Innovations in the Poetry Form by Sheikh Sad od-Din Ahmad Ansari

Sheikh Sad od-Din Ahmad ó Ansari, the son of Mawlana Abd ol-Ghaffar Ibn Abd ol-Karim, is a mystic of the 12th and 13th centuries AH. Sad od-Din was born in Kabul in the village called Yahya Yahyaee in 1140 AH and died in the same place in 1225 AH (Ansari, 1374: 6). In his youth, he learned canonical law and theology from his father but was soon attracted to mysticism (Heravi, 1373, 43). After performing Hajj in between the years 1169-113 AH and getting permission to guide people from Naqshbandiyeh and Qaderiyeh mystic Sheikh Mohammad Saman Madani, he returned home and guided people untill the end of his life (Ansari, 1390: 3). Sheikh Sad od-Din was well learned in Islamic studies, Arabic language, rhetoric and sciences of his time. He was also familiar with the works of poets such as 'Attar, Rumi, Hafez, Ibn Arabi and other great names of mysticism. He was attached to Rumi and Hafez and has quoted them frequently in his works.
Sheikh Sad od-Din wrote thirty six books and treatises including seven Divans and two Masnavis in Persian; He also wrote a book entitled The Mine of Unity and treatises such as "Greetings Noble Tatar", "Habl ol-Matin" and "The Elite" in Arabic. He composed some poems in Arabic as well.
At least from 1174 AH Sheikh Sad od-Din started to bring changes to the ancient Persian poetry; thus his deconstruction made poetical form much similar to contemporary Persian poetry. However, due to political and cultural distance between Iran and Afghanistan, we did not have a chance to get familiar with his innovations.