What is Farid ud-Din Attar?
Farid ud-Din Attar refers to Abū Ḥamīd bin Abū Bakr Ibrāhīm (c. 1145–1221), a Persian poet, Sufi mystic, and hagiographer from Nishapur, in what is now northeastern Iran. His pen name “Attar” (عطار) means “perfumer” or “apothecary,” reflecting his family profession as a druggist and herbalist. Attar is revered as one of the most important figures in Persian Sufi literature, composing at least 45,000 rhyming couplets and establishing narrative techniques that shaped Islamic mystical poetry for centuries. His work represents the zenith of Persian allegorical poetry and stands as a bridge between early Sufi teachings and the flowering of mystical literature exemplified by Rumi, whom Attar is said to have met and influenced. Though relatively unknown during his lifetime outside his hometown, Attar’s greatness as a mystic, poet, and master of narrative was fully recognized by the 15th century, and his influence extends across Persian, Turkish, Urdu, and other Islamic literary traditions.
Origins & Lineage
Attar was born around 1145 in Nishapur, the administrative capital of Khurasan in northern Iran and one of the most important intellectual centers in the Islamic world during the 12th century. He died around 1220 or 1221, likely killed during the Mongol invasion of Nishapur under Genghis Khan. Reliable biographical information about Attar is scarce—he is mentioned by only two contemporaries, the chronicler 'Awfi (d. after 1223) and the philosopher Khwaja Nasir al-Din Tusi (1201–1274). Later accounts embellished his life with legends, including the story that he held his severed head after martyrdom, though such tales serve more to honor his spiritual stature than to document historical fact.
Attar inherited his father’s pharmacy and practiced as a physician and perfumer, personally attending to many customers whose troubles and confidences affected him deeply. According to tradition, a wandering Sufi dervish challenged Attar to renounce worldly attachments, prompting a spiritual crisis. Attar subsequently traveled widely across the Middle East and Central Asia—to Baghdad, Basra, Kufa, Mecca, Medina, Damascus, Khwarizm, Turkistan, and India—studying with Sufi masters and collecting the poetry and teachings of earlier mystics. He eventually returned to Nishapur, reopened his pharmacy, and dedicated himself to writing.
Attar’s work stands in the lineage of earlier Persian Sufi poets, particularly Hakim Sanai of Ghazna (d. ca. 1131), whose allegorical masnavi style Attar adopted and perfected. Attar in turn profoundly influenced Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207–1273), who honored him with the words: “Attar was the spirit, Sanai his eyes twain, and in time thereafter, came we in their train.” Rumi also wrote, “Attar has traversed the seven cities of Love, we are still at the turn of one street.” Legend holds that the elderly Attar met the young Rumi and gifted him a copy of his Asrar-Nama (Book of Secrets), though scholars debate the historical accuracy of this encounter.
How It’s Practiced
Farid ud-Din Attar is not a practice but a historical figure and body of literature. However, engagement with Attar’s work functions as a contemplative practice within Sufi and broader spiritual communities. His writings are used as teaching texts in Sufi circles, study groups, and university courses on mystical literature. The Conference of the Birds (Mantiq al-Tayr), composed around 1177 and consisting of approximately 4,500 rhyming couplets, is read as a guide to the spiritual path, mapping seven valleys the seeker must traverse: Quest, Love, Knowledge, Detachment, Unity, Bewilderment, and Annihilation. Each valley represents a stage of inner transformation, culminating in the realization that the Divine sought outside is already present within.
Attar’s other major works include the Ilahi-Nama (Book of God), the Musibat-Nama (Book of Affliction), the Divan (lyric poetry collection), and the Tadhkirat al-Awliya (Memorial of the Saints)—the latter being Attar’s only prose work, a 72-chapter hagiography of 96 Sufi saints from Ja’far al-Sadiq to Mansur al-Hallaj. Practitioners use Attar’s stories as parables for self-examination: the hoopoe as the spiritual guide, the birds as seekers with human flaws, the seven valleys as trials, and the Simurgh (a mythical bird) as God or ultimate reality. The wordplay at the climax—si murgh (“thirty birds”) discovering they themselves are the Simurgh—illustrates the Sufi teaching of unity (tawhid) and the annihilation of the separate self (fana).
