Hakim Abul-Majd Majdūd ibn Ādam Sanā'ī Ghaznavi ( fa, ), more commonly known as Sanai, was a Persian poet from

Ghazni Ghazni ( prs, غزنی, ps, غزني), historically known as Ghaznain () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana ( gr, Αλεξάνδρεια Ωπιανή), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan ...

who lived his life in the

Ghaznavid Empire The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, Khorasan, much of Transoxiana and the northwe ...

which is now located in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

. He was born in 1080 and died between 1131 and 1141.

Life

Sanai was a

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagre ...

. Edward G. Browne, ''A Literary History of Persia from the Earliest Times Until Firdawsh'', 543 pp., Adamant Media Corporation, 2002, , (see p.437) He was connected with the court of the Ghaznavid Bahram-shah who ruled 1117 – 1157.

Works

He wrote an enormous quantity of mystical verse, of which ''The Walled Garden of Truth'' or ''The

Hadiqat al Haqiqa Mathnawi Hadiqat al Haqiqa va Shari'at al-Tariqah ( ar, حديقة الحقيقة وشريعة الطريقة, lit=The Garden of Truth and The Path to Trek) or Elahi Nameh ( fa, الهی نامه, lit=Treatise to Theology) is an early Sufi book o ...

'' (حدیقه الحقیقه و شریعه الطریقه) is his master work and the first Persian mystical epic of Sufism. Dedicated to Bahram Shah, the work expresses the poet's ideas on God, love, philosophy and reason. For close to 900 years ''The Walled Garden of Truth'' has been consistently read as a classic and employed as a

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...

textbook. According to Major T. Stephenson: "Sanai’s fame has always rested on his ''Hadiqa''; it is the best known and in the East by far the most esteemed of his works; it is in virtue of this work that he forms one of the great trio of Sufi teachers — Sanai, Attar, Jalaluddin Rumi." Sanai taught that lust, greed and emotional excitement stood between humankind and divine knowledge, which was the only true reality (''Haqq''). Love (''Ishq'') and a social conscience are for him the foundation of religion; mankind is asleep, living in a desolate world. To Sanai common religion was only habit and ritual. Sanai's poetry had a tremendous influence upon

Persian literature Persian literature ( fa, ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, ) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources h ...

. He is considered the first poet to use the '' qasidah'' (ode), ''

ghazal The ''ghazal'' ( ar, غَزَل, bn, গজল, Hindi-Urdu: /, fa, غزل, az, qəzəl, tr, gazel, tm, gazal, uz, gʻazal, gu, ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry. A ghazal may be understood as a ...

'' (lyric), and the ''masnavi'' (rhymed couplet) to express the philosophical, mystical and ethical ideas of

Sufism Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality ...

Influence and legacy

Poetic influence

Rumi Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ( fa, جلال‌الدین محمد رومی), also known as Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī (), Mevlânâ/Mawlānā ( fa, مولانا, lit= our master) and Mevlevî/Mawlawī ( fa, مولوی, lit= my ma ...

acknowledged Sanai and Attar as his two great inspirations, saying, " Attar is the soul and Sanai its two eyes, I came after Sanai and Attar." ''The Walled Garden of Truth'' was also a model for Nizami's ''

Makhzan al-Asrar Makhzan ol-Asrar or Makhzan al-Asrar ( fa, مخزن‌الاسرار, The Treasury of Mysteries) is the title of a famous Mathnawi by the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi (1141–1209). Makhzan ol-Asrar is the first poem collection in the main and ...

'' (Treasury of Secrets).

Modern cultural references

There is a reference to Hakim Sanai's poetry near the end of the 2017 film '' The Shape of Water'' by

Guillermo del Toro Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born October 9, 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and actor. He directed the Academy Award–winning fantasy films ''Pan's Labyrinth'' (2006) and '' The Shape of Water'' (2017), winning the Academy Awards for ...

. In the final scene of the movie, the narrator recites a few verses of poetry without specific attribution, although there is a reference in the film's credit sequence to "Adapted works by Hakim Sanai." Researching for the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

blog ''From the Catbird Seat'', Peter Armenti confirmed with the assistance of ''Catbird'' blog readers that the poem spoken at the end of ''The Shape of Water'' is del Toro's adaptation of Priya Hemenway's translation of an original poem by Hakim Sanai. Hemenway's translation appears in ''The Book of Everything: Journey of the Heart’s Desire : Hakim Sanai’s Walled Garden of Truth'' (2002).

Quotations

* Sanai's poetry stresses the possibility of an "awakening"; ''While mankind remains mere baggage in the world''
''It will be swept along, as in a boat, asleep.''
''What can they see in sleep?''
''What real merit or punishment can there be?'' ''He who knows not his own soul, how shall he know the soul of another? and he who only knows hand and foot, how shall he know the Godhead? The prophets are unequal to understanding this matter; why dost thou foolishly claim to do so? When thou hast brought forward a demonstration of this subject, then thou wilt know the pure essence of the faith; otherwise what have faith and thou in common? thou hadst best be silent, and speak not folly. The learned talk nonsense all; for true religion is not woven about the feet of everyone.'' His means for this awakening is surrender to God, his poetry has been called "the essential fragrance of the path of love". He hits out at human hypocrisy and folly; *Others are heedless,—do thou be wise, and on this path keep thy tongue silent. The condition laid on such a one is that he should receive all food and drink from the Causer, not from the causes. Go, suffer hardship, if thou wouldst be cherished; and if not, be content with the road to Hell. None ever attained his object without enduring hardship.Source: From: Enclosed Garden Of Truth, Edited and translated by J. Stephenson in 1910

Notes

References

* "Hadiqat al-Haqiqa wa Shari'at al-Tariqa" In Encyclopædia Iranica by J.T.P. De Bruij

* E.G. Browne. ''Literary History of Persia''. (Four volumes, 2,256 pages, and twenty-five years in the writing). 1998. * Jan Rypka, ''History of Iranian Literature''. Reidel Publishing Company. 1968 . * Bo Utas, ''A Persian Sufi Poem: Vocabulary and terminology''. Scandinavian Institute of Asian Studies Monograph Series, Curzon Press, 1977.