The Relationship between King and People in Sa’di’s Political Views: A New Historicist Approach

The present study examines Sa’adi’s political views on the relationship between King and people and also approval or denial of political power based on all of his works, i.e., the Bustān, the Golestān, Qaṣāyed (Odes), Moqaṭṭaʿāt (“Fragments”), Rasāel (“Treatises”) and Ḡazaliyyāt (“sonnets”) from a New Historical approach.  This investigation was conducted considering two periods: the third era of Sa’adi’s life (the era of Atābakān-e-Fārs, from 1257 to 1264), and the fourth era of his life (from the decline of Atābakān to the domination of the Mongol rulers). His political treatise, i.e., Naṣiḥat Al-Molūk, meaning “advice for rulers”, the first two books of the Būstān that are begun with “justice” and “benevolence” in line with theoretical texts in modern politics, and the first chapter of Golestān entitled “Of the Customs of Kings” all indicate the significance of the relationship between king and people (i.e., governing a country) in Sa’di’s views. Establishing “social welfare”, “security”, and “peace” in society, is the most significant duty of a government towards its people. Denial of the idea of God’s shadow, transcending the “ship-shepherd” allegory and moving towards “head-body” and “tree-root” allegories, and different, often reverse, reading of king –people relationship express Sa’di’s different political views in comparison with the common and well-known readings of this relationship in Sa’di’s era. Europeans’ reading of Sa’di’s works confirms the political capability of his works.