Attar of Nishapur

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Attar of Nishapur

Portrait of Attar

Mystic Poet

Born c. 1145[1]

Nishapur, Persia (modern Iran)

Died c. 1220 (aged 74–75)

Nishapur, Persia (modern Iran)

Resting place Mausoleum of Attar, Nishapur, Iran

Venerated in Traditional Islam, and especially by Sufis[2]

Influences Ferdowsi, Sanai, Khwaja Abdullah Ansari, Mansur

Al-Hallaj, Abu-Sa'id Abul-Khayr, Bayazid Bastami

 Influenced Rumi, Hafez, Jami, Ali-Shir Nava'i and many other

later Sufi Poets

Tradition or Mystic poetry

genre

Major works Memorial of the Saints

The Conference of the Birds

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Part of a series on Islam
Sufism

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Abū Ḥamīd bin Abū Bakr Ibrāhīm (c. 1145 – c. 1221; Persian: ‫)اﺑو ﺣﺎﻣد ﺑن اﺑوﺑﮑر اﺑراھﯾم‬, better known
by his pen-names Farīd ud-Dīn (‫ )ﻓرﯾد اﻟدﯾن‬and Aṭṭār (‫ﻋطﺎر‬, Attar means apothecary), was a twelfth-
century Persian[3][4][5] poet, theoretician of Sufism, and hagiographerfrom Nishapur who had an
immense and lasting influence on Persian poetry and Sufism. Manṭiq-uṭ-Ṭayr [The Conference of the
Birds] and Ilāhī-Nāma are among his most famous works.

Contents
 1Biography
 2Teachings
 3Poetry
o 3.1Manṭiq-uṭ-Ṭayr
 3.1.1The Seven Valleys of spirituality (conference of the birds)
 3.1.2Gallery of The Conference of the Birds
o 3.2Tadhkirat-ul-Awliyā
o 3.3Ilāhī-Nama
o 3.4Mukhtār-Nāma
o 3.5Divan
 4Legacy
o 4.1Influence on Rumi
o 4.2As a pharmacist
o 4.3In popular culture
 5See also
 6References
 7Sources
 8External links

Biography[edit]
Information about Attar's life is rare and scarce. He is mentioned by only two of his contemporaries,
`Awfi and Tusi. However, all sources confirm that he was from Nishapur, a major city of
medieval Khorasan (now located in the northeast of Iran), and according to `Awfi, he was a poet of
the Seljuq period.
According to Reinert: It seems that he was not well known as a poet in his own lifetime, except at his
home town, and his greatness as a mystic, a poet, and a master of narrative was not discovered
until the 15th century.[4] At the same time, the mystic Persian poet Rumihas mentioned: "Attar was
the spirit, Sanai his eyes twain, And in time thereafter, Came we in their train"[6] and mentions in
another poem: "Attar has traversed the seven cities of Love, We are still at the turn of one street".[7]
`Attar was probably the son of a prosperous chemist, receiving an excellent education in various
fields. While his works say little else about his life, they tell us that he practiced the profession of
pharmacy and personally attended to a very large number of customers.[4]The people he helped in
the pharmacy used to confide their troubles in `Attar and this affected him deeply. Eventually, he
abandoned his pharmacy store and traveled widely -
to Baghdad, Basra, Kufa, Mecca, Medina, Damascus, Khwarizm, Turkistan, and India, meeting with
Sufi Shaykhs - and returned promoting Sufi ideas.[8]
`Attar's initiation into Sufi practices is subject to much speculation. Of all the famous Sufi Shaykhs
supposed to have been his teachers, only one - Majd ud-Din Baghdadi a disciple of Najmuddin
Kubra- comes within the bounds of possibility. The only certainty in this regard is `Attar's own
statement that he once met him.[9] In any case it can be taken for granted that from childhood onward
`Attar, encouraged by his father, was interested in the Sufis and their sayings and way of life, and
regarded their saints as his spiritual guides.[10] At the age of 78, Attar died a violent death in the
massacre which the Mongols inflicted on Nishapur in April 1221.[4] Today, his mausoleum is located
in Nishapur. It was built by Ali-Shir Nava'i in the 16th century and later on underwent a total
renovation during Reza Shah the great in 1940.

Teachings[edit]
Ayaz kneeling before Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni. A miniature painting made in the year 1472, is used to
illustrate the six poems by Attar of Nishapur.

The thoughts depicted in `Attar's works reflects the whole evolution of the Sufi movement. The
starting point is the idea that the body-bound soul's awaited release and return to its source in the
other world can be experienced during the present life in mystic union attainable through inward
purification.[11] In explaining his thoughts, 'Attar uses material not only from specifically Sufi sources
but also from older ascetic legacies. Although his heroes are for the most part Sufis and ascetics, he
also introduces stories from historical chronicles, collections of anecdotes, and all types of high-
esteemed literature.[4] His talent for perception of deeper meanings behind outward appearances
enables him to turn details of everyday life into illustrations of his thoughts. The idiosyncrasy of
`Attar's presentations invalidates his works as sources for study of the historical persons whom he
introduces. As sources on the hagiologyand phenomenology of Sufism, however, his works have
immense value.
Judging from `Attar's writings, he approached the available Aristotelian heritage with skepticism and
dislike.[12][13] He did not seem to want to reveal the secrets of nature. This is particularly remarkable in
the case of medicine, which fell well within the scope of his professional expertise as pharmacist. He
obviously had no motive for sharing his expert knowledge in the manner customary among
court panegyrists, whose type of poetry he despised and never practiced. Such knowledge is only
brought into his works in contexts where the theme of a story touches on a branch of the natural
sciences.

