Reflection of Social Issues in Satirical Language at Saʿdī's Gulistan

Transcription

1 Reflection of Social Issues in Satirical Language at Saʿdī's Gulistan Dr. Mehri Abdi Miardan Assistant Professor of Persian literature, Department of Literature and Humanities, Hashtrood Branch, Islamic Azad University, Hashtrood, Iran Abstract Sociology of literature is a branch of the social sciences which results from the relationship between sociology and literature; in other words, sociology in literature means searching for the reflection of the social characteristics in each historical period among the literary works of that period. Most of the committed poets and writers always try to reflect the issues of their era in their works. Saʿdī is also one of these elders who in his works, tries to investigate the various living issues of social classes in the seventh century AD. Author at the present article takes a sociological look at the Gulistan of Saʿdī and investigate its satirical anecdotes to clarify the social issues of Saʿdī's era and manifest the satirical aspects of its anecdotes. Key words: Saʿdī, Gulistan, sociology, social situation, satire Introduction Abū-Muhammad Muslih al-dīn bin Abdallāh better known by his pen-name as Saʿdī was born at the beginning of the seventh century AH (thirteenth century AD) among the clan of religious leaders in Shiraz, Iran. Abdullah, his father tried to educate his son but died when Saʿdī was an infant, deeply felt the pain of being deprived of the blessing of father Saʿdī eagerly learnt the preliminaries of various sciences in school. Saʿdī, who had shown his talent and intelligence, backed by the ruler of Persia, went to continue his education in Nizamiye School at Baghdad. In Baghdad he benefited from two distinguished professor Abu'l-Faraj ibn al-jawzi and Shahabeddin Abu Hafs. Saʿdī's high interest and perseverance in the field of various sciences has made his personality multidimensional and rare. Then, in order to become familiar with the culture of different nations and social and political issues in the various societies he gravitated toward truism and long journeys. After this Thirty year trip, he again returned to Shiraz and in the court of Atabak, worked as an official and much attention was paid on him by prince Sa'd Ibn Abi Bakr whose name was chosen as pen name by Saʿdī. It was in the year 655 that Saʿdī started to compose Bustan, which was in Ethics and each of its verses represented deep thoughts of Saʿdī. One year later, Saʿdī composed his second work, in which the real life of people of different classes have been introduced from different aspects, in other words is the mirror of Saʿdī s life. Saʿdī in Gulistan is a wise teacher who enables people to distinguish between good and evil by telling stories and referring to the history. Saʿdī is not afraid of telling the truth, does not draw veil over the defects of society and clearly tells the truth. In addition to the above mentioned works Saʿdī has other works including: Persian and Arabic qasā'id, Ghazaliat, Majales-e Panjganeh, Treatise on Reason and love, Nasihat Al-Muluk (Safa, the history of literature in Iran, 1995, vol. 2, p 111).Due to Saʿdī s position as one of the five great and influential poets in Iran literature and given that his Gulistan is an unique work in Persian language because of its various themes and social matters and considering that no appropriate sociological research has been done on it and mostly its literary aspects has been studied, thus the author of this article after reviewing the social conditions of Saʿdī's era and the function of satire in literature studies the social, political and cultural issues of Saʿdī's era through investigating the satiric anecdotes of Gulistan

2 to provide a clear picture of social, political and cultural situation of Saʿdī's era and available satiric features of Gulistan anecdotes. Library method was used to conduct this study, resources that are used in this study include: historical literature, social history, sociology and satiric books, Saʿdī's works, etc. Social, political and cultural situation of Saʿdī's era Since human being is a social creature and social changes are effective on him, therefore in order to interpret and explain the works of an artist and scholar correctly, in addition to reading his works, attention should be paid on investigating the social, political and cultural structure of his era; since the creator of an artistic work never works alone and society is always present in his mind and provides templates for him to forms his inspirations within that(merhraban, Persian poetry Sociology, 2008, Vol I, p 21).Thus sociological investigation of literature, seems to be necessary from this approach; sociology of literature is a science which reviews literature from sociological point of view, A branch of the social sciences, which concentrates its studies on the content of work, its social substance and