Sufism is a spiritual philosophy, and all human beings, regardless of their faith and religion can come to feel its ecstatic influence on their soul. Attar was so moved by this act of power and devotion that he immediately closed his shop and began his travels searching for Sufi masters. The dervish then invoked the Divine, put his head down, and died right there and then.
One such story tells of a wandering dervish who came into Attar’s shop and asked if Attar could die as a dervish could.
Still others tell of his conversion to Sufism. Others speculate he was so moved by the troubling stories his patients shared with him that he abandoned his pharmacy and traveled through India, Turkistan, Mecca, Kufa, and Damascus to seek wisdom from Sufi saints. Some believe that he was reared in Sufism. The extent of Attar’s initiation into Sufi practices and mysticism is the subject of many speculative, sometimes fabricated tales. However, what we do know for certain is that Attar practiced the profession of pharmacist and personally attended to a very large number of customers. Information about Attar’s life is scarce and has been mythologized over the centuries. However, when the sovereigns established a closer relationship with philosophers and poets, enlightenment inevitably followed.Īttar, Sheikh Farīd-Ud-Dīn (1145-1220), فرید الدین عطار, was born in Nishapur (Nīšāpūr), a city in the northeast region of Iran. Whenever the kings or governors were influenced by religious leaders, philosophy and poetry became stunted and the realm of ideas darkened. Through the following centuries, the fluctuating relationship between freethinkers and those who followed strict religious dogma profoundly affected the development of poetry in Iran. Even though the majority of Iranians eventually converted to Islam, many aspects of their ancient civilization became integrated into the newly formed Islamic society. The Islamic conquest ended the Sassanid Empire and led to the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion in Iran. Translator Sholeh Wolpé invites readers to join the poet on his “journey toward the unfathomable Divine.” Attar’s The Conference of the Birds, just released in a new translation, is a deeply meaningful and spiritual work, delightfully packed with lively banter, pathos, clever hyperbole, cheeky humor, poetic imagination, and surprises.
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