Farid ud-Din Attar

(b. ca. 1120 to 1157 - d. ca. 1193 to 1235):

The Persian poet and Sufi theologian also known as Abu Hamid bin Bakr Ibrahim and Attar of Nishapur (“Attar” is said to be a name meaning herbalist or alchemist, a perfumist or druggist, thus, perhaps a name he took or was given representing his occupation--it is presumed he was as much involved in the chemical as he was in the practice of medicine).  Little is known of his life (his fame came to be a couple hundred years after his death), but he is thought to have come from Nishapur (Neishapour; in northeast Iran) and have been the son of a chemist and had received a broad, superlative education, possibly having been a chemist (in today’s terms, a pharmacist) to many customers.  His early education was likely strictly theological and at a school connected to the shrine of Imam Reza at Mashhad, also in northeastern Iran.  After his schooling, he travelled widely, as was common for poets and scholars then--think of the traveling troubadour or the wandering scholar.  Their wanderings were typically to find patronage as well as seeking to spread their ideas and gather ideas from afar; it is likely that Attar was more interested in the pursuit of knowledge, for he never sought a king’s favor or wrote any “panegyrics,” public declarations offering his name for support of something.  Another piece of evidence for his not seeking a king’s support was the fact that he had been tried for heresy.  This was not against his Conference of the Birds, but another poem, although in the Conference we can see the roots of what may have been found so blasphemous.  The charge was upheld, and he was banished and his property was looted--what was not uncommon for mystical poets of the time.  He did, however, die in his hometown, so at some point he had returned to Nishapur. 

In addition to his being well-travelled, he was, reputedly, also highly empathetic, thus gifted at spreading Sufi ideas far and wide.  It is said his first real voyage was a pilgrimage to Mecca, which led to his travels to many other lands, from Egypt to India, seeking wisdom, before he returned to his hometown.  His death was said to come when he was 70 and violently, killed by the Mongols in a massacre of Nishapur in 1221.  Scholars believe, however, that this story is myth, as the likely birthdate would have put him at well over 100 when the Mongols invaded.

1. A traditional story (i.e., not historically credible, but culturally telling!) about his death: Attar was said to have been taken prisoner by a Mongol during the invasion; someone came to try and free him by paying a ransom of silver; Attar told the Mongol, ‘no, don’t accept it, that is not my worth;’ the Mongol assumed he could get more silver, so refused; the man returned to try a new ransom, this time, a sack of straw, to which Attar told the Mongol, ‘yes, that is what I am worth;’ the Mongol was so furious, thinking he’d been tricked, that he promptly cut of Attar’s head.
   

He is one of the earliest and most highly regarded Sufi poets.  Philosophically, his thought, well after his death, was deeply influential on Sufism.  His innovations were the blending of Sufi ideas with earlier Muslim and Aristotelian-based ascetic philosophy (although he seems to hold a skeptical and perhaps negative view of Aristotelian philosophy—at least, as it was, something that had evolved into a convoluted mix of Neo-Platonic, Christian, Jewish, and Islamic philosophy).  His Sufism is clearly held in his writings, although some of the works attributed to him are highly debated (over thirty are said to be his, with scholars agreeing only on about eight as certain).  Historically, he has also been co-opted as both Sunni and Shia. 

A collection of his sayings can be found ~.~. here .~.~

Before moving to textual analysis, we will need a little background on Sufism:

Sufism:

The etymology of the name sufi is uncertain, perhaps tracing back to the Arabic safa, purity, or to suf, wool, referring to the simple wool cloaks the early Islamic ascetics wore; a medieval Iranian scholar, Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, argued that the name came from the Greek sophia, wisdom. 

It is the mystical branch of Islam; it advocates a spiritual exercise to purify the heart and focus it on God.  In addition to traditional ascetic practices, classical Sufism practiced dhikr, an activity of repeating the names of God. 

1. There are both Sunni and Shite orders of Sufism, with others being their mixture and still others claiming no allegiance to one or the other; all sects trace their original tenets back to the Prophet Mohammad (some scholars cite the Quran as Sufism’s origin; some argue it began before the rise of Islam; and some Muslims argue that Sufism is not Islam). 
   