interrelations of literature and society; this knowledge aims to clarify the effects of literary works on the process of affairs and cultural, political and social institutions as well as their influence on the literature (Torabi, Sociology of art and Literature, 2000, p 30).Most of the committed poets and writers of Persian literature consider themselves as a part of the society and with a clear understanding of social changes always try to move along with the society and clearly express, criticize and review the issues of their own time. Saʿdī is also one of these elders who in his works, especially in Gulistan due to the political, social and cultural situation of Mongol era names various social classes, portrays the issues of their individual and collective lives and criticizes them. Saʿdī lived in a period which was one of the worst periods in the history of Iranian literature; the Genghis Khan Mongol's invasion of Persia in early seventeenth-century, within three years of Mongol brutal invasion this land was stricken by bloodshed; Kharazmshahian government crashed and Islamic fertile lands were subjected to killing; looting and destruction and for a long all traces of civilization and development were vanished from these areas and there was nothing except poverty, death, looting, aggression, moral corruption, lies and deception, oppression, and social and cultural instabilities.'in this event many scholars either killed or escaped; books, libraries, schools and mosques were destroyed and for this reason irreparable damage occurred to Iranian science, literature and art. But in this period in some places, governments accepted Mongols and survived from these terrible events and as a safe haven, preserved and nurtured the poets and literati. One these areas was the Fars region, which supported the Saʿdī (Zarrinkoub, about the literary past of Iran, 2006, p 350).During the Mongol conquest, concerning the anomalous socio-political conditions in that era, the heart-rending complaints and grievances were mainly put down on paper as the genre of satirical, comical and ironical criticism and admonition by conscious poets and writers. At this time, Saʿdī revived an admirable poetry and prose style in the field of literature. He used devastating satire and serious language to criticize the social disorders.'two types of jocundities can be found in his works i.e. Gulistan and Bustan, humorous anecdotes that criticize the ruthless rulers, ignorant people, moral issues and hypocritical hermits and witty repartees (Vameghi, I. Satire in the works of Saʿdī, Ashena magazine, Issue 26, pp ). To learn more about the literary genre of satire, it is discussed briefly below. Satire The word satire means to make fun of someone or blame him. In literary terms, satire is a certain kind of poetry or literary prose that criticizes the wrong or undesirable aspects of

3 human behavior, social, political and philosophical thought corruptions in a funny way (Aslani, 2008).The main reason for the emergence of satire in society is social circumstances and one of the important objectives of satire is to fight turmoil and social injustice, since satire is well underway where people s rights are violated just as oppression and aggression manifest themselves in different forms (Radfar,1994: 70)"Satire is a sort of glass wherein beholders do generally discover everybody s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind reception it meets with in the world, and that so very few are offended with it "(Plard, 2004: p 5).When poet or writer cannot directly express his criticisms, resort to satire.although satire is based on the laughter but this laughter is not due to the happiness and satisfaction, rather is a bitter sneer associated with blame and mockery that makes wrongdoings realize their mistakes and remove their shortcomings (Behzadi Anduhjerdi, 1999: 116).In classical Persian literature, satire is not recognized as an independent genre and in the works of the poets and writers of this period; satire is more seen in the form of lampoon or smut and is far from the structural characteristics of a real satire. Its main reason is the strong dependence of poets and writers to the court; kings and elders of that era. The real emergence of satire in sixth century occurred in Sufism literature and mostly was based on philosophical and mystical way of thinking. In that time more attention was paid on God and injustices in the structure of creation, thus satire was free from the objections to social injustices. Since old Iranian poets and writers, had less critical and social views toward the issues of community the volume of satirical literature was less than numerous and ample works of Persian literature. Also at those times, Persian poets mostly paid attention on lampoon and smut than profound satire and social criticism, yet sometimes among the works of poets and writers some pieces are faced that are satirical, and