Glorification of the Prophet Muhammad in the Poems of Saadi

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 amd and mad both of which signify praise and glorification with the difference that the former (amd), 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 (mad) 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 amd, which as we said is predicated of God alone.

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 Saadi 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 alMuhammadiah), 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. Saadi alluding to this fact and addressing his patron says:

"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

function of the Holy prophet as the Intercessor (shafi) is much emphasized by Saadi.

O My God, if you cast away Saadi 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 ***

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 Saadi 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

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)

He who chooses a path contrary to that of the prophet Shall never reach the destination O Saadi, 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.

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

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 (wujd). The sufi Najm-al-Din al-Razi in his famous Mird-al-Ibd 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 aad 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)

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 Saadi 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.

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

Saadi and the nocturnal Journey (Mirj)

One of the great miracles of the Holy prophet is said to be his nocturnal Ascension (Mirj), 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 alHarm, Kaba) to the Further Mosque (Masjid al-aqa=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 Burq. 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

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. Saadi has recounted this extraordinary event in beautiful Persian poetry.

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

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)

Hafiz, the famous lyric poet of Iran, the town-mate of Saadi and the favorite of Goethe makes a very symbolical allusion to the unletteredness of the Prophet.

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.

Saadi, 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.

An orphan who had not yet received the revelation of the Quran complete was able to obliterate the libraries of several notions. Here Saadi 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.

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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 Bulhakam In the last line Saadi 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. Saadi 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.

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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 Saadi says:

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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Saadi has the highest veneration for the Household of the prophet especially for The progeny of Fatimah, the daughter of the Holy prophet.

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 Saadi. 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.

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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 racecourse for his spiritual power Behold an the day of Resurrections how great in the racecourse 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 Saadi if you want to make a love affair as in youth make do with the love of Mohammad and the family of Muhammad.

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