Sufis believe that it is possible to draw closer to God in this life, as opposed to only in Paradise after death and judgment.  This is possible through embracing the divine presence, possible after conditioning oneself or restoring oneself to a primordial state (fitra, one’s condition, instinctual state, or a mystical intuitive state) of pure obedience to God obtained by pure love and purity.  In this state, one has abandoned all dualistic notions and sense of self and embraced the divine unity of all.  This state is attained by a stoic practice of purifying the base parts of the self and purifying the higher parts of the self, one’s heart, with contemplation of esoteric knowledge.  The purification is guided by two laws, an outer law, concerning practice (civic rules), and an inner law, concerned with the heart (repentance, virtue). 

1. Specific tenets connected to this include:
   

2.  What is, is God—He is (all) that is; everything that is, is God and God is everything that is.  This is a radicalization of emanation theory, wherein all that is, is of God, thus all of creation is outpourings of God.  Emanation theory evades pure pantheism; Sufism often obliterates the distinction between creation and Creator, thus being pantheistic—and causing the death of many of its Saints.  Attar was indicted of heresy, but throughout Conference of the Birds we will see him stepping back at the very last second from a complete equation between God and His creations. 
   

3.  Religions are more and less useful tools to reach the Truth beyond their doctrines; Islam is the best of these.
   

4.  Good and Evil are human inventions; they are meaningless to God, who is only Unity.
   

5.  The human soul is trapped within the body, but can look beyond it to recognize its essential oneness with God.
   

6.  We need to awaken the human soul to this oneness and, with God’s grace as guide, we can achieve the oneness with God, which is an annihilation of the self into the whole. 
   

7.  Read the Introduction (pp.13-4) for accounts of al-Hallaj and Bistami (Bayazid), two of Attar’s famous Sufi saints, who both were tried for heresy for uttering, during trance, various statements like “I am the Truth,” “I am God,” “Glory to Me,” etc., expressing their being God, by having become annihilated into His unity … but, of course, the blasphemy!   
   

Beginning Sufi practice required one to find a teacher, true masters tracing their intellectual lineage back to Mohammad.  Because of this, it is striking that scholars completely disagree as to Attar’s teacher—various names are posed, some accounts say the spirit of a long-since dead saint was his teacher, who came to him in dreams, and some say he simply had not teacher, but instead his study of the past saints was his instruction. 

1. Sufi instruction is said to be by divine light to the pupil’s heart, not worldly knowledge that is transmitted from mouth to ear.  Many branches of Sufism reject all book learning; it is unlikely that Attar supports any such anti-intellectualism, given his practice of chemistry/medicine and his travel as a wondering scholar/troubadour.  However, in general, Sufism encourages knowledge as spiritual practice and its goal of immediate spiritual experience lends its transmission to needing a learning far from rational discourse, instead, a poeticism and indirection, parable and metaphor. 
   

2. This learning is typically referred to as Gnosis, the Geek noun meaning “knowledge,” but here it means an intuitively experiential spiritual knowledge that is attained through interior reflection and/or mystical experience.
   

3. This also suggests the esotericism of Sufi teachings; their knowledge was passed down only to the initiated, their teachings kept paradoxical.
   

1. The “spiritual exercise” prescribed here is known as Dhikr:  a prayer-like activity described as the remembrance of God commanded for all Muslims in the Quran that consists of repeating the names of God primarily, but may also include the repetition of the supplications and aphorism from the Quran and hadith literature (collections of sayings of the Prophet Mohammad and of acts approved of or criticized by him).  It can also specify a broader state of awareness of God, a practiced consciousness of the Divine Presence and love, and the activity of attaining a state of “godwariness” (Mohammad was referred to as the embodiment of dhikr of God in the Quran).  Dhikr ceremonies are called sema; these include practices of recitation, singing, music, dance, and meditation. 
   

Attar’s Conference of the Birds is said to be the best possible introduction to Sufism.  We will read about the traversal of seven valleys in the work: Search, Love, Mystical Apprehension, Detachment or Independence, Unity, Bewilderment, and Fulfillment in Annihilation.  These, it is said, are the stages the Sufi goes through in their pursuit of purification that allows them union with God. 

Click ~~here~~ for a site with many stories of major Sufi Saints.

