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| Saadi's tomb in Shiraz. Taken in 2009. |
The main question this extremely interesting discussion addresses is: "why do we need the instructive and ethical writings of Saadi [one of Persia's
premier poets] in the age of science and technology?" Of course, this question also addresses the broader question of the role of ethics, religion, and spirituality in the modern world, not just as it relates to Saadi.
Gholamhossein Ebrahimi Dinani, a
wonderful professor has an engaging talk (below in Persian) regarding how the hard sciences and humanities should interact with each other in this regard.
Key quote in the discussion:
"are humans made to serve progress or progress to serve humanity?"
This line is something very key to keep in mind here in the West given our outlook on the role of knowledge in society and our view of history as a progression with the experience of the West being something that the rest of the world will eventually reach with time. The Western experience is thought to be universal, and that given time the rest of the world will conform to liberal Western political, economic, and social models (see Francis Fukuyama's
End of History).
But the modern Western experience is one in which spirituality is seen as divorced from the "high sciences." This secular attitude carries certain strong biases which among other things tend to look at complex human phenomena as math equations or chemistry problems. This view of science and knowledge -- one where ethics, spirituality, and God-consciousness are ignored -- is deeply troubling.
Certainly, there has been fantastic scientific achievements made in the modern era, however this does not mean that the beautiful ethical writings and moral instruction of someone like Saadi can be ignored.
The point being made in the lecture is that literature and the humanities provide inspiration and narratives (
revayat) of reality in which the hard sciences play a role of description (
towsif). There is an interplay here in which the hard sciences, so to speak, are tools through which to serve the grander narrations of ethics and piety. Instead of looking at advancing our material positions and scientific understanding for their own sake and having the rest of the human experience subsumed under purely materialistic and non-cosmological thought, perhaps it is appropriate to pay attention to the vast possibilities of rich thought and spirituality before us: the union of scientific advancement and spiritual fulfillment. This is the mission of Islamic intellectualism and one that I hope will become my own life track in which a moral mission and spiritual ambition drive the curiosity and research into the earthly domains of science and the study of phenomena I hope to undertake.
Indeed, the
words of Saadi are apt here:
"
یک شب تأمل ایام گذشته می کردم و بر عمر تلف کرده تأسف می خوردم و سنگ
سراچه دل به الماس آب دیده می سفتم و این بیت ها مناسب حال خود می گفتم
هر دم از عمر می رود نفسی
چون نگه می کنم نمانده بسی
ای که پنجاه رفت و در خوابی
مگر این پنج روزه دریابی
خجل آنکس که رفت و کار نساخت
کوس رحلت زدند و بار نساخت
I was one night meditating
on the time which had elapsed, repenting of the life I had squandered
and perforating the stony mansion of my heart with adamantine
tears. 1 I uttered the following verses in conformity with the
state of mind:
Every moment a breath of
life is spent,
If I consider, not much
of it remains.
O thou, whose fifty years
have elapsed in sleep,
Wilt thou perhaps overtake
them in these five days?
Shame on him who has gone
and done no work.
The drum of departure was
beaten but he has not made his load. "
[an interesting historical aside Dr. Dinani stated that I was not aware of: Saadi and
al-Ghazali both happened to study in the
Nizamiyeh college of Baghdad which was under the supervision of Nizam al-Molk Tusi the great political philosopher]
Take in a breath, for it will pass with joy
Wine bearer, why worry about the foes of tomorrow