Introduction

Farid al-Din Attar, author of the book here pre- sented in an abridged translation, is to be accounted amongst the greatest poets of Persia; his dimensions as a literary genius increase with the further investigation of his writings, which are still far from completely explored, though welcome progress has been made of late in their publication. The existence of a number of remarkable studies of Attar, listed in the Bibliography below, absolves the present writer from the necessity of going into lengthy detail about the keenly disputed details of his life and works. Here it will suffice to state that he appears to have died between a.d. 1220 and 1230 at an advanced age, possibly at the hands of the Mongol invaders of Persia; the traditional account that he was born in 1119 and murdered precisely in 1230 is now generally rejected. Of the very numerous epics and idylls ascribed to Attar perhaps nine may be recognized as authen- tic Of these the most famous is the Manteq al- tair, that subtle and charming allegory of the soul’s progress towards God, familiar, (though still not familiar enough) to English reader through Edward FitzGerald’s summary Bird- Parliament.
The origins of Sufism.

Sufism is the name given to the mystical move- ment within Islam; a Sufi is a Muslim who dedi- cates himself to the quest after mystical union (or, better said, reunion) with his Creator The name is Arabic in origin, being derived from the word suf meaning “wool”; the Sufis were distin- guishable from their fellows by wearing a habit of coarse woollen cloth, in time when silks and brocades had become the fashion of the wealthy and mundane-minded, symbolic of their renunci- ation of worldly values and their abhorrence for physical comforts.

Mystical awareness was certainly present in the Prophet Mohammad’s attitude to Allah, and “mystical” is an entirely appropriate adjective to describe his many experiences of supernatural Presence making contact through him with a message to mankind. The Koran, the book of Allah’s revelations to Mohammad, contains numerous passages of a mystical character which the Sufis seized upon eagerly to buttress their own claims to personal trafficking with God.

And when My servants question thee concerning Me—I am near to answer the call of the caller, when he calls to Me; so let them respond to Me, and let them believe in Me: haply so
they will go aright. Sura 2: I82

We indeed created man; and We know what his soul whispers within him, and We are nearer to him than the jugular
vein. Sura 50: 5I

All that dwells upon the earth is perishing, yet still
abides the Face of thy Lord, majestic, splendid.
Sura 55: 26

One pregnant context was taken to refer to a pre-eternal covenant between God and man, the re-enactment of which became the earnest aspi- ration of the enthusiastic Sufi.

And when thy Lord took from the Children of Adam,
from their loins, their seed, and made them testify
touching themselves, “Am I not your Lord?” They said, “Yes, we testify.” Sura 7: 171

The ascetic outlook and practice, an indispens- able preparation to mystical communion, char- acterized the life not only of Mohammad himself but of many of his earliest followers. Even when the rapid spread of Islam and the astonishing military conquests of neighbouring ancient king- doms brought undreamed-of riches to the public exchequer, not a few of the leading men in the new commonwealth withstood all temptation to abandon the austere life of the desert, and their example was admired and emulated by multi- tudes of humbler rank. Nevertheless with the passage of time, and as Islam became increasing- ly secularized consequent upon further victories and rapidly augmenting complications of state- craft, the original ascetic impulse tended to be overwhelmed in the flood of worldly preoccupa- tion. Towards the end of the eighth century a.d. pious Muslims who remained faithful, through all trials and temptatio

ns, to the high ideals of the fathers began to form themselves into little groups for mutual encouragement and the pur- suit of common aims; these men and women (for there were women amongst them of a like mind), opting out of the race for worldly advancement, took to wearing wool to proclaim their other- worldliness and were therefore nicknamed Sufis. These circles of devotees, and many isolated anchorites besides, appeared simultaneously in various parts of the Muslim empire; anecdotes from their lives and conversations, such as are told in the following pages, constitute the hagiography of Islam. A strong tradition con- nects the growth of this movement with the Prophet through his cousin and son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Taleb, the fourth caliph whose abdica- tion led to the greatest schism in the history of the faith, the separation between Sunni and Shiite. According to this version, the Prophet invested Ali with a cloak or kherqa on initiating him into the esoteric mysteries, imparting to him therewith the heavenly wisdom which transcends all formal learning. In his turn Ali invested his own initiates, and through them the selselas or chains of affiliation passed on the inner lore of mystical truth to succeeding generations. Another prominent figure in some versions of early Sufism is the Persian convert Salman, who is said to have taken part in the great siege of Medina. If any credence can be attached to this legend, Salman would certainly be the first Persian Muslim to become a Sufi; he was the forerunner of a great multitude of Persian Sufis.