Manṭiq-uṭ-Ṭayr: Sufi poetry by Farid Uddin Akhtar.
Sheikh Farid ud -Din Attar was a Persian Sufi poet. His real name was Abu Hamid bin Abu Bakr Ibrahim . He is best known for his poetic work Mantiq ut-Tayr . He was born in Nishapur in northeastern Iran, which is also the birthplace of Omar Khayyam. It is said that his poetry inspired Rumi and many other Sufi poets. Rumi said - "Attar was the spirit, Sanai his eyes twain, And in time thereafter, Came we in their train". Rumi is also known to have been in the company of Akhtar during his childhood, although many scholars dismiss this information as baseless.
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| Portrait of Sheikh Farid Uddin Akhtar. |
Attar means perfume. On the other hand, the poet himself says that he composed most of his poems sitting in his own pharmacy or apothecary. From this, it is also assumed that he was involved in the perfume business or the sale of herbal medicines or medical services. However, it is also said that several hundred patients received herbal medical services in his pharmacy every day.
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| The tomb of Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha. |
Fariduddin Akhtar completed his childhood education in the spiritual or theological school adjacent to the shrine of the 8th Shia Imam Ali ibn Musa al -Ri ḍ ā in the city of Mashhad , which is well known to us as a madrasa. Then he set out on a journey in search of knowledge. He traveled to Raghez ( present -day Tehran), Egypt, Damascus, Mecca, Turkmenistan and India. The knowledge and information he gathered while traveling around the country and abroad was mainly the autobiographies of Muslim ascetics and their advice. After traveling to many countries, he returned to his home city and opened a herbal medicine shop ( Daru-Khan ) and devoted himself to medicine and writing. His book " Tadhkirat al-Auliya " was compiled from the information and knowledge gathered from his long travels .
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| Cover of the poem Mantiq ut-Tayr. |
At one stage of his residence in his own city, Fariduddin Akhtar was accused of heresy. The reason for this accusation is easily understood from a reading of his poem Manṭiq-uṭ-Ṭayr , but the accusation was not made for that poem but for another poem of his. In any case, Akhtar was exiled and all his property confiscated. EG. Browne in his " A Literary History of Persia " ( Vol. 2, p.509 ) notes that such a punishment was not at all unexpected for a spiritual poet in that era.
The Manṭiq-uṭ-Ṭayr contains many stories of Sufis who were persecuted for their faith. So if Akhtar was punished for his writings, it is certain that the punishment was not at all surprising to him. However, he returned from exile to his homeland of Nishapur sometime before his death between 1193 and 1235. According to one of Akhtar's early biographers, the time was 1229 (or April 1221), when the invading Mongols, led by Timur the Great, established a reign of terror and swept into Baghdad and the surrounding region. At this time, Akhtar was a hundred years old or more.
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| Farid Uddin Akhtar's tomb. |
During the invasion of Persia by the barbarian Mongols, Akhtar was captured by a Mongol army in his hometown of Nishapur. At that time, a man begged for his release in exchange for a thousand silver coins. Akhtar advised the Mongol not to sell him for that coin. Seeing the exchange price of a wicked old man of a thousand silver coins, the Mongol army considered Akhtar very valuable and, hoping for more profit, he accepted Akhtar's advice and refused to sell him for that price. But later, only one person was interested in buying Akhtar and agreed to give only a bundle of straw in exchange. At that time, Akhtar advised the Mongol to sell him for that exchange price and said: In fact, that is his real price. At this, the Mongol army was astonished. Then, seeing that he had been fooled, he immediately beheaded Akhtar with a single blow of his sword. This is the traditional story of his death.
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| Sheikh Farid Uddin Akhter. |
However, many reject this popular story and consider it an attempt to portray the brutal death of a centenarian Sufi poet at the hands of barbaric Mongols. However, whether true or false, this story is used to teach the mystical insight that the personal self isn't of much real worth. What is valuable is the Beloved's presence within us -and that presence isn't threatened by the death of the body.
Akhtar's tomb is located in Nishapur, Khorasan. His tomb is surrounded by a small garden. A stone plaque was placed on his tombstone in the late 15th century, which still stands today. However, in 1930, the tombs of Akhtar and Omar Khayyam were both placed under protection.
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| The mythical bird of Persia- Simurgh. |
Through this poetic book, Akhtar is giving us this profound lesson that the presence of God within us can only be known by knowing ourselves. And so he urges us to know this profound truth before death so that after death we can know the nature of our presence. In his words-
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| A manuscript by Akhtar. |
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?
Finally, we will conclude the article with a poem by Akter, translated by AJ Arberry.
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| A fictional depiction of Akhtar's funeral. |
- Farid ud-Din Attar
We are the Magians of old,
Islam is not the faith we hold;
In irreligion is our fame,
And we have made our creed a shame.
Now to the tavern we repair
To gamble all our substance there,
Now in the monastery cell
We worship with the infidel.
When Satan gives us chances to see
He doffs his cap respectfully,
For we have lessons to impart.
To Satan in the tempter's art.
We were not made in such nature
Of any man to be afraid;
Head and foot in naked pride
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| Akhtar's tomb. |
But we, alas, are aweary.
And the road is very far;
We know not by what way to come
To the place that is our home.
And therefore we are in despair
How to order our affair
Because, wherever we have sought,
Our minds were utterly distraught.
When shall it come to pass, ah when,
That suddenly, beyond our ken,
We shall succeed to rend this veil
That hath our whole affair concealed?
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| Farid Uddin Akhter. |
What veil so ever after this
Apparently to our vision is,
With the flame of knowledge true
We shall consume it through and through.
Where at the first in that far place
We come to the world of space,
Our soul by travail in the end
To that perfection shall ascend.
And so shall 'Attar be Shattered
And, rapt in sudden ecstasy,
Soar to godly vision, even
Beyond the veils of earth and heaven.
