Siraj al-Deen Sakkaki was an Islamic scholar and a native of Kharazm.
Sakkaki was a blacksmith by profession. Once, having constructed a tiny and delicate iron chest with great effort and trouble, he decided to present it to the king of the time. The king and his ministers appreciated the delicate piece of work but while Sakkaki stood by awaiting his reward, a scholar entered the courtroom, whereupon everybody honoured him and sat before him in veneration and respect. Sakkaki was very impressed and askedwho he was. He was informed that he was one of the scholars of that period.
Sakkaki lamented the nature of his own profession and decided to seek knowledge instead. He was thirty years of age when he approached a school and expressed his desire to gain knowledge. The teacher of the school said to him:
“At your age, I doubt if you can make any progress. Go away and do not waste your timeunnecessarily.”
But after a great deal of insistence, Sakkaki procured the permission to engage himself in seeking knowledge. His memory was very weak. Once, his teacher asked him to memorize the following religious ruling: The skin of a dog becomes pure by means of tanning; but the next day, when he had to recite it before his teacher, he said:
“The dog said: The skin of the teacher becomes pure by means of tanning.”
Hearing this, the students as well as the teacher burst out laughing and ridiculed him.
Ten years of effort did not yield any result for Sakkaki, who became sad and despondent. He turned towards the mountains but as he wandered, he reached a place where drops of water were falling from a height onto a large slab of stone. The persistent falling of water had carved a hole in the stone.
Sakkaki studied the stone for some time and then said to himself:
“Surely your heart is not as hard as this rock. If you persevere, you shall finally succeed.” Having resolved on this, he returned to his school and from the age of 40, began his studies with even greater diligence, vigour and patience. Sakkaki finally reached a stage whereby, in the field of Arabic grammar and literature, the scholars of his period looked upon him with wonder and awe.
He wrote the book Miftaah al-U’loom, which comprises twelve sciences of Arabic literature and is regarded as one of the greatest and most distinguished works on the subject. ( Dastaan-ha-e-Maa, vol. 3, pg. 45. )