Farid-ud din Affar occupies a prominent place in the roll of distinguished Persian Poets. His most famous work, the manti-ul-Tayr, or the colloquy of birds is an allegorical poem in which this gated Sufi describes the quest of the Birds (symbolizing the seekers) to reach the Simurg (the Lord of Creation) This abridged edition of the above is a translation of the poem is the one of the first works published to the common English reader. It was a very illumination introduction on Persian Mysticism which is full of anecdotes of famous Sufis such as Hallaj Byazid, Rumi and Jami. The translation of the poem is in four parts: (1) The parliament of the birds, (II) On, to the city of god, (III) Through the seven valleys, (IV) the reception at the royal count. The book and with a short memoir on the poet, Farid-ud-din Affar.

Farid al-Din Attar (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 Attar's 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 take its place alongside "The Ocean of the Soul", the classic study of Attar by Hellmut Ritter, this 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. 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 prespectives, the full range of Attar's monumental achievement. They show how and why Attar's poetical work, as well as his mystical doctrines, came to wield such tremendous and formative influence over the whole of Persian Sufism.

First written in the 12th century, Conference of the Birds is an allegory of extreme measures for extreme times -- the story of birds seeking a king is the story of all of us seeking God. Like the birds, we may be excited for the journey, until we realize that we must give up our fears and hollow desires, that our journey will be long and hard. Like the duck, we may not wish to leave the water. Like the nightingale, we may want to stay close to our roses. Direct and to the point, Masani's translation, made in the early part of the 19th century, is particularly apropos for our early 21st century times -- both are periods of intense spiritual seeking.

Farid ud-Din Attar was a Persian poet, druggist, and social theorist of Sufism, who wrote much of his poetry while treating hundreds of patients a day with his herbal remedies. As a young man he made a pilgrimage to Mecca, and sought wisdom during his travels in Egypt, Damascus, and India. His masterpiece, "The Conference of the Birds", has survived centuries because of its captivating poetic style and its symbolic exploration on the true nature of God. This 4500-line poem follows the birds of the world, each of which hold special significance, as they seek out the Simurgh, a mythical Persian bird much like the phoenix, in hopes that he might be their king. The birds must cross seven valleys on their quest, each of which represents various trials that the individual must pass through to realize the true nature of God. Within the overlying allegory, Attar captivates readers with short, charming stories in beautiful and clever language. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper and follows the translation of Edward Fitzgerald.

A RICHLY-ILLUSTRATED MYSTICAL CLASSIC . NEW IN PAPERBACK. The Conference of the Birds is a twelfth-century Sufi allegorical poem. The story of the quest for a king undertaken by the birds of the world, it also describes the Sufi (or mystical Islamic) path to enlightenment. Though hugely popular and influential in the Islamic world, the poem is still relatively unfamiliar in the West. In this edition, the poet Raficq Abdulla has reinterpreted key extracts to make the wisdom of Sufism accessible to the contemporary reader. Combining amusing anecdotes and satire with passages of great mystical beauty, the poem uses the birds’ journey to describe the stages of spiritual experience. This edition is richly illustrated with illuminations from Persian manuscripts.