Reading Attar’s poetry aloud or in translation, memorizing verses, and contemplating the embedded anecdotes constitute devotional practices. His writing is characterized by interlocking narrative frames: a primary allegory interspersed with hundreds of short didactic tales drawn from Islamic history, folklore, and everyday life. These stories address human predicaments—fear, pride, attachment, desire—and offer models of surrender, love, and Divine remembrance.
Farid ud-Din Attar Today
Today, seekers encounter Attar primarily through translations of The Conference of the Birds. English versions by Afkham Darbandi and Dick Davis (1984), Sholeh Wolpé (2017), and others have made the text accessible to non-Persian readers. The work has been adapted for theater, notably by the Ubuntu Theater Project in Berkeley, California, and has inspired visual art, including Persian miniature paintings from the 15th to 17th centuries now housed in institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Attar’s tomb in Nishapur is a pilgrimage site; a mausoleum was built by the Timurid poet Ali-Shir Nava’i in the 16th century, and April 13 is observed as Attar National Day in Iran. His poetry is recited at Sufi gatherings, studied in Islamic mysticism courses, and cited by teachers in the Sufi, Advaita, and interfaith contemplative traditions. Scholars use the Tadhkirat al-Awliya as a primary source for understanding early Sufism, while Attar’s lyric ghazals remain popular in Persian-speaking communities from Iran to Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent.
Contemporary interest in Attar extends beyond religious contexts. His work resonates with seekers exploring non-dual philosophy, depth psychology (especially Jungian archetypes), and the perennial philosophy. Writers like Jorge Luis Borges referenced The Conference of the Birds, and the text is used in contemplative education programs and spiritual direction.
Common Misconceptions
Attar is not a spiritual teacher one studies with but a historical poet whose writings one studies. Unlike living Sufi masters or lineage holders, Attar offers no initiation, no personal guidance, and no living transmission. His work is a literary and spiritual artifact, not a practice system or method.
Attar’s writings are often romanticized as universalist or ecumenical. While his poetry transcends sectarian boundaries and has been embraced by diverse audiences, Attar was a Sunni Muslim writing within a 12th-century Islamic context. His references to Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Judaism reflect the interfaith landscape of medieval Iran but should not be interpreted through modern liberal or New Age lenses. The “Christianity” in his stories is not contemporary Western Christianity but the dhimmi (protected minority) religion under Islamic rule, often serving as a literary device rather than historical documentation.
Attar is sometimes conflated with Rumi. While the two are spiritually linked and Rumi revered Attar, they are distinct figures separated by geography, generation, and style. Attar’s allegories are more structured and didactic; Rumi’s Masnavi is longer, more ecstatic, and more spontaneous.
Finally, attributing every Persian mystical text to Attar is a recurring error. Scholars debate the authenticity of several works ascribed to him; the Conference of the Birds, Ilahi-Nama, Musibat-Nama, and Tadhkirat al-Awliya are universally accepted, but others remain contested.
How to Begin
To explore Farid ud-Din Attar, start by reading a reputable English translation of The Conference of the Birds. Sholeh Wolpé’s 2017 version (W. W. Norton) is praised for gender-neutral language and lyrical accessibility; the Darbandi and Davis translation (Penguin Classics, 1984) includes scholarly context. Read slowly, allowing the nested stories to unfold. Consider keeping a journal to note which parables resonate, what questions arise, and how the seven valleys map onto your own experience.
For deeper engagement, read A.J. Arberry’s abridged translation of Muslim Saints and Mystics: Episodes from the Tadhkirat al-Awliya (1966) or Paul Losensky’s complete translation, Farid ad-Din 'Attar’s Memorial of God’s Friends (2009). These hagiographies provide context for the Sufi tradition Attar inhabited.
If you are drawn to oral tradition, seek out recordings of Persian recitations or attend Sufi gatherings where Attar’s verses are chanted. Scholars Leonard Lewisohn and Franklin Lewis have written extensively on Attar; their work offers rigorous literary and spiritual analysis. For visual learners, examine illustrated manuscripts of the Mantiq al-Tayr at museum websites (the Metropolitan Museum of Art and British Library have digitized collections).
Finally, approach Attar’s work not as information but as formation. The seven valleys are not theory but invitation. The question is not “What did Attar mean?” but “What does this reveal about my own journey?”