Farīd al-Dīn Abū Ḥamid Muḥammad ʿAṭṭār lived and died in Nishapur. Though he was little known beyond his city as a poet, his enduring legacy can perhaps be summarised by Rumi: Attar has roamed through the seven cities of love while we have barely turned down the first street.

(1) Attar was born in Nishapur around 1145CE during the reign of Abbasid caliph al-Muqtafī who finally succeeded in asserting the caliphate militarily against their supposed Sunni Seljuk Turkic vassals. Ghazzali had passed away in the conveniently memorable 1111CE leaving his enduring influence upon Sunni-Sufi high culture. What more can we say about his socio-political and cultural context?

(2) Attar seemed to have been little known beyond his city. His family business appears to be a pharmacy. What more can we say about his personal biography?

(3) Attar is best known for his Conference of the Birds. Give us a guide to reading that work, and tell us about his other works.

(4) What translations and secondary resources would you recommend on Attar?

(5) And finally let's end with a sample and translation.

Further Reading

The Conference of the Birds (translated by Afkham Darbandi and Dick Davis)

Religion of Love: Sufism and Self-Transformation in the Poetic Imagination of ʿAṭṭār by Cyrus Ali Zargar

Ali Hammoud: https://alihammoud7.substack.com/

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