#fariduddin attar

[takhayyul]

Fariduddin Attar (AD 1145–1221; AH 539–617), Excerpt From “Islamic Mystical Poetry” by Mahmood Jamal

[apenitentialprayer]

A final comparison between Rābi‘a and Ibrahīm, this time in their Persian incarnations, come from ‘Aṭṭār, according to whom the latter spent fourteen years travelling to the Ka‘ba because he performed two rak'a in every place of prayer en route. When Ibrahīm at last arrived, he found that the Ka‘ba itself was not in its place. An unseen voice then informed him that the Ka‘ba had gone to meet a woman who was on her way to Mecca - this, much to Ibrahīm's annoyance, was Rābi‘a. That the Ka‘ba went out to meet her -and not him- is a clear indication of which Sufi ‘Aṭṭār considered the greater.

Mulaika Hijjas (“The Trials of Rābi‘a al-‘Adawīyya in the Malay World: The Female Sufi in the Hikayat Rabi‘ah”)

[apenitentialprayer]

In addition to furnishing yet another reversal of conventional gender hierarchies, this story[*] also explicitly rejects a popular cultural notion that interactions between men and women are necessarily defined in sexual terms. 'Attar's narrative simultaneously acknowledges this normative perspective (Hasan's remark can be read as either surprised or defensive; at any rate he thinks this situation deserves a comment) and insists on its insufficiency. When it comes to the matters of "the way and the truth," the primary criterion determining one's relational position is spiritual attainment, not gender. This way, the text disrupts the normative conflation between one's gender identity and religious standing and encourages one to envision an alternative religious identity, constructed according to a different rubric and presupposing different relational arrangements.

Olga Solovieva (“Veiled with a Special Veil”: Ascetic Reconfigurations of Identity in ‘Aṭṭār’s Memorial of Rābi‘a of Basra, page 16) *this story

[sufisofsindh]

For anything, being a dervish... I'll not trade: this kingdom for all universes... I'll not trade. I've safety, health and knowledge's joy: for even being a king ... aloneness I'll not trade

Fariduddin Attar

[sufisofsindh]

If you say: There is no Pir (Spiritual Guide) openly to be seen, Then you should seek another thousand times. For if no Pir would remain in the world, Then neither the earth nor time would remain in place. The Pir exists even now, but he is hidden. Having seen the narrow-mindedness of the people, He is wearing worn-out clothes.

گر تو گوئی نیست پیری آشکار تو طلب کن در هزار اندر هزار زانکه گر پیری نماند در جهان نه زمین بر جای ماند نه زمان پیر هم هست این زمان پنهان شده ننگ خلقان دیده در خلقان شده

~Sheikh Fariduddin Attar Nishapuri "Mosibat Nama"(Book of Adversity), p. 63

[sufisofsindh]

A fool holds up a mirror before the people when they come out of the mosque on Friday. When they're very numerous, he throws the mirror on the road in anger. But the people always give him back the mirror instead of making use of it and looking at themselves in it.

Fariduddin Attar, Musibat Nama

[sufisofsindh]

Reason is like a drop Removed from the ocean; How can this drop understand The meaning of Love?

Fariduddin Attar

[sufisofsindh]