The Conference of the Birds [Manteq at-Tayr]:

The poem is upheld as one of the finest examples of Persian poetry with carefully constructed metaphor and word play (e.g., “Simorgh,” the mythic bird of Sufi tales, and “si morgh,” or “thirty birds” in Persian; each bird is a symbol of recognizable psychologies; and each of the seven valleys they pass over represents one of the Sufi stations on the path to realizing the true nature of God). 

Images, above: Habib Allah: The Assembly of the Birds, page from a manuscript of the Mantiq al-tair; Timeline of Art History, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (upper left) and “The Hoopoe Speaks to the Peacock” miniature painting of the Mantiq al-tayr of Attar, Persian MS Add. 7735, f. 30v., The British Library (lower right).

*** revisions and additions underway ***

The Welcoming

(Lines 616-36, p.29):

The Conference of the Birds opens with a welcoming of the birds at the conference … we initially meet 17 of the birds.  Notice that each is representative of a personality type that is connected in some way to their appearance and tales, myths, or ornithologist observations about their behavior.  They are first welcomed, and then, soon, we will see them offer up excuses.

Click here for pictures of the birds in Attar’s Conference of the Birds

Hoopoe: the guide bird

Finch:

Parrot:

Partridge:

Falcon:

(Lines 637-52, p.30):

Francolin:

Nightingale:

Peacock:

(Lines 653-72, p.31):

Cock Pheasant:

Pigeon:

Turtle-Dove:

Hawk:

(Lines 673-92, p.32):

Gold Finch:

“The birds assemble and the hoopoe tells them of the Simorgh” (32).

(Lines 693-754, pp.33-5):

“All nations in the world require a king; / How is it that we alone have no such thing? / Only a kingdom can be justly run; / We need a king and must inquire for one” (32). 

The poem’s entire narrative follows from the claim that a king is needed.  I think that it is interesting to reflect for a moment on this claim.  There seems to be evidence that Attar, himself, never sought patronage from a king and suffered persecution for being a Sufi by the political authority, thus, there is no evidence that he himself holds this claim as necessary as concerns human governance.  And, while the text offers us many examples of kings who do fine acts, and support for the necessity of having a guide, there is also the tale that Solomon’s political power held him back from achieving the Way.  So, how much is this pursuit of a king allegorical for pursuit of The King, i.e., God, and how much is it the need for a “king” as a guide?  Or, when we reach the end, will the claim of the necessity of a king be revealed as not necessary, but the search for one, may perhaps be? 

Argument erupted over how to do so, and the Hoopoe comes forward and establishes himself as the one that can lead them to their king.  The Hoopoe is connected to King Solomon, his close friend, the only one for whom the King went looking, and the King’s messenger.  “A prophet loved me; God has trusted me; / What other bird has won such dignity?” (33).  He tells them:

I know our king—but how can I alone

Endure the journey to His distant throne?

Join me, and when at last we end our quest

Our king will greet you as His honoured guest (33).

Thus, we have the leader and know that a collective quest must be undertaken to the king.  However, it is the following lines that prove most rich for telling us something of the abiding philosophy we will see in this quest for the king/God and is representative of Sufi belief:

1. How long will you persist in blasphemy?
   

2. Escape your self-hood’s vicious tyranny—
   

3. Whoever can evade the Self transcends
   

4. This world and as a lover he ascends (33).
   

We will see repeatedly this idea that the Self binds one to the mortal, keeps us from the reunion with God.  The self is a tyranny.  We must transcend it.  We do this through love.  Love is the most important passion throughout the work and for the mystical, spiritual transformation to union with the One. 

The king is now named: the Simorgh—the mythic bird of Sufi tales. 

The Simorgh lives in us, but we live far, far, far away from Him, and the Hoopoe warns that it will be a difficult trek to Him.  He is that of which no mind can penetrate; we cannot know Him, describe Him, nor name Him.  The journey will take great courage (33-4):

1. If you desire this quest, give up your soul
   

2. And make our sovereign’s court your only goal.
   

3. First wash your hands of life if you would say:
   

4. “I am a pilgrim of our sovereign’s Way;”
   

5. Renounce your soul for love; He you pursue
   

6. Will sacrifice His inmost soul for you (34).
   

It is said that he left a sign of Himself in China—a feather; and each heart contains this sign, if we look for it.  “But since no words suffice, what use are mine / To represent or to describe this sign?” (35).

