Sufi Epic Poetry — c. 1145–1221 CE

Attar of Nishapur

فریدالدین عطّارِ نیشابوری

The Sufi master who inspired Rumi — 852 ghazals translated line by line, plus the allegorical masterwork Conference of the Birds. Available in 3 bilingual volumes on Amazon KDP.

Farid ud-Din Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Attar

Attar
of Nishapur

عطّارِ نیشابوری
c. 1145–1221 CE — Nishapur, Khorasan (present-day Iran)

Farid ud-Din Attar was a Persian poet, Sufi mystic, and pharmacist (attar means perfume-maker or druggist) who lived in Nishapur during the 12th and 13th centuries. According to tradition, he met the young Rumi as a child and handed him a copy of his Asrar-Nama — a meeting that would profoundly shape the course of Persian mystical poetry.

Attar's greatest work is the Manteq al-Tayr (Conference of the Birds) — a Sufi allegory in which thirty birds journey across seven valleys to find the Simorgh, only to discover that si morgh means "thirty birds" — they themselves are what they were seeking. Rumi later said that Attar had traversed the seven cities of Love while he himself was still in the first alley.

852
Ghazals in the Divan
3
Volumes translated
7
Valleys in the epic
6
Major works
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Word Map of Attar's Divan — نقشهٔ واژگانی
Word Map of Attar's Divan
Featured Translation

The Thirsty Heart — Opening Ghazal

The verse printed on the Attar T-shirt — a couplet from the Divan that captures Attar's characteristic voice: longing, burning, and the wine of love withheld.

Featured Couplet — Attar's Divan The thirsty heart burned, yet found no water from your lips — Intoxicated by the wine of love, yet found no wine from you.
Conference of the Birds — Opening The birds assembled all, from every land — And asked: "Who among us will take command?"
The hoopoe rose — the wisest of the flock — And said: "I know the Simorgh and his road."
"Across seven valleys we must make our way — Quest, Love, Knowledge, Detachment — then four more."
"And those who reach the end will find at last That si morgh — thirty birds — was all along the Simorgh they had journeyed forth to find."
بیتِ معروف از دیوانِ عطّار بس که دل تشنه سوخت وز لبت آبی نیافت مست میِ عشق شد و از تو شرابی نیافت
منطق‌الطیر — آغاز مرغانِ جهان جمله فراهم آمدند در پیِ پادشاه از هر سو دمیدند
هُدهُد برخاست، داناترینِ همه: «من راه دانم؛ سیمرغ را شناخته‌ام»
«از هفت وادی باید گذشت: طلب، عشق، معرفت، استغنا — و سه وادیِ دیگر»
«و آنان که به پایان رسند، خواهند یافت که سیمرغ — همان سی‌مرغ بود که از آغاز در پیِ خود بودند»
About the Poet

Attar — The Poet Who Set Rumi Ablaze

Farid ud-Din Attar was born in Nishapur around 1145 CE and died during the Mongol invasion of the city in 1221. His name means "perfume-maker" or "druggist" — he reportedly ran a pharmacy in Nishapur where he composed poetry while attending to hundreds of customers each day.

Attar's place in the Sufi literary tradition is unique: he stands between Sanai (the first major Sufi poet) and Rumi (the greatest), and profoundly influenced both. Rumi himself acknowledged this debt repeatedly — once saying that Attar had traversed the seven cities of Love (the seven valleys of the Conference of the Birds) while he, Rumi, was still in the first alley.

Attar's Divan contains 852 ghazals written in pure Persian — mystical love poetry of intense longing, using the familiar Sufi imagery of the moth and the flame, the thirsty heart, and the wine of divine love. His poetry is characterised by simple language carrying extraordinarily complex spiritual content.

"You have been told that you are dust —
But you are also the mirror of the King of all beauty."
گفته‌اندت که خاکی — لیک بدان
که آیینهٔ شاهِ حسنی تو همان
Attar — Manteq al-Tayr (Conference of the Birds)
Key Facts — Attar
Full NameFarid ud-Din Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Attar
Bornc. 1145 CE, Nishapur, Khorasan
Diedc. 1221 CE — during the Mongol invasion of Nishapur
ProfessionPoet, Sufi mystic, pharmacist / perfume-maker
GenreSufi lyric ghazal, mystical masnavi
Divan852 ghazals in 3 bilingual volumes
MasterworkManteq al-Tayr (Conference of the Birds)
InfluenceProfoundly influenced Rumi — met him as a child
ThemesDivine love, mystical longing, soul's journey to God
AnalysisWord clouds & frequency on the Analysis page
Literary Legacy

Six Major Works of Attar

Attar was one of the most prolific Sufi poets — his works range from the lyric ghazals of the Divan to the vast allegorical masnavis that define his lasting influence on world literature.

