Sanai

Hakim Abul-Majd Majdūd ibn Ādam Sanā'ī Ghaznavi , more commonly known as Sanai, was a poet in the Ghaznavid Empire, who wrote in Persian. He was born in 1080 and died between 1131 and 1141.

Life Sanai was a Sunni Muslim, 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 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 almost 900 years The Walled Garden of Truth has been consistently read as a classic and employed as a Sufi textbook. According to John Stephenson, "Sanai’s fame has always rested on his Hadīqa; 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 Sūfi teachers — Sanā'ī, Attar, Jalālu d Dīn Rūmī."

quote| 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.