The impossibility of describing the Way and God will be repeated frequently throughout the work and is a most important unifying feature of all religious mysticism.  Another important feature in all mysticism is the emphasis on love.  Love, herein Attar’s Conference, is a complex and ubiquitous topic.  Exploring the nature of this love, and how it differs from the many other types of love is a worthy investigation.

Initially, all the birds were thrilled and enthusiastic … but, quickly, doubt crept in and hesitation.  Their strength dissolved and they all declined to join the Hoopoe.

A handful of representative excuses are then laid out, with the Hoopoe’s response to each one, followed by an aphoristic account somehow thematically connected. 

(Lines 738-833, pp.35-40):

“The Nightingale’s Excuse” (35-6):

The nightingale makes the first excuse.  The beauty of the nightingale’s story … it is due, predominately, to the intensity of his love for the Rose, and, partially, because he is neither robust nor strong, and the path to the Simorgh is too, too long.  “My love is here; the journey you propose / Cannot beguile me from my life – the rose” (36).

“The hoopoe answers him” (36-7):

The love of the rose is superficial and fleeting … she blooms and then vanishes.

“The Story of a dervish and a princess” (37):

This is the first anecdote of many throughout the poem.  Each is connected—some more explicitly than others—to ideas surfacing just before their insertion.  This first one is about a dervish who loves a princess. 

Dervish:  comes from a proto-Iranian word for “mendicant” or “needy” and is a Sufi ascetic, following the path known as “Tariqah,” and have taken a vow of poverty (although, that which they gain by begging is to be a lesson in humility, not something for their own good, thus they give what they receive to others).  We know the Dervishes best in the West by their dance: the Whirling Dervishes.  This is a ceremonial practice called Sema and is intended to inspire religious ecstasy.  

“The parrot’s excuse” (38):

“A story about Khezr” (39):

(Lines 833-39, pp.40-44):

Duck:  The Duck’s excuse concerns purity … cf. lines 2531-44 ff. for more on purity.

Partridge:  He is described as pompous and his excuse concerns his love of jewels … cf. lines 2028 ff. on pride and lines 2079 ff. on being miserly, having riches, and being ostentatious.

Homa: a mythical bird whose shadow would fall on a future king.

(Lines 923-58, pp.44-5):

Hawk:  he boasts and brags; his excuse concerns his superiority and having all the eminence he desires by being that bird which sits on the hand of the sovereign … cf. lines 2028 ff. on pride.

(Lines 959-97, pp.46-7):

Heron:

(Lines 998-1014, p.48):

Owl:

(Lines 1596-1740, pp.48-83):

On doubts, and the difficulty, and how to achieve the end.

Why do we see here the question of how only some and not all achieve the king/selflessness/faith?  We have seen Sufism as an openness to all faiths as suitable paths (even if Islam may be held to be the most suitable) to the Truth that is behind them all, so, why now the proposition that only some are capable of achieving the Truth? 

Consider, for instance:

Lines 1610-3 with the tale of Sheikh Bayazid, who is told by God that “Most are turned back, and few perceive the throne; / Among a hundred thousand there is one” (approx., l.1625, p.77);

Lines 1630-70 with the birds asking the Hoopoe why he has been shown the Truth.

Further, there is the murder and the sinner who get to heaven, without striving; there are those who strive, but slip in their unfaltering obedience and get cut down (greyhound to the king, etc.). 

The Glance of Solomon (l.1657 ff.) … “Glance” –what an interesting word choice … is a glance recognition? 

Grace: King Mas’oud and the Fisherboy (l.1693 ff.)

Murderer goes to heaven … we need the glance from the other … we need a guide.

Line 1868 ff. : the opposite of a glance … lack of a glance sent the sinner to heaven …

(Lines 732 ff.): the cowardly bird … we ought to die a noble death … compare to the ancient Greek promotion of the beauty of the noble death.

(Lines 1748 ff.):  this needs close inquiry, two points: (1) the statement that no one has reached the goal and (2) the conditional ‘even if’ it is blasphemous.

(Lines 1791 ff.):  on Rabe’eh  (and see lines 2116 ff.) – all are hindered. 

Rabe’eh, also spelled Rabia or Rabia Basri or Rabi’a Al-Adawiyya, ca. 717-801 –an exceedingly important female Sufi mystic, ascetic, and Muslim saint.  She is reputed to have attracted a very large following with her promotion of loving God for the sake of love, and not out of fear. 