this kind of works can much be seen as we go away from the early Persian poetry (Mirsadeghi, 1994: 182). Attention to social issues can be seen in the works of Sa'di and Hafez and more in Obaid Zakani works. Saʿdī in his works to express his purpose and reaction against the corruption and anomalies often employs the language of satire and bravely criticize imperium, oppressors and greediers, it can be said that satire element is one of the key elements and features in Saʿdī s speech (Olomi, 2008, 11). Satire in Sa'di s works i.e. Gulistan is a sign of his humanism, altruism and idealism. Saʿdī with the scourge of satire tries to wake up the ignorant rulers, hypocritical hermits and people who honor formalism and reduce their vulgarity and destruction. Gulistan Gulistan the most famous prose work of Saʿdī in the field of social and ethical issues is a mighty book that has an explicit and unique composition (Dashti, 2011, 181); it has also been welcomed not only in Iran but also outside of Iran. As already mentioned, Sa'di wrote Gulistan in 656 A.H. (1257 A.D.) and presented it to Sa'd bin Abu Bakr. It consists of an introduction and eight chapters and each chapter has a title: Chapter I is about the character and conduct of Kings, Chapter II on the Ethics of dervishes; Chapter III on the virtue of contentment; Chapter IV on the advantages of silence, Chapter V on the love and youth, Chapter VI on the feebleness and old age, Chapter VII on the effect of education; Chapter VIII on the conduct of society. although Saʿdī's prose in Gulistan, like his poetry is simple but has a miraculous eloquence, it is a charming, sweet, informative and entertaining prose which has been established on edification and education and each chapter contains a collection of short stories that are written in rhythmic prose style (rastegar fasayi, 2010, p: 482). 'Different stories and analogies associated with the topics of each chapter are mentioned in Gulistan. Some of them are very short and there is no

4 direct link between. Many of them contain admonition. In each anecdote various segments of people enter into the scene. Sometimes stories are a part of daily life (Shimizu, 2011, 36) in other words Gulistan is full of stories that are considered among the most beautiful examples of short stories in the world' (Movahed, 2013, 187). Undoubtedly, Gulistan is the role-playing scene of different social classes in which people with different thoughts, beliefs and spirits are presented. In fact, Gulistan is a complete picture of the sociopolitical circumstances of the era of Saʿdī. In other words, Gulistan is not a complete book neither for elites nor for laity (Ahmadi, 2011, 96) in fact this masterpiece belongs to all strata of society. Gulistan portrays world and human being as it is not as it should be, so this book is the image of real world (Zarrinkoub, Hadith of Saʿdī, 2007, 122) Manifestations of satire in social issues of Saʿdī's Gulistan Saʿdī as one of the satirist poets and writers in Persian literature has used satire for expressing social, critical and didactic contents in his Gulistan. His learned satire is combined with literary elegance and has considerable attraction on his critical and didactic influence (Jorabian, Satire in Bustan and Gulistan of Sa'di, 2009, 195). Saʿdī satirizes some defects and moral shortcomings, such as: tyranny of rulers, hypocritical pretense of ascetics, lying, backbiting, ignorance of people, flatter, opportunism, stinginess, etc. and through using various satirical techniques criticizes these disorders within society and people. The following some examples of satirical anecdotes are reviewed: 1-Criticizing Oppressive Kings Kings and rulers' oppression is one of the contents that attention is paid on in satire writing. The first chapter of Gulistan embodies numerous anecdotes in satirical form, e.g. the Anecdotes of Mustajab-ol-Dava Dervish (whose prayers met with answers by God) and al-ḥajjāj bin Yūsuf (an intelligent and tough ruler of Hijaz in Omavid era).saʿdī in this anecdote with his sweet and succinct speech expresses the mercifulness of this ruler A dervish, whose prayers met with answers, made his appearance, and Hejaj Yusuf, calling him, said: Utter a good prayer for me, whereon the dervish exclaimed: O God, take his life. He replied: For God s sake, what prayer is this? The dervish rejoined: It is a good prayer for thee and for all Believers (Rehatsek, Rose Garden of Saʿdī, p 44). In this anecdote Hejaj Yusuf asks dervish to utter a good prayer for him but instead dervish asks God to take Hejaj s life and considers this imprecation a good prayer for him and for all Muslims. Indeed Saʿdī in this satiric and humorous anecdote criticizes the atrocious kings and prefer them to be dead than live a tyrannical life. In this anecdote the method which has been used to create the satire is in fact the unexpected response of dervish that surprises the audience and makes him laugh. 