(ca. 1142-ca. 1220) poet, philosopher
Farid od-Din ‘Attar was one of the greatest mystical writers and poets of the Muslim tradition. His works strongly influenced later Persian and other Islamic literature in both subject matter and style. Farid od-Din was born in Nishapur, in northeastern Iran. Not much is known about his life, but the name ‘Attar (perfumer or druggist) may indicate his family’s line of work. As a young man he traveled extensively throughout most of the Muslim world, from Egypt to Central Asia and India, then returned to his hometown to pursue his writing. Apart from writing his many poems (over 45,000 couplets) and mystical prose works, he was a diligent collector of the sayings and writings of the great Sufi saints and masters who, in the previous two centuries, profoundly influenced the civilization of Persia.
Farid od-Din’s most celebrated work is his long allegorical or didactic epic, The Conference of the Birds. The poem follows the birds as they search for the Simurgh, or Phoenix, whom they want to make their ruler. Passing through the philosophical trials and tribulations of the seven valleys of inner perfection, most of them die through a fatal attachment to the self: the nightingale cannot give up the rose, nor the parrot its cage; the wagtail decides it is too small, the peacock too large. The remaining 30 birds (si murgh) find the king’s palace at last, only to see themselves reflected in the phoenix’s face.
The searchers, representing aspiring Sufis, are thus identified with the divine beloved they have been seeking all their lives. The beloved tells them:
Since you came here as thirty birds, you appeared thirty in the mirror.
But We are altogether far superior: We are Simurgh, the One Reality.
Known by a hundred glorious Names. Be annihilated, so that you may find yourselves in us.
Farid od-Din’s divan, or poetry anthology, is suffused with many more such verses of mystical and philosophical exploration. Two examples are Book of Affliction, in which Farid od-Din traces the progress of a soul through 40 stages of isolation; and Elahinama, in which a king instructs his six sons on how to attain perfection of the self and, through that, all their other desires.
One of Farid od-Din’s prose works, Muslim Saints and Mystics, is a thorough account of the early Sufi movement that has served as a source book for historians of the era. Among his most popular works is Book of Secrets, a collection of edifying short stories.
Some 30 of’Attar’s 100 books have survived. The poet had a great influence on all subsequent Persian mystics, including the great mystic poet rumi.
English Versions of Works by Farid od-DJn ‘Attar
Attar Stories for Young Adults. Translated by Muhammad Nur Salam. Chicago: Kazi Publications, 2000.
Conference of the Birds: The Selected Sufi Poetry of Farid Ud-Din Attar. Translated by Raficq Abdulla. Northampton, Mass.: Interlink Publishing Group, 2003.
Works about FarTd od-DJn Attar
Levy, Reuben. An Introduction to Persian Literature. New York: Columbia University Press, 1969.
Ritter, Hellmut. Ocean of the Soul: Men, the World and God in the Stories of Farid Al-Din ‘Attar. Leiden, Netherlands:Brill Academic Publishers, 2003.
Thackston, Wheeler M. A Millennium of Classical Persian Poetry. Bethesda, Md.: Iranbooks, 1994.