See three additional links for more on her:

Here for a wikipedia review

Here for a brief bio and some of her poetry

Here for another brief bio and some of her poetry

(Lines 1811 ff.):  God’s patience

Pagan let into heaven (1848).

(Lines 1904 ff.):  the indecisive bird … compare this account to Saint Augustine … are they not both viciously struggling, go through doubt and despair, being tossed and pulled back and forth?  While there are some accounts herein of mere grace or the glance bestowing salvation on various characters, and how if we ask God for forgiveness, it will be granted because of His immense patience, most of the message seems to tell us that what is important is to strive the best we can to get rid of the self and be pure.  Isn’t the process of doubt and despair a striving?  However, the hoopoe’s response is to just firmly give up the indecision; there should be none.  Accompanying this are the repeated suggestions of what, for a lack of a better description, seems like the intense jealousy of God (cf. lines 2133 ff. and 2265 ff.): God’s demand for utter, complete commitment.  Do we strive with torment, or do we just jump (Kierkegaardian leap of faith?) beyond question to the state of faith.  (But, in Kierkegaard, remember this is an infinite movement, we must always reenact the move of faith.  Here, it seems that we do no reenactment, we simply annihilate the self and have no doubt, no striving.)

(Lines 1954-2009 ff.):  The SELF.  Ridding the self of the Self. 

(Lines 2028 ff.):   Pride

(Lines 2079 ff.):  Miserliness, riches  (also, cf. 2150 ff., on the ostentatious)

(Lines 2214 ff.):  Love’s binds … the need to give up superficial or worldly loves for The Love.

(Lines 2283 ff.):  Death

(Lines 2356 and 2371 ff.):  the deaths of Jesus and Socrates

(Lines 2389-2472 ff.):  Bad luck and unhappiness.  This is a curious part, too … curious that an ecstatic mysticism that is based upon love (the utter, whole obedience to one’s Love) focuses so much on unhappiness.  An interesting counter to an Aristotelian end of “happiness” (Eudaimonia, “flourishing”) … for Aristotle, the greatest good and end to which we aim is this flourishing, pleasant, happy state that is achieved by our acquisition of the character and intellectual virtues and cultivation of a harmonious state of character … For Attar, we see the promotion of an asceticism that is like a hyper state of temperance, and some degree of an active work to be pure and selfless and some degree of a restive state of being selfless, yet, this is not done for the end of happiness, for the end of Love.  Is this an almost Kantian purposiveness without a purpose?  Or, an inverse, where there is a purpose (attain faith, merge with the One), but no activity that is as if it has a purpose? 

(Lines 2455 ff.):  accept a guide

(Lines 2531-44 ff.):  Purity (and the very striking note about blood money)

(Lines 2599-2612 ff.):  Aspiration …  here, the same questions arise for me as broached in the comments on lines 1904 ff. and lines 2389 ff.: how is this not striving, how is aspiration not a seeking of happiness as the greatest good and end that is merger with God?

Also, cf. 2630-46: “The bird of aspiration …”

(Lines 2647-60 ff.):  Justice and loyalty

“The just man does not argue for his rights; / It is for others he stands and fights” (p.135).

(Lines 2681-2715 ff.):  the most striking parable (?) about the Muslim and the infidel who are fighting; note here the importance underscoring promises and the statement of the “golden rule” or the Kantian categorical imperative concerning the necessity of acting unto others as we wish them to act unto us.

More Textual Analysis Coming Soon ...

Legacy of the poem and of Attar:

The Conference of the Birds was adapted into a French play (La Conférence des oiseaux) by Peter Brook and Jean-Claude Carrière in 1979 performed throughout rural Africa, New York City, and Paris.  It was revised in 1991 and performed in London and then later translated into Hebrew.

Attar had a deep influence on Rumi, perhaps the Sufi mystic poet most well-known to the West (Rumi wrote: “Attar has roamed through the seven cities of love while we have barely turned down the first street” (quoted in Richard Moore and Peter Sheldon, Fodor’s Iran (1979), 277)).

The Jazz musician David Holland named an album about his own enlightenment after the poem (title song ~.~. here .~.~).