The Conference of the Birds
Farid ud-Din Attar
The Conference of the Birds tells the story of birds journeying toward the Simorgh. Attar masterfully describes the stages of spiritual enlightenment in this mystical masterpiece.
About this book
The Conference of the Birds (Mantiq al-Tayr), the mystical masterpiece of Farid al-Din Attar of Nishapur (c. 1145–1221 CE), is one of the great works of Persian allegorical poetry, composed around 1177 CE. In it, Attar portrays the soul's journey toward truth as a tale of birds.
Led by the hoopoe, a company of birds sets out to find the Simorgh, the king of birds. They must cross seven difficult valleys — Quest, Love, Knowledge, Detachment, Unity, Bewilderment, and finally Poverty and Annihilation. Many fall along the way, and only a few reach the goal.
At the end, the surviving birds discover there is no Simorgh apart from themselves: the secret lies in a delicate pun, for si morgh means "thirty birds" — the very thirty who completed the journey and find the truth mirrored in their own being. The allegory is a profound expression of annihilation and union in Iranian mysticism.
For today's reader, the Conference of the Birds is at once a work of dazzling beauty and a guide to self-reflection; a symbolic journey that anyone, anywhere in the world, can make their own.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Habiballah of Sava), CC0 (Public Domain), via Wikimedia Commons
