Farid al-Din ‘Attar

‘Attar Nishaburi, Shaykh Farid al-Din Abu Hamid Muhammad (1145-1221), son of Ibrahim. A Sufi and poet with the nom de plume ‘Attar. He was born Farid al-Din Abu Hamid, though precise material is not attested in sources about his birth whose date has been variously reported from 1118 to 1145. Born in the village of Kadkan in Nishabur, he spent his childhood in Mashhad. In his youth, he journeyed as a Sufi to Transoxiana, India, Iraq, Syria, and Egypt, making the acquaintance of prominent religious scholars and belletrists. Having traveled on pilgrimage to Mecca, he returned to his hometown, Nishabur, and settled there to his last days. He followed his father’s profession as an apothecary. It is known that in his mid-life, he experienced a psychological change and turned towards Sufism. He was an apothecary, hence his appellation ‘Attar. He provided the sick with medical treatment and simultaneously studied different disciplines and associated with notable Sufis, e.g. Shaykh Majd al-Din Baghdadi, and became a leading Sufi to whom Rumi later alluded in his couplet: ‘‘Attar journeyed in the seven cities of love / We are still wandering in the first alley." The reports concerning his spiritual crisis are not supported by historical evidence and the same is true with his adherence to the Kubrawiyya Sufi Order. Some scholars maintain that in his spiritual wayfaring he had benefited from Shaykh Abu Sa’id Abu al-Khayr’s spiritual guidance. Besides his erudition in medicine and pharmaceutics, he was well-versed in philosophy, belles-lettres, and religious sciences, though he was mainly interested in mysticism. In his journeys, he had the opportunity to meet Majd al-Din Baghdadi whom he called ‘model of lovers.’ ‘Attar names him as the spirit and Sana’i as the inward eye, saying, ‘’Attar was the spirit and Sana’i his two eyes / We’ve come in the footsteps of Sana’i and ‘Attar.’ He was called the ‘Chief of the Saints’ and the ‘Second Solomon’ by eminent mystics and later mystics respectively. The date of his death has been mainly reported by scholars as 1221 or 1229. It is also reported that he was slain by a Mongol warrior in the Mongol invasion of Nishabur. His tomb, adjacent to Khayyam’s, had been accorded attention from early times, but since it lay in ruins under the Timurids, it was renovated by Amir ‘Alishir Nava’i, the vizier to Sultan Husayn Bayqara. ‘Attar composed numerous works, whose number has been exaggerated by biographers, ranging between 45 and 190. His poetry is simple in its entirety, though it is quite impressive when simplicity of diction intermingles with a passionate heart. In his mathnawi, Mantiq al-Tayr, ‘Attar states mystical secrets and guides the wayfarer at every step. As reflected in his poetry, he is one of the few poets who never composed eulogies on kings and notables. Masters of Persian poetry, e.g. Shafi’i Kadkani, regard him as one of the greatest Persian mystical poetry: ‘If we assume the realm of Persian mystical poetry as a triangle, ‘Attar is one of the angles and the other two are Sana’i and Rumi. It may be said that Sana’i is the forerunner of mystical poetry that attains perfection by ‘Attar and reaches its pinnacle in Rumi. Although ‘Attar stands lower in rank in terms of poetical diction and at times lacks Sana’i’s dexterity, but taking different aspects into account, his mystical poetry possesses further purity, sincerity, and simplicity and his themes to some extent lie beyond Sana’i’s spiritual domain. ‘Attar’s works are mainly characterized by their mystical themes and the works which have been indubitably attributed to him, e.g. Mantiq al-Tayr, Asrarnama, Musibatnama, also known as Ilahinama, Mukhtarnama, and his Divan, are so strong in their Sufi themes that one single couplet may not be found without a Sufi tinge. He devoted all his literary character to Sufism.’ The detailed themes of ‘Attar’s poetry have been esteemed by literary figures. In his al-Kuna wa ‘l-Alqab and Hidyat al-Ahbab, Muhaddith Qumi states, ‘’Attar’s compositions are mainly poetical and treat of monotheism, teachings, and truths.’ ‘Attar far excels Sana’i in storytelling. ‘Attar’s works clearly reflect a kind of inward development which is rarely found in other poets. His most famous composition, his Divan of qasida and ghazal run to about 100,000 couplets. One of his well-known mathnawi, Mantiq al-Tayr, roughly contains 7,000 couplets in which the stages of wayfaring towards the truth and monotheism are expressed by different birds that are in quest of Simurgh. The work includes expositions on the seven stages of wayfaring, i.e. quest, love, knowledge, needlessness, unity, and total absorption in the beloved. In composing Mantiq al-Tayr, ‘Attar made use of Ghazali’s Risalat al-Tayr, in prose, which ‘Attar intermingles with Mantiq al-Tayr, a well-known treatise by the Brethren of Purity (Ikhwan al-Safa’) which includes a debate between man and animal. Further, ‘Attar made use of Sana’i’s Sayr al-‘Ibad ila ‘l-Ma’ad. Tadhkirat al-Awliya’ was written in 1220 in an unadorned and fluent style. ‘Attar is one of the outstanding Persian poets and mystics whose spiritual grandeur and impact on the spiritual and intellectual history of Persia are of significance. In his Nafahat al-Uns, Jami thus quotes Rumi, ‘The light of Mansur [i.e. Husayn ibn Mansur Hallaj), manifested in the spirit of Farid al-Din ‘Attar and guided him after 150 years.’ It is also mentioned by the authors of Haft Iqlim; Bustan al-Siyaha; Safinat al-Awliya’ wa Khazinat al-Asfiya’; and Ruz-i Rawshan. He is a master of composing mystical poetry in which his reflections are most elegantly reflected. His divan, a collection of his mainly mystical qasida and ghazal including detailed Sufi themes have been published several times under the title of Divan-i ‘Attar. The mathnawi which are indubitably his include: Mantiq al-Tayr, in 4,600 couplets, the most significant of ‘Attar’s mathnawi and one of the most well-known Persian allegorical mathnawi, may be termed as a mystical epic. It recounts the story of some birds in quest of Simurgh, their king. Guided by Hoopoe, they pass through seven troublesome stages, in each of which some of the birds cease to proceed under certain pretexts. Passing through such stages is comparable to the seven ordeals in the story of Rustam. Finally, only thirty birds remain in quest of Simurgh and looking at themselves, they notice that what they had been seeking outwardly lies in them, and Simurgh, i.e. ‘Thirty Birds’ are them, thirty in number. By the birds, the wayfarers and by the thirty birds, the God seeking men are intended who having passed through the seven stages of wayfaring, finally discover the truth in their own existence. This unique poetical composition reveals the poet’s innovativeness and imaginativeness in making use of mystical secrets and exposition of the stages of wayfaring and their guidance. It is regarded as one of the perennial and mystical masterpieces on the stages of wayfaring and guiding the wayfarers. ‘Attar’s poetical vigor, powerful imagery and exposition of different topics and allegories, mastery of drawing conclusions out of discussions, and astounding enthusiasm and delicacy in all instances and stages leads the audience to perplexity. His unadorned and attractive diction, along with his burning passion and love, has always led the wayfarers of the path of truth towards their final goal. Ilahinama, a collection of brief and diverse tales is based on dialogs between a father and his young son who have been in vain in quest of things whose truth differs from what ordinary people appreciate. Musibatnama is another significant poetical composition treating of the spiritual afflictions of wayfarers expressed in numerous and attractive anecdotes. The Shaykh of Nishabur herein urges his audience not to be allured by mere appearances and perceive the truth and meaning of things beyond the form. ‘Attar is also renowned for his vigorous, mystical, and reflective quatrains which at times touch upon those of Khayyam, hence their later attribution to Khayyam. Their intimate ideas have made it difficult to make a distinction between their quatrains. From his youth ‘Attar was quite in love with the biographical accounts of mystics and Sufi saints. Such love led him to compile the biographical accounts of 96 Sufi saints and shaykhs and their nobilities, miracles, and aphorisms, in Tadhkirat al-Awliya’ whose prose style, in the manner of his further compositions, is unadorned and elegant and has included a few clauses in rhymed prose merely in the preambles to the accounts of each Sufi master after the fashion of further Sufi writers. The prose style of the work is quite simple and flowing, as delicate as a gentle breeze. Such prose style had been used by Hujwiri and ‘Abd al-Rahman Sulami in Kashf al-Mahjub and Tabaqat al-Sufiyya respectively. The last two have been accorded significance because of their precedence in time, but Tadhkirat al-Awliya’, composed in late twelfth or early thirteen centuries has enjoyed further recognition. Having expressed the most exalted mystical themes in an unadorned diction, he has been also able to intertwine unparalleled poetical vigor with fluency and eloquence. Although he may not seemingly surpass Sana’i in terms of formal adornments and vast erudition, but his pleasing and delicate diction, reflecting a passionate heart, express mystical themes par excellence through diverse allegories and anecdotes and thereby sheds further light for the laity on the goals of the recluse abiding in spiritual Sufi centers. 

Az Sa’di ta Jami (27-35); Tarikh-i Adabiyyat dar Iran (2, 858-871); Tarikh-i Mughul az Hamla-yi Changiz ta Tashkil-i Dawlat-i Taymuri (485-486); Da’irat al-Ma’arif-i Farsi (2, 1743); Rayhant al-Adab (1, 444).