Abū Hamīd bin Abū Bakr Ibrāhīm (1145-1146 - c. 1221; ), better known by his pen-names Farīd ud-Dīn (فریدالدین) and ‘Attār (عطار - "the pharmacist"), was a Persian Muslim poet, theoretician of Sufism, and hagiographer from Nīshāpūr who had an abiding influence on Persian poetry and Sufism.
Biography
Information about Attar's life is rare. 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. 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.
, Iran]]
`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.
`Attar's initiation into Sufi practices is subject to much speculation and fabrication. Of all the famous Sufi Shaykhs supposed to have been his teachers, only one - Majd ud-Din Baghdadi - comes within the bounds of possibility. The only certainty in this regard is `Attar's own statement that he once met him.
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.
`Attar reached an age of over 70 and died a violent death in the massacre which the Mongols inflicted on Nishapur in April 1221. 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. Interestingly, he did not want to uncover the secrets of nature. This is particularly remarkable in the case of medicine, which fell within the scope of his profession. He obviously had no motive for showing off his secular 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 natural science.
Poetry
`Attar speaks of his own poetry in various contexts including the epilogues of his long narrative poems. He confirms the guess likely to be made by every reader that he possessed an inexhaustible fund of thematic and verbal inspiration. He writes that when he composed his poems, more ideas came into his mind than he could possibly use. He also states that the effort of poetical composition threw him into a state of trance in which he could not sleep.
Works
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The question whether all the works that have been ascribed to him are really from his pen, has not been solved. This is due to two facts that have been observed in his works: However, in 1941, the Persian scholar Nafisi was able to prove that the works of the third phase in Ritter's classification were written by another `Attar who lived about two hundred and fifty years later at Mashhad and was a native of Tun. 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.
In the introductions of Mokhtār-Nāma (مختارنامه) and Khosrow-Nāma (خسرونامه), `Attar lists the titles of further products of his pen:
Dīvān (دیوان)
Asrār-Nāma (اسرار نامه)
Maqāmāt-e Toyūr (= Manteq aṭ-Ṭayr; مقامات الطیور or منطق الطیر)
Moṣībat-Nāma (مصیب نامه)
Elāhī-Nāma (الهی نامه)
Jawāher-Nāma (جواهر نامه)
Šarḥ al-Qalb (
شرح القلب)
He also states, in the introduction of the Mokhtār-Nāma, that he destroyed the Jawāher-Nāma' and the Šarḥ al-Qalb'' with his own hand.
Although the contemporary sources confirm only `Attar's authorship of the Dīvān and the Manteq al-Ṭayr, there are no grounds for doubting the authenticity of the Mokhtār-Nāma and Khosrow-Nāma and their prefaces.
Manteq aṭ-Ṭayr
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 see. Simurgh's chamberlain keeps them waiting for Simurgh long enough for the birds to figure out that they themselves are the si (thirty) murgh (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.
`Attar's Seven Valleys of Love in the Manteq al-Tayr
The Valley of Quest
The Valley of Love
The Valley of Understanding
The Valley of Independence and Detachment
The Valley of Unity
The Valley of Astonishment and Bewilderment
The Valley of Deprivation and Death
Tadhkerat al-Awlīya
Attar's only known prose work which he worked on throughout much of his life and which was available publicly before his death, is a biography of Muslim saints and mystics. In what is considered the most compelling entry in this book, `Attar relates the story of the execution of Hallaj, the mystic who had uttered the words "I am the Truth" in a state of ecstatic contemplation.
Ilahi-Nama
The Ilahi-Nama () is another famous poetic work of Attar consisting of 6500 verses. In terms of form and content, it has some similarities with Bird Parliament. The story is about a king who is confronted with the materialistic and worldly demands of his six sons. The King tries to show the temporary and senseless desires of his six son by retelling them a large number of spiritual stories. The first son asks for the daughter of the king of fairies (Pariyaan).
Mokhtar Nama
Mokhtar-Nama (), a wide-ranging collection of quatrains (2088 in number). In the Mokhtar-nama, a coherent group of mystical and religious subjects is outlined (search for union, sense of uniqueness, distancing from the world, annihilation, amazement, pain, awareness of death, etc.), and an equally rich group of themes typical of lyrical poetry of erotic inspiration adopted by mystical literature (the torment of love, impossible union, beauty of the loved one, stereotypes of the love story as weakness, crying, separation).
Divan
The Divan () of Attar consists almost entirely of poems in the
Ghazal ("lyric") form, as he collected his
Ruba'i ("quatrains") in a separate work called the Mokhtar-nama. There are also some
Qasida ("Odes"), but they amount to less than one-seventh of the Divan. His Qasidas expound upon mystical and ethical themes and moral precepts. They are sometimes modeled after
Sanai. The
Ghazals often seem from their outward vocabulary just to be love and wine songs with a predilection for libertine imagery, but generally imply spiritual experiences in the familiar symbolic language of classical Islamic
Sufism.
Attar's lyrics express the same ideas that are elaborated in his epics. His lyric poetry does not significantly differ from that of his narrative poetry, and the same may be said of the rhetoric and imagery.
Legacy
Influence on Rumi
`Attar is one of the most famous
mystic poets of Iran. His works were the inspiration of
Rumi and many other mystic poets. `Attar, along with
Sanai were two of the greatest influences on Rumi in his
Sufi views. Rumi has mentioned both of them with the highest esteem several times in his poetry. Rumi praises `Attar as follows:
As a pharmacist
`Attar was a
pen-name which he took for his occupation. `Attar means
herbalist,
druggist,
perfumist or
Alchemist, and during his lifetime in
Persia, much of
medicine and drugs were based on
herbs. Therefore, by profession he was similar to a modern-day town
doctor and
pharmacist.
In popular culture
Several
musical artists have albums or songs which share the name of his most famous work,
Conference of the Birds, as well as the themes of enlightenment contained therein. Notably,
jazz bassist David Holland's
album, which was written as a metaphor for his own
enlightenment, and
Om's Conference of the Birds, which deals with extremely esoteric themes often connected with metaphors of
flight, inward vision, destruction of
self, and oneness with the [[Cosmos: A Personal Voyage|
See also
Sufism
Seven Valleys
References
Sources
E.G. Browne. Literary History of Persia. 1998. ISBN 0-7007-0406-X.
Jan Rypka,
History of Iranian Literature. Reidel Publishing Company. 1968 . ISBN 90-277-0143-1
External links
Attar in Encyclopedia Iranica by B. Reinert
Attar, Farid ad-Din. A biography by Professor Iraj Bashiri, University of Minnesota.
`Attar's poem in Praise of Prophet Muhammad
Poetry by `Attar
Fifty Poems of `Attar. A Translation of 50 poems with the Persian on the facing page.
Attar's works in original Persian at Ganjoor Persian Library
Deewan-e-Attar in original Persian single pdf file uploaded by javed Hussen
Category:1140s births
Category:1220s deaths
Category:People from Nishapur
Category:Iranian poets
Category:Medieval writers
Category:Persian poets
Category:Muslim saints
Category:Iranian Muslims
Category:Iranian Sufis
Category:Sufi poets
Category:Sufi fiction
Category:Wisdom literature
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