2- Criticizing Hypocritical Hermits Sa'di in various anecdotes of Gulistan e.g. On the Criticism of the Hypocritical Pietists, 'Hypocritical Worshipers' and 'Pietists Who Face the Creatures and Turn Their Back towards Qiblah etc. with the scourge of satire criticizes these kinds of people and copes with pretend piety and dissimulation. For example, in this anecdote: A hermit, having been invited by a padshah, concluded that if he were to take some medicine to make himself weak he might perhaps enhance the opinion of the padshah regarding his merits. But it is related that the medicine was lethal so that when he partook of it he died (Rehatsek, Rose Garden of Saʿdī, p 101).Saʿdī ridicules and blames the hypocritical pietists and claims that their hypocrisy will destruct them. to create satire in this anecdote Saʿdī has used the way of thinking and foolish behaviors in which, satire is the outcome of a situation that is made based on the stupidity of people and their tommyrot; as this anecdote suggests the hermit s ignorance about drugs and ignorant use of the drug led to his death. In

5 other words, satire is the outcome of credulous thoughts and actions, superstitious and groundless beliefs and stupidity of human being so that the audience after hearing and seeing their senseless thought and behavior laughs at their ignorance (Sayyid Abd al- Jawad Mousavi, 2009, p 28). 3-Critisizing the Taunt and Reproach of People An ugly manifestation of social behavior is to taunt, reproach the failure of others. The second anecdote in the fourth chapter of Gulestan deals with this issue with a satiric expression. A merchant, having suffered loss of a thousand dinars, enjoined his son not to reveal it to anyone. The boy said: It is thy order and I shall not tell it but thou must inform me of the utility of this proceeding and of the propriety of concealment. He replied: for fear the misfortune would be double; namely, the loss of the on the advantages of silence money and, secondly, the joy of neighbors at our loss (Rehatsek, Rose Garden of Saʿdī, p175) Reveal not thy grief to enemies because they will say La haul but rejoice (ibid, p176) Saʿdī in this anecdote through internal contradictions or inconsistencies humorously criticizes the enemies who pose as friends. The purpose of this satiric style is to bring the components of a phenomenon or a part of word together in a way that the proof of one part rejects the other part.according to Shafie kadkani the most important element of creating laughter is the artistic image of the collection of contradictions and opposites (Mohammad Reza Shafi'i kadkani, 1989, p 6) i.e. the conflict and opposition between the two components, which are almost the most essential element of satires. In this anecdote Saʿdī criticizes those people who act as a friend outwardly and are true enemy inwardly since at the time of hardness and calamity they show compassion for your grief and express their sadness but within themselves are happy about it and blame you for that; in other words, their outward and inward are in complete contradiction this is what makes these anecdotes funny. 4-Critisizing the Ignorance and Lack of Public Recognition In some anecdotes of Gulestan, funny events of social life and the neglect of people and community are based on the realties, especially chapter IV of Gulestan includes fourteen stories which seven of them have satirical expression and compared with other chapters this chapter enjoys much satirical anecdotes. One of these satirical anecdotes is the third story of the fourth chapter of Gulestan, this story is about an omniscient young who possessed an abundant share of accomplishments and discreet behavior. Although he was allowed to sit in assemblies of learned men but he refrained from conversing with them. Once his father asked him why he did not likewise speak on subjects he was acquainted with. He replied: I fear I may be asked what I do not know and be put to shame. Hast thou heard how a Sufi drove a few nails under his sandals and an officer taking him by the sleeve said to him: come and shoe my horse (Rehatsek, Rose Garden of Saʿdī, p176). At above anecdote Saʿdī satirizes the ignorant people and their superficiality. According to Saʿdī everyone has a particular field of knowledge and ability thus inappropriate expectations of ignorant people are the sign of their ignorance and superficiality. In this anecdote the fear of wise young man about the adventitious questions of superficial people in the fields which he was not aware of them caused him to refuse to talk.the satire of this anecdote is hidden in the verses where the officer due to his superficial way of thinking assumes that Sufi can also shoe his horse while the poor Sufi has no power and expertise in this regard. Saʿdī in these verses uses animal- likened humiliation to create humor since in the second verse by the use of implied metaphor Sufi has been likened to a horse.

