Pizhuhish nāmah-i intiqādī-i mutūn va barnāmah hā-yi ̒ulūm-i insāni (Critical Studies in Texts & Programs of Human Sciences)

Saadi and Politics: An Evaluation of Contemporary Iranian Research on Saadi's Political Thought

Document Type : Research

Author

Azizullah Ariafar

PhD Candidate in Political science, Ferdowsi University, Meshad, Iran

https://doi.org/10.30465/crtls.2025.49059.2845
Abstract
This article provides a critical assessment of contemporary Iranian scholarship on Saadi’s political thought, focusing on four influential works by Homa Katouzian, Abbas Milani and Maryam Mirzadeh, Rouhollah Eslami, and Seyyed Javad Tabatabaei. The central question concerns how Saʿdī is represented in these readings as a political thinker and how his relationship to politics is interpreted. Drawing on Paul Ricoeur’s philosophical hermeneutics, and emphasizing the dialectical relation between explanation and understanding, the article demonstrates that although Saʿdī lacks a coherent and systematic political theory, his works embody a form of practical, people-centered, and realist political rationality. The findings indicate that politics in Saʿdī’s thought is grounded less in abstract theorization than in lived experience, critical ethics, context-sensitive advisory writing, and resistance to injustice. These features render Saʿdī a significant resource for the rethinking of indigenous political reflection in Iran.

Keywords

Būstān
Golestān
Humanism
Iranian Despotism
Political Advice
Political Thought
Saadi
Subjects
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Milani, A., & Mirzadeh, M. (2020). Humanism in Saadi, Tehran: Zemestan Publications.
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Saadi, M. ibn-e- Abdullah. (1980), Bustan (G. H. Yusefi, Ed. & Annotator), Tehran: Association of Professors of Persian Language and Literature Press.
Saadi, M. ibn-e- Abdullah. (1983). The collected works of Saadi (M. A. Foroughi, Ed.), Tehran: Amir Kabir.
Saadi, M. ibn-e- Abdullah. (2000), Golestan (G. H. Yusefi, Ed.), Tehran: Khwarazmi Publications.
Saadi, M. ibn-e- Abdullah. (2006), The collected works of Saadi (M. A. Foroughi, Ed.). Tehran: Zavar Publications.
Saadi, M. ibn-e- Abdullah. (2007), The collected works of Saadi (M. A. Foroughi, Ed.). Tehran: Amir Kabir.
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  • Receive Date 21 September 2025
  • Revise Date 27 November 2025
  • Accept Date 06 January 2026

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