف بلغ ه و آلهحسنت جميع خصاله صلوا علي

He reached the acme (peak) of grandeur by his perfections

He dispersed the tenebrous clouds of darkness through his beauty

Excellent were all his character traits; then shower your blessings upon

him and his family

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Sa’adi has the highest veneration for the Household of the prophet

especially for The progeny of Fatimah, the daughter of the Holy prophet.

كه بر قولم ايمان كنم خاتمه خدايا به حق نبي فاطمه

من دست و دامان آل رسول اگر دعوتم رد كني يا قبول

O God, by the dignity of the children of Fatimah

That you mode sincere faith the end of my words

No matter if you accept my supplication or not

I take refuge in the lap of the family of the prophet.

These were but a few facets of the personality of the Holy prophet

as depicted in the poems of Sa’adi. I shall end my paper by quoting and

translating one of the best poems in Persian poetry in eulogy of the Great

prophet, by this great poet.

سرو نباشد به اعتدال محمد ماه فرو مانده از جمال محمد

در نظر قدر با كمال محمد فلك را كمال و منزلتي نيستقدر

ليله اسري شب وصال محمد وعده ديدار هر كسي به قيامت

آمده مجموع در ظالل محمد آدم و نوح و خليل و موسي و عيسي

روز قيامت نگر مجال محمد عرصه گيتي مجال همت او نيست

كند بالل محمدبو كه قبولش وآنهمه پيرايه بسته جنت فردوس

محمدنعالتا بدهد بوسه بر بيفتدهمچو زمين خواهد آسمان كه

نور بتابد مگر جمال محمد شمس و قمر در زمين حشر نتابد

پيش دو ابروي چون هالل محمد شايد اگر آفتاب و ماه نتابد

گيرد از خيال محمد خواب نمي چشم مرا تا به خواب ديد جمالش

عشق محمد بس است و آل محمد قي كني و جوانيسعدي اگر عاش

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the full moon dwindles when seeing the beauty of Muhammad.

the cypress tree cannot match the statues of Muhammad in uprightness

the rotating spheres have no perfection and worth

as compared is the perfect dignity of Muhammad

God has promised every body to meet in the day of reassertion

but the might of Journey was the night of Muhammad union

on that day Adam, Noah, Abraham Moses and Jesus

are all gathered under the canopy (shadows) of Muhammad

The whole espouse of the universe cannot be a race–course for his

spiritual power Behold an the day of Resurrections how great in the race-

course of Muhammad the paradise has embellished itself to many

adornments.

That the Bilal of Muhammad might cast an it an eye of acceptance

the Heaven as the Earth both want to bow down.

In order to give a kiss to the shoe soles of Muhammad

the sun and the moon do not shine on the day of Gathering

there nothing shines but the beauteous countenance of Muhammad

there it behooves that the sun and the moon should not shine.

before the two crescent-shaped eyebrows of Muhammad

when my eye once saw the beauty of his face in a dream at has never

fallen asleep from the linage of Muhammad.

O Sa’adi if you want to make a love affair as in youth

make do with the love of Mohammad and the family of Muhammad.