6 5-Criticizing People's Belief in Superstition Persian literature poets and authors were thoughtful people with a unique way of thinking and paid much attention to their surrounding issues, the way of life of human beings and the community where they lived in. People's belief in superstition was one of the issues of their time and they tried to awake the people from the ignorance sleep.according to Saʿdī, astronomers who falsely claim that by the use of astrology can predict the future, even have no information about the affairs of their own houses and are unaware of their personal life issues. In order to punish such unaware and neglected claimants Saʿdī uses satire. Consider the following anecdote: An astrologer, having entered his own house, saw a stranger and, getting angry, began to insult him, whereon both fell upon each other and fought so that turmoil and confusion ensued. A pious man who had the scene exclaimed: How knowest thou what is in the zenith of the sky If thou art not aware who is in thy house (Rehatsek, Rose Garden of Saʿdī, p181). Saʿdī in this anecdote with the help of humiliation criticizes these lair astronomers and addresses them: 'you, who are not aware of what is going on in your house certainly you, are completely unaware of the situation of sky. 6-Criticizing the disproportionate marriage age Marriage and matrimonial issues have an especial place in the words of Sheikh-e-Ajal Saʿdī. He has a deep and realistic approach toward the issue of marriage and portrays appropriate and inappropriate relationships; successful and unsuccessful marriages in an artistic way. One of the most important issues in the marriage and mate selection is the congruity and fitness of couple from the viewpoint of age. According to Saʿdī the marriage of a young girl to old men will not be a successful marriage and will lead to divorce; for example in the following anecdote: An old man, having been asked why he did not marry, replied that I cannot be happy with an aged woman. The other man told he might take a young one, he said: I being an old man and unwilling to associate with an old woman, how a young one could conceive friendship for me who am aged? The lady wants strength, not gold. One passage is preferable to her than ten man of flesh (Rehatsek, Rose Garden of Saʿdī, p229) In this anecdote in order to illustrate the importance of the age appropriateness of bride and groom Saʿdī uses this satiric anecdote. In this anecdote he has used taboo breaking style due to the use of passage as a metaphor for the penis.one the satire making elements is taboobreaking or the use of forbidden words, especially words relating to the genitals (Hasan Zolfagari, 2010, 76). The word taboo means both sacred and unclean and generally it shows a type of embargo and risk; each taboo is a type of entry which breaking its privacy will follow all kinds of human or divine punishment (Abbdi Miyardan and Seyed Almasi, 2014). 7-criticizing the lack of precision in judgment Saʿdī in Gulistan portrays the disorganized and chaotic atmosphere of society through the language of satire. He illustrates the abnormalities of society, especially turbulence in the justice, considering the word of jealous people, the fear of innocent of unjust accusations, the helplessness of oppressed ones and the violation of the laws in the community in the following anecdote: One of the friends of Saʿdī complained of the unpropitious times and asked Saʿdī through his influence; get him appointed to a post. Saʿdī answerd, working in the court is a dangerous job and some people lose their life. His friend said: But what has he to fear whose account of the conscience is clear? Saʿdī said: the story of that fox resembles thy case, who was by some persons seen fleeing with much trouble and asked for the cause of his fear replied: I have heard that camels are being forced into the service. They said: O fool, what

