Значение слова "ATTAR, FARIDODDIN" найдено в 1 источнике

ATTAR, FARIDODDIN

найдено в "Encyclopedia of medieval literature"

(Farid ud-Din)
(ca. 1145–1221)
   Attar was a Persian poet, Sufi mystic, and biographer. Some 30 of his works survive, including long narrative poems, biographies of saints, and short mystical lyrics.
   Very little is known of Attar’s life beyond what can be found in his works. He seems to have been born in Nichapur, an important center of Sufi mysticism in northeast Iran near what today is the city of Meshed. The name Attar means “druggist,” which at the time referred to anyone working as a physician; in his poetry, Attar describes working with patients. Attar was little known in his own time, but his reputation has grown steadily over the years and he has been very influential on later writers. Most scholars believe he was killed in 1221, when the Mongol army destroyed Nichapur and slaughtered the population.
   Attar’s most influential work is Manteq al-Tayr (The Conference of the Birds), an epic-length allegory in rhyming couplets. In it Attar creates a new form of frame tale—a continuous narrative in which other shorter narratives are embedded. In the narrative, a large congregation of birds meets in preparation for a pilgrimage to find the mythical Simurgh, whom they regard as their king, though they have never seen him. The birds choose the Hoopoe as their guide, and he immediately sets about strengthening their resolve, arguing the birds out of various attachments to the world through a series of exemplary tales.
   To convince them of the need to give up all worldly impediments, the Hoopoe tells the story of Sheikh Sam’an, the longest of the 100 or so tales in the poem. In it Sheikh Sam’an abandons his faith for love of a Christian girl who convinces him to burn the KORAN, drink wine, ignore the true faith (Islam), worship idols, and ultimately to tend a herd of pigs. Sam’an is saved through the prayers of his disciples and returns to the true faith.His Christian girlfriend, realizing the error of her ways, follows him and converts to Islam on her deathbed.
   It was common in Middle Eastern literature to tell moral tales using animals and birds, and traditionally a bird was symbolic of the soul. The allegory of The Conference of the Birds seems clearly to indicate that the soul must give up worldly attachments if it seeks God, here represented by the Simurgh. In the tale the Hoopoe finally leads the birds on an arduous journey through seven valleys to the palace of Simurgh. Of the thousands who start the journey, only 30 birds (or si murgh in Persian) arrive at the palace, and they find only a set of mirrors in which they look upon themselves: By ridding themselves of worldly encumbrances, they have become the God they seek—God, it turns out, is to be sought within ourselves.
   Attar’s other works include a collection of 97 biographies of Sufi saints, Tazkerat ol-ouliya. In the collection Attar includes a good deal of romantic elaboration of his sources. One of his best-known biographies in this collection is his story of Hallaj, a mystic-martyr to whom Attar was especially devoted. Also fairly well known is Mosibatname (The book of affliction), which, like The Conference of the Birds, is made up of a frame story containing a number of embedded parables and tales. In it a Wayfarer requests 40 special powers to cure his affliction, but is refused all of them. In the end he casts himself into the Ocean of Soul only to recognize that he himself is the essence of God. In Oshtoname (The book of the camel), Attar’s protagonist commits suicide, suffering and dying for the sake of love. Attar’s other significant works include Elahiname, a conversation among a king and his six sons, Pandname (The book of counsel), and a number of ecstatic lyric poems.
   Attar focuses on several Sufi themes in his poetry. Like all mystics, Sufis emphasize the need for direct personal experience of God, and often describe visions during which God speaks directly to the mystic. Again as with most mystics, the experience of God transcends time and space, and in eternity souls are permanently united with God. Specifically Attar focuses on two important Sufi themes: First, that the soul is in great pain when it is apart from God; and second, that to find God one must eliminate worldly distractions and seek God within oneself.
   Ultimately, Attar’s work is interesting in its use of the frame narrative, a device later used in the THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS as well as by CHAUCER and by BOCCACCIO. But his poetry also has a universal appeal to any reader interested in the way of the mystic, and in this sense Attar has been particularly admired by Sufi writers.
   Bibliography
   ■ Arberry, Arthur John. Muslim Saints and Mystics: Episodes from the Tadhkirat al-Auliya. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979.
   ■ Attar, Farid ud-Din. The Conference of the Birds. Translated by Afkham Darbadi and Dick Davis. New York: Penguin, 1984.
   ■ Rypka, Jan, et al. History of Iranian Literature. Dordrecht, Netherlands: D. Reidel, 1968.


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