Masterpiece
منطق‌الطیر

Manteq al-Tayr
Conference of the Birds

The allegorical masnavi in which thirty birds journey through seven valleys to find the Simorgh — discovering at the end that they themselves are what they sought. The defining text of Persian Sufi allegory.

Our Translation
دیوان

Divan

852 ghazals of lyric Sufi poetry — the largest corpus of any poet we have translated. Published in 3 bilingual volumes, available on Amazon KDP.

Mystical
اسرارنامه

Asrar-Nama
Book of Secrets

The masnavi that Attar reportedly gave to the young Rumi — a mystical poem on divine secrets that Rumi carried throughout his life and acknowledged as a foundational influence.

Mystical
مصیبت‌نامه

Musibat-Nama
Book of Affliction

A spiritual masnavi in which the intellect journeys through forty stages of consciousness, consulting prophets, angels, and the elements — before finding the answer within the heart.

Mystical
الهی‌نامه

Ilahi-Nama
Book of God

A frame narrative in which a king's six sons each express a worldly desire — and the king responds with mystical parables explaining the true nature of what each son seeks.

Mystical
جواهرنامه

Jawahir-Nama
Book of Jewels

A lesser-known mystical work attributed to Attar — exploring the inner jewels of the spirit, the hidden treasures of the soul's journey toward divine union.

Conference of the Birds

The Seven Valleys of Love

In the Conference of the Birds, the hoopoe leads the assembled birds through seven valleys on their quest to find the Simorgh. Each valley represents a stage of the Sufi spiritual journey — from initial seeking to final annihilation of the self.

I
The Valley of Quest
وادیِ طلب
The seeker burns away self-interest and begins the journey in earnest — turning away from the world.
II
The Valley of Love
وادیِ عشق
Reason is abandoned — the seeker gives everything to love, burning like a moth in the flame of the Beloved.
III
The Valley of Knowledge
وادیِ معرفت
Each seeker finds a unique knowledge — each heart a different understanding of the divine mystery.
IV
The Valley of Detachment
وادیِ استغنا
The seeker releases all desire — both for faith and for doubt — entering a state of complete indifference to the world.
V
The Valley of Unity
وادیِ توحید
All multiplicity dissolves — the many become one, the self and the world are seen as manifestations of a single Reality.
VI
The Valley of Bewilderment
وادیِ حیرت
The seeker is lost in wonder — every breath brings new astonishment, every moment a new fire of unknowing.
VII
The Valley of Annihilation
وادیِ فنا
The self disappears entirely — only thirty birds remain. In the Simorgh's face they see their own reflection: si morgh — thirty birds. They were always the Simorgh.
Amazon KDP Series

The 3‑Volume Bilingual Divan

The complete 852-ghazal Divan of Attar translated line by line — Farsi original alongside faithful English translation — published in 3 volumes. Each available in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon.

Attar Divan — 3-Volume Amazon Series
01
Ghazals 1 to 284
غزل‌های ۱ تا ۲۸۴

Divan Attar — Book 1

284 ghazals — line-by-line bilingual
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02
Ghazals 285 to 568
غزل‌های ۲۸۵ تا ۵۶۸

Divan Attar — Book 2

284 ghazals — line-by-line bilingual
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03
Ghazals 569 to 852
غزل‌های ۵۶۹ تا ۸۵۲

Divan Attar — Book 3

284 ghazals — line-by-line bilingual
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Linguistic Analysis

Word Clouds of Attar's Translation

Four NLP visualisations of the English translation — verbs, nouns, adjectives, and RAKE key phrases. The dominant words confirm Attar's Sufi themes: heart (1,705 times), soul (1,481), love (1,263), become (1,488). See the full analysis on the Analysis page.

Verbs Action Words
Attar's verbs — be, become, have, do — the language of transformation and Sufi states of being.
Attar — Verb Word Cloud
Nouns Subjects & Objects
The nouns of Attar's world — heart, soul, love, wine, fire — the Sufi vocabulary of inner life and longing.
Attar — Noun Word Cloud
Adjectives Qualities & States
The adjectives colouring Attar's verse — the qualities of heart, soul, and the Beloved across 852 ghazals.
Attar — Adjective Word Cloud
RAKE Key Phrases
RAKE key phrase extraction — recurring multi-word thematic clusters that characterise Attar's Sufi worldview across the full Divan.
Attar — RAKE Key Phrase Cloud
Attar Merchandise

Attar 001 — Poetry T‑Shirt

Wear the most celebrated couplet of Attar's Divan — Farsi on the front, English on the back. Heavyweight unisex crewneck, all sizes available on Etsy.

بس که دل تشنه سوخت وز لبت آبی نیافت
مست میِ عشق شد و از تو شرابی نیافت
"The thirsty heart burned, yet found no water from your lips —
Intoxicated by the wine of love, yet found no wine from you."
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Attar T-Shirt — Front Attar T-Shirt — Back
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