Poetry[edit]
According to Edward G. Browne, Attar as well as Rumi and Sana'i, were Sunni as evident from the
fact that their poetry abounds with praise for the first two caliphs Abu Bakr and Umar ibn al-Khattāb -
who are detested by Shia mysticism.[14] According to Annemarie Schimmel, the tendency
among Shia authors to include leading mystical poets such as Rumi and Attar among their own
ranks, became stronger after the introduction of Twelver Shia as the state religion in the Safavid
Empire in 1501.[15]
In the introductions of Mukhtār-Nāma (‫ )ﻣﺧﺗﺎرﻧﺎﻣﮫ‬and Khusraw-Nāma (‫)ﺧﺳروﻧﺎﻣﮫ‬, Attar lists the titles of
further products of his pen:
Manṭiq-uṭ-Ṭayr

 Dīwān (‫)دﯾوان‬
 Asrār-Nāma (‫)اﺳرارﻧﺎﻣﮫ‬
 Manṭiq-uṭ-Ṭayr (‫)ﻣﻧطق اﻟطﯾر‬, also known as Maqāmāt-uṭ-Ṭuyūr (‫)ﻣﻘﺎﻣﺎت اﻟطﯾور‬
 Muṣībat-Nāma (‫)ﻣﺻﯾﺑتﻧﺎﻣﮫ‬
 Ilāhī-Nāma (‫)اﻟﮭﯽﻧﺎﻣﮫ‬
 Jawāhir-Nāma (‫)ﺟواھرﻧﺎﻣﮫ‬
 Šarḥ al-Qalb[16] (‫)ﺷرح اﻟﻘﻠب‬
He also states, in the introduction of the Mukhtār-Nāma, that he destroyed the Jawāhir-Nāma' and
the Šarḥ al-Qalb with his own hand.
Although the contemporary sources confirm only `Attar's authorship of the Dīwān and the Manṭiq-uṭ-
Ṭayr, there are no grounds for doubting the authenticity of the Mukhtār-Nāma and Khusraw-
Nāma and their prefaces.[4] One work is missing from these lists, namely the Tadhkirat-ul-Awliyā,
which was probably omitted because it is a prose work; its attribution to `Attar is scarcely open to
question. In its introduction `Attar mentions three other works of his, including one entitled Šarḥ al-
Qalb, presumably the same that he destroyed. The nature of the other two, entitled Kašf al-
Asrār (‫ )ﮐﺷف اﻻﺳرار‬and Ma rifat al-Nafs (‫)ﻣﻌرﻓت اﻟﻧﻔس‬, remains unknown.[17]
Manṭiq-uṭ-Ṭayr[edit]
Main article: The Conference of the Birds
Led by the hoopoe, the birds of the world set forth in search of their king, Simurgh. Their quest takes
them through seven valleys in the first of which a hundred difficulties assail them. They undergo
many trials as they try to free themselves of what is precious to them and change their state. Once
successful and filled with longing, they ask for wine to dull the effects of dogma, belief, and unbelief
on their lives. In the second valley, the birds give up reason for love and, with a thousand hearts to
sacrifice, continue their quest for discovering the Simurgh. The third valley confounds the birds,
especially when they discover that their worldly knowledge has become completely useless and their
understanding has become ambivalent. There are different ways of crossing this Valley, and all birds
do not fly alike. Understanding can be arrived at variously—some have found the Mihrab, others the
idol.
The fourth valley is introduced as the valley of detachment, i.e., detachment from desire to possess
and the wish to discover. The birds begin to feel that they have become part of a universe that is
detached from their physical recognizable reality. In their new world, the planets are as minute as
sparks of dust and elephants are not distinguishable from ants. It is not until they enter the fifth valley
that they realize that unity and multiplicity are the same. And as they have become entities in a
vacuum with no sense of eternity. More importantly, they realize that God is beyond unity,
multiplicity, and eternity. Stepping into the sixth valley, the birds become astonished at the beauty of
the Beloved. Experiencing extreme sadness and dejection, they feel that they know nothing,
understand nothing. They are not even aware of themselves. Only thirty birds reach the abode of the
Simurgh. But there is no Simurgh anywhere to be seen. Simurgh's chamberlain keeps them waiting
for Simurgh long enough for the birds to figure out that they themselves are the si-murgh — si (‫ﺳﯽ‬,
"thirty") + murgh (‫ﻣرغ‬, "bird"). The seventh valley is the valley of deprivation, forgetfulness,
dumbness, deafness, and death. The present and future lives of the thirty successful birds become
shadows chased by the celestial Sun. And themselves, lost in the Sea of His existence, are
the Simurgh.[18]