Farid ud-Din Attar

Born in Nishapur, in northeastern Persia around 1142. He traveled widely, Tehran, Egypt, Damascus, Mecca, and Turkestan, then settled in Nishapur. He worked as a healer and saw patients in his shop where he prescribed herbal remedies. Attar is considered one of the greatest Sufi mystic poets - his work inspired Rumi and many others. His greatest work Mantiq al-Tair (The Conference of the Birds) is a symbolic story of the soul's search for truth and one of the definitive masterpieces of Persian literature. Attar was charged with heresy and banished by the ruling Islamic orthodoxy because of his poetry. He died around 1220-30. His tomb is in Nishapur.

the poetry of Farid ud-Din Attar

Strive to discover the mystery 
before life is taken from you.
If while living you fail to find yourself, 
to know yourself,
how will you be able to understand
the secret of your existence 
after you die?


	translated by James Fadiman & Robert Frager,
From each, Love demands a mystic silence. 
What do all seek so earnestly?  Tis Love. 
Love is the subject of their inmost thoughts, 
In Love no longer "Thou" and "I" exist, 
For self has passed away in the Beloved. 
Now will I draw aside the veil from Love, 
And in the temple of mine inmost soul 
Behold the Friend, Incomparable Love. 
He who would know the secret of both worlds 
Will find that the secret of them both is Love.

	same poem translated by Margaret Smith
Intoxicated by the Wine of Love.
From each a mystic silence Love demands.
What do all seek so earnestly? 'Tis Love.
What do they whisper to each other?  Love.
Love is the subject of their inmost thoughts.
In Love no longer 'thou' and 'I' exist,
For Self has passed away in the Beloved.
Now will I draw aside the veil from Love,
And in the temple of mine inmost soul,
Behold the Friend; Incomparable Love.
He who would know the secret of both worlds,
Will find the secret of them both, is Love.

     translated by Margaret Smith
Joy! Joy! I triumph! Now no more I know
Myself as simply me. I burn with love
Unto myself, and bury me in love.
The center is within me and its wonder
Lies as a circle everywhere about me.
Joy! Joy! No mortal thought can fathom me.
I am the merchant and the pearl at once.
Lo, Time and Space lie crouching at my feet.
Joy! Joy! When I would reveal in a rapture.
I plunge into myself and all things know.


     translated by Andrew Harvey and Eryk Hanut
 
In the dead of night, a Sufi began to weep.
He said, "This world is like a closed coffin, in which 
We are shut and in which, through our ignorance,
We spend our lives in folly and desolation.
When Death comes to open the lid of the coffin,
Each one who has wings will fly off to Eternity,
But those without will remain locked in the coffin.
So, my friends, before the lid of this coffin is taken off,
Do all you can to become a bird of the Way to God;
Do all you can to develop your wings and your feathers.


     translated by Peter Lamborn Wilson and Nasrollah Pourjavady

Lost in myself
     I reappeared
          I know not where
a drop that rose
     from the sea and fell
          and dissolved again;
a shadow
     that stretched itself out
          at dawn,
when the sun
     reached noon
          I disappeared.
I have no news
     of my coming
          or passing away--
the whole thing
     happened quicker
          than a breath;
ask no questions
     of the moth.
          In the candle flame
of his face
     I have forgotten
          all the answers.
In the way of love
     there must be knowledge
          and ignorance
so I have become
     both a dullard
          and a sage;
one must be
     an eye and yet
          not see
so I am blind
     and yet I still
          perceive,
Dust
     be on my head
          if I can say
where I
     in bewilderment
          have wandered:
Attar
     watched his heart
          transcend both worlds
and under its shadow
     now is gone mad
          with love.