THE BOOK OF MAS’UD SA’D SALMAN
Poet & Prisoner

Translation & Introduction Paul Smith

Mas’ud-i-Sa’d-i-Salman (1048-1122) was born in Lahore to wealthy parents who originally came from Hamadan. In the beginning he was at the court of the prince of Ghazneh and governor of India Sayfu’-daula Mahmud and quickly progressed in wealth and honour. When he was forty he was thrown into prison after being wrongfully accused along with his patron of treachery by Sultan Ibrahim. He was in the fortress of Dahak for seven years despite his protests in the form of qasidas and then was imprisoned for another three years in the fortress of Nay (see ruba’i following). He wasn’t released until 1096. On release he returned to Lahore and became the governor of Chalander. Soon he was imprisoned again in the fortress of Maranj, this time for eight years in the most appalling conditions. The last years of his life he spent as the royal librarian and favoured by the rulers of that time. He became a ‘Servant of God’ or a Sufi and a bit of a hermit.He was a brilliant poet and scholar and learnt astronomy (in prison) calligraphy and military affairs (that often got him into trouble). His famous Habsiyyat, (prison-songs) are among the most interesting poems in the Persian language. He was always an optimist, despite his long prison terms. Sana’i praised him and collected his poems into a Divan and he was admired by Mu’izzi, Anvari, Khaqani and Nava’i who called him “the agile horseman on the racecourse of the qasida and the incomparable creator of words.” Along with hundreds of qasidas and qit’as and a handful of ghazals and other forms of Persian poetry and some prose Mas’ud Sa’d Salman composed about four hundred ruba’is. The selection here is in the correct form. Introduction on his Life & Times and Forms of poetry he composed in. Selected Bibliography.

COMMENTS ON PAUL SMITH’S TRANSLATION OF HAFIZ’S ‘DIVAN’.

“It is not a joke... the English version of ALL the ghazals of Hafiz is a great feat and of paramount importance. I am astonished..” Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran.
“Smith has probably put together the greatest collection of literary facts and history concerning Hafiz.” Daniel Ladinsky (Penguin Books author).

Paul Smith is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets of the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages… including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, ‘Attar, Sana’i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Yunus Emre, Iqbal, Ghalib, Makhfi, Lalla Ded, Nazir and many others and his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children’s books. memoir and a dozen screenplays.www.newhumanitybooks.com