Farid al-D墨n 士A峁弓膩r (d. 1221) was the principal Muslim religious poet of the second half of the twelfth century. Best known for his masterpiece Mantiq al-tayr, or The Conference of Birds, his verse is still considered to be the finest example of Sufi love poetry in the Persian language after that of Rumi. Distinguished by their provocative and radical theology of love, many lines of 士A峁弓膩r鈥檚 epics and lyrics are cited independently of their poems as maxims in their own right. These pithy, paradoxical statements are still known by heart and sung by minstrels throughout Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and wherever Persian is spoken or understood, such as in the lands of the Indo-Pakistani Subcontinent.
Designed to complement The Ocean of the Soul, the classic study of 士A峁弓膩r by Hellmut Ritter, this volume offers the most comprehensive survey of 士A峁弓膩r鈥檚 literary works to date, and situates his poetry and prose within the wider context of the Persian Sufi tradition. The essays in the volume are grouped in three sections, and feature contributions by sixteen scholars from North America, Europe and Iran, which illustrate, from a variety of critical perspectives, the full range of 士A峁弓膩r鈥檚 monumental achievement. They show how and why 士A峁弓膩r鈥檚 poetical work, as well as his mystical doctrines, came to wield such tremendous and formative influence over the whole of Persian Sufism.
Editors’ Introduction and Acknowledgements
I. Prose of the Spirit: 士A峁弓膩r and the Persian Sufi Tradition
1. 士A峁弓膩r, Sufism and Ismailism
Hermann Landolt
2. Of Scent and Sweetness: 士A峁弓膩r and his Legacy in R奴m墨, Shabistar墨 and 岣つ乫i岷
Husayn Ilahi-Ghomshei
3. Narratology and Realities in the Work of 士A峁弓膩r
Muhammad Este鈥榣ami
4. Sufi Saints and Sainthood in 士A峁弓膩r鈥檚 Tadhkirat al-awliy膩示
Shahram Pazouki
5. Words and Deeds: Message and Structure in 士A峁弓膩r鈥檚 Tadhkirat al-awliy膩示
Paul Losensky
II. Flight of the Soul-bird: 士A峁弓膩r鈥檚 Conference of the Birds
6. Blessed Perplexity: The Topos of 岣测谤补迟 in 士A峁弓膩r鈥檚 Man峁璱q al-峁璦yr
Lucian Stone
7. Flight of the Birds: The Poetic Animating the Spiritual in 士A峁弓膩r鈥檚 Man峁璱q al-峁璦yr
Fatemeh Keshavarz
8. Illustrating 士A峁弓膩r: A Pictorial Meditation by Master 岣b墨ball膩h of Mashhad in the Tradition of Master Bihz膩d of Herat
Michael Barry
9. Representations of 士A峁弓膩r in the West and in the East: Translations of the Man峁璱q al-峁璦yr and the Tale of Shaykh San士膩n
Christopher Shackle
III. The Poetics of Passion: 士A峁弓膩r鈥檚 Lyric and Epic Poetry
10. Some Remarks on Forms and Functions of Repetitive Structures in the Epic Poetry of 士A峁弓膩r
Johann Christoph B眉rgel
11. Didactic Style and Self-criticism in 士A峁弓膩r
Muhammad Isa Waley
12. 鈥榃ithout Us, from Us We鈥檙e Safe鈥: Self and Selflessness in the D墨w膩n of 士A峁弓膩r
Leili Anvar-Chenderoff
13. Sufi Symbolism in the Persian Hermeneutic Tradition: Reconstructing the Pagoda of 士A峁弓膩r鈥檚 Esoteric Poetics
Leonard Lewisohn
14. Mystical Quest and Oneness in the 惭耻办丑迟腻谤-苍腻尘补 Attributed to Far墨d al-D墨n 士A峁弓膩r
Eve Feuillebois-Pierunek
15. On Losing One鈥檚 Head: 岣ll膩ian Motifs and Authorial Identity in Poems Ascribed to 士A峁弓膩r
Carl W. Ernst
Bibliography
Index
鈥楾his volume offers the most comprehensive survey of ‘Attar’s literary works to date, and situates his poetry and prose within the wider context of the Persian Sufi tradition.鈥
鈥 Fred Rhodes, The Middle East
Leonard Lewisohn is Research Associate at the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London. He specialises in the study of Persian Sufism, and is the author of Beyond Faith and Fidelity: The Sufi Poetry and Teachings of Mahmoud Shabistari (1995).
Christopher Shackle is Professor of the Modern Languages of South Asia at SOAS in the University of London. Among his recent books are Ismaili Hymns from South Asia (1992), Qasida Poetry in Islamic Asia and Africa (1996) and A Treasury of Indian Love Poems and Proverbs (1999).