Saadi

Saadi’s father died when he was an infant, leaving him impoverished. As a young man, Saadi traveled to Baghdad, where he was educated. Along with many others, Saadi was displaced during the Mongol invasion of the Muslim world, which led him to wander for 30 years throughout the Middle East, visiting war-torn areas and meeting their survivors. Saadi was also enslaved by Crusaders in modern-day Israel for seven years. As an elderly man, Saadi returned to his native city of Shiraz. Saadi wrote extensively about his experiences, becoming one of the preeminent Persian poets of the medieval period.