An online exhibition, which will open on Monday to mark Sadi Day, is scheduled to display posters representing the interest of Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, in the Gulistan, the masterpiece of the Persian poet Sheikh Muslih od-Din Sadi Shirazi.
The exhibition entitled “The Gulistan of Imam” has been inspired by “A Government Based on Morals”, the memoirs of Hojjatoleslam Abdolkarim Biazar Shirazi, a pupil of Imam Khomeini, the Imam Khomeini Cultural Center in Tehran, which is the organizer of the showcase, announced on Sunday.
“Perhaps, it seems really surprising for many people that a revolutionary leader and politician like Imam Khomeini was interested in literature and poetry,” the center wrote in a statement for the exhibition.
“However, they would show no surprise if they learned that Persian poetry and literature are not merely a rhythmic language, but it is a common culture and civilization linking people in Central Asia, Caucasia, the Indian Peninsula and Iran,” it added.
The cultural center has also published an excerpt from “A Government Based on Morals” in a brochure for the exhibit.
“Months before Imam Khomeini’s death, I remember that one day in the morning I received a telephone call from Hojjatoleslam Rasuli Mahallati, the director of Imam Khomeini’s office, who asked me to prepare a three-volume divan of Sadi for Imam Khomeini,” Biazar Shirazi wrote in his memoirs.
“‘Why not a one-volume?’ I asked. He answered that Imam wants to take the book with himself in his daily walking so he needs a book with a lower weight,” he added.
“This story was very inspiring and interesting for me from several points of view: Imam’s attention to reading and Sadi’s work at that age and with all his preoccupation with the country were more interesting,” he wrote.
The exhibition will be held on the center’s Instagram imam.farhangsara.
Source: Tehran Times
Add new comment