A Study of the Influence of Abulfatḥ Busti on Saʿdi

There are various forms of literary exchanges in the world of literature, and there are few literatures that have developed in a closed circle without going beyond their borders. In this context, Arabic and Persian literature due to the geographical proximity and the prevalence of common customs compared to other nations have experienced greater cultural, literary, scientific and social exchanges. Saʿdi, the renowned poet of 7th century, has been significantly influenced by Arabic literature. One of the poets whose works had fascinated Saʿdi was Abolfath Basti, the poet of 4th century, who became famous during his lifetime for poems rich of wisdom and erudition. In this paper, which seeks to investigate the influence of Abolfath Busti on Saʿdi, a descriptive-analytical method has been adopted to explore different aspects of this inspiration. The findings suggest that Busti’s poems, Saʿdi’s travels to Eastern regions and his companionship of scholars who had incorporated Busti’s poems in their works, are some of the extra textual reasons that explain the impact of Busti on Saʿdi. This influence is evident from an intertextual perspective in rhetorical and thematic strains of Saʿdi’s poems. Extraterritorial factors related to historical issues suggest that the reputation of the Busti’s poetry and its dissemination in the eastern and western parts of the world on the one hand and numerous Saʿdi’s trips to the east on the other hand reinforce the possibility of reading the works of Busti. Studies on the rhetorical levels of language used by both poets reveal rhetorical adaptations of Busti’s poetry at two levels of poetic images and proverbs in the poetry of Sa'di, but it does not mean that these adaptations are the outcome of pure imitation devoid of any ingenuity. As for thematic adaptation, it was concluded that a significant part of the wisdom shared in the world of these two poets come from common source, which is because both poets have been inspired by a shared source of beliefs. These poems reflect a variety of Islamic sources has been reflected. Accordingly, Saʿdi's exploitation of Islamic wisdoms has created a set of shared themes between his poems and that of Basti, among which the following can be cited: thankfulness of God, instability of the world, philanthropy, respect for other people, patience and forbearance.