Abolghasem Ferdowsi
Abolqasem Ferdowsi (Persian: ابوالقاسم فردوسی), the son of a wealthy land owner, was born in 935 in a small village named Paj near Tus in Khorasan which is situated in today's Razavi Khorasan province in Iran.
He devoted more than 35 years to his great epic, the Shāhnāmeh. It was originally composed for presentation to the Samanid princes of Khorasan, who were the chief instigators of the revival of Iranian cultural traditions after the Arab conquest of the seventh century. Ferdowsi started his composition of the Shahnameh in the Samanid era in 977 A.D. During Ferdowsi's lifetime the Samanid dynasty was conquered by the Ghaznavid Empire. After 30 years of hard work, he finished the book and two or three years after that, Ferdowsi went to Ghazni, the Ghaznavid capital, to present it to the king, Sultan Mahmud.
Ferdowsi is said to have died around 1020 in poverty at the age of 85, embittered by royal neglect, though fully confident of his work's ultimate success and fame, as he says in the verse:
" ... I suffered during these thirty years, but I have revived the Iranians (Ajam) with the Persian language; I shall not die since I am alive again, as I have spread the seeds of this language ..."
“جهانا سراسر فسوسی و بادبتو نیست مرد خردمند شاد”
“I am deathless, I am the eternal LordFor I have spread the seed of the Word.”
“Such is the passing that you must leave,All men must die, and it is vain to grieve.”
“And while one is brought up with luxury and caresses, and is thrown bewildered and despairing into a dark pit, another is lifted from the pit and raised to a throne where a jeweled crown is placed on his head. The world has no shame in doing this; it is prompt to hand out both pleasure and pain and has no need of us an our doings.”
“I turn to right and left, in all the earthI see no signs of justice, sense or worth:A man does evil deeds, and all his daysAre filled with luck and universal praise;Another's good in all he does - he diesA wretched, broken man whom all despise.”
“From moment then to moment their desireGained strength, and wisdom fled before love's fire;Passion engulfed them, and these lovers layEntwined together till the break of day.”
“Our lives pass from us like the wind, and whyShould wise men grieve to know that they must die?The Judas blossom fades, the lovely faceOf light is dimmed, and darkness takes its place.”
“But all this world is like a tale we hear -Men's evil, and their glory, disappear.”