7 connection hast thou with a camel and what resemblance does the latter bear to thee? The fox rejoined: Hush. If the envious malevolently say that I am a camel and I am caught, who - Mirsadeghi, M., 1994, (Zolghadr) Dictionary of poetry art, 1 st edition, Mahnaz Book: Tehran. - Mousavi, S.J., 2009, Satire Book no.5, Tehran: Soreh, 1 st edition - Movahed, Z., Saadi. 5 th edition, Nilofar Publication: Tehran. - Muslih al-dīn bin Abdallāh., 2000, Gulistan. Compiled by Khalil Khatib Rahbar. 12 th edition. Safi Ali Shah Publication - Plard, A., 2004, Satire, translated by S. Saidpour. Tehran: Center, 3 rd edition - Radfar, A., 1994, Comic art and its surroundings, Journal of Persian sugar. No. 6, Page Rehatsek, E., 2000, Rose Garden of Saʿdī, Typesetting and Layout Copyright by Omphaloskepsis. - Safa, Z., 1995, the history of literature in Iran, Summarization by Mohammad Torabi. 10 th edition, Badiheh Publications: Tehran. - Shafii kadkani, M., 1997, Moflese Kimiya Frosh, 1st edition, Tehran, sokhan [Persian] - Shimizu, N., ethical critera in the view point of saadi, Elmi - Farhangi Publications, 1 st edition, Tehran - Torabi, A. A., 2000, Sociology of art and Literature: Triangle of Art, Forogh Azadi Publication: Tabriz - Vameghi, I., Satire in the works of Saʿdī, Ashena magazine, 5 th year, Issue 26, pp Zarrinkoub, A. B., 2006, about the literary past of Iran, 3 rd edition, Sokhan: Tehran - Zarrinkoub, A. B., 2007, Hadith of Saʿdī, Sokhan: Tehran will care to release me or investigate my case? Till the antidote was brought from Eraq the snake-bitten person died (Rehatsek, Rose Garden of Saʿdī, p52-53). Saʿdī in this anecdote criticizes uninformed society, irresponsible and ruthless Kings, who are not able to distinguish the guilty from the innocent, fail to do justice and only based on the envious and malevolent sayings of courtiers issue the commandment. Saʿdī in this anecdote uses animal- likened humiliation to create satire, since in this anecdote he likened his friend to a fox. The world of animals in creating satire which is used to belittle or humiliate claimants in these cases, through likening human beings to animals and animals to human beings, human falls to the animal level and animal rises to human level and this will cause laughter (Krichely, 2005: p44). References - Abdi Miyardan, M., and Seyed Almasi, P., 2014, An Investigation toward Satirical Practices in Iranian superstitions, Journal of Social Issues & Humanities, Volume 2, Issue 6, ISSN Ahmadi, O.A., Sociology in Gulistan of Saadi. Islamic Azad University of Tehran publication, 1 st edition - Aslani, M. R., 2008, Terms of humor, 2 nd edition, Caravan publication, Tehran - Behzadi Anduhjerdi, H., 1999, Satire and Satirical in Iran. Tehran: Saduq, 1 st edition - Dashti, A., 2011, Saadi territory. Under the supervision of M. Mahuzi. Tehran: Zavar - Fasayi, R., 2010, Types of Persian prose. Tehran: SAMT, 2 nd edition - Krichely, S., 2005, about satire, S. Sami. Tehran: Phoenix, 1 st edition - Merhraban, J., 2008, Persian poetry Sociology, Volume One from beginning to end Saljoughian, Tabran publication, Mashhad. Islamic Azad University (Ghouchan)

8 Persian literature, Journal of Literature and Humanities Faculty, Tehran University, No. 3 - Zolfaghari, H., 2010, Aesthetics of Persian proverbs, literary Garden Magazine, 2 nd edition - Yagubi, p., 2007, an introduction toward of taboo breaking and it s in classical