Sanai of Ghazna

Abul-Majd Majdud ibn Adam Sanai was born in Ghazni and began his career as a court panegyrist to the Ghaznavid sultans. Undergoing a dramatic spiritual conversion after an encounter with a holy fool who mocked his court flattery, he renounced imperial riches, went on pilgrimage to Mecca, and devoted the remainder of his life to ascetic contemplation and mystical poetry.

Sanai was the foundational master who introduced Sufi themes, allegorical parables, and ethical philosophy into Persian poetic verse. His masterpiece, Hadiqat al-Haqiqa (The Walled Garden of Truth), was the direct model for Attar's Conference of the Birds and Rumi's Mathnawi, prompting Rumi's famous declaration: 'Attar was the spirit, Sanai his eyes twin'.