TEHRAN -- Scholar Seyyed Ali Mirafzali discovered 205 new quatrains by Sanai during the revision process for a soon-to-be-published anthology of Sanai’s poetry.

“I have made corrections to Sanai’s quatrains based on 25 different manuscripts. After completion, I noticed that 205 of his quatrains have not been published in available editions,” Seyyed Ali Mirafzali told Persian service of MNA.
The collection was corrected in consultation with Iranian scholar Mohammadreza Shafeie Kadkani who emphasized the importance of the publication of the newly discovered poems in an independent volume. Miras-e Maktub will publish the collection in late summer, he said.
The new version of Sanai poetry collection will include 740 quatrains which is 205 more in comparison with the most complete currently available version corrected by Mohammad-Taqi Modarres Ravazi with only 535 poems, he said.
Quatrains composed by Sanai were popular and were recited in different Iranian cities during his lifetime. The popularity affected the process of composing quatrains in Iran and influenced poems by Rumi and Attar, Mirafzali mentioned.
Abu Majd Majdud ibn Adam, known as Sanai, was one of the earlier Sufi poets. He was born in Ghazna about 1080 CE and died around 1131 CE.
Rumi acknowledged Sanai and Attar as his two primary sources of inspiration, saying, “Attar is the soul and Sanai its two eyes, I came after Sanai and Attar”.
His work is still widely considered by scholars to be the first great mystical poetry in Dari, and has had far reaching influence on both Muslim and Persian literature.