FARID

This article appears in Volume V10, Page 179 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: EUD-FAT

FARID UD-DIN `ATTAR, or FERID EDDIN-ATHAR (1119-, 1229), Persian poet and mystic, was born at Nishapur, 513 A.H. (1119 A.D.), and was put to death 627 A.H. (1229 A.D.), thus having reached the age of to years. The date of his death is, however, variously given between the years 1193 and 1235, although the

majority

MAJORITY (Fr. majorite; Med. Lat. majoritas; Lat. major, greater)

of authorities support 1229; it is also probable that he was born later than 1119, but before 1150. His real name was Abu Talib (or Abu IHamid) Mahommed ben Ibrahim, and Farid ud-din was simply an honourable title equivalent to Pearl of Religion. He followed for a time his father's profession of druggist or perfumer, and hence the name `Attar (one who sold itr, otto of roses; hence, simply, dealer in drugs), which he afterwards employed as his poetical designation. According to the account of Dawlatshah, his

interest

INTEREST

in the

great

GREAT

mystery of the higher life of man was awakened in the following way. One day a wandering fakir gazed sadly into his shop, and, when ordered to be gone, replied: "It is nothing for me to go; but I grieve for thee, 0 druggist, for how wilt thou be able to think of death, and leave all these goods of thine behind thee? " The word was in season; and Mahommed ben Ibrahim the druggist soon gave up his shop and began to study the mystic

theosophy

THEOSOPHY (from Gr. Oe6s, god, and vogbta, wisdom)

of the Sufis sander Sheik Rukneddin. So thoroughly did he enter into the spirit of that religion that he was before long recognized as one of its principal representatives. He travelled extensively, visited Mecca, Egypt, Damascus and India, and on his return was invested with the Sufi mantle by Sheik Majd-ud-din of Bagdad. The greater portion of his life was spent in the town of Shadyakh, but he is not unfrequently named Nishapuri, after the city of his boyhood and youth. The story of his death is a strange one. Captured by a soldier of Jenghiz Khan, he was about to be sold for a thousand dirhems, when he advised his captor to keep him, as doubtless a larger offer would yet be made; but when the second

bidder

BIDDER, GEORGE PARKER (1806-1878)

said he would give a bag of horse

fodder

FODDER

for the old man, he asserted that he was worth no more, and had better be sold. The soldier, irritated at the loss of the first offer, immediately slew him. A noble tomb was erected over his grave, and the spot acquired a reputation for sanctity. Farid was a voluminous writer, and left no fewer than 120,000 couplets of poetry, though in his later years he carried his asceticism so far as to deny himself the pleasures of poetical composition. His most famous

work

WORK

is the Mantik uttair, or language of birds, an allegorical poem containing a complete survey of the life and doctrine of the Sufis. It is extremely popular among Mahommedans both of the Sunnite and Shiite sects, and the manuscript copies are consequently very numerous. The birds, according to the poet, were tired of a republican constitution, and longed for a king. As the

lapwing

LAPWING (O.Eng. hledpewince= " one who turns about in running or flight ")

, having guided Solomon through the desert, best knew what a king should be, he was asked whom they should choose. The Simorg in the Caucasus, was his reply. But the way to the Caucasus was long and dangerous, and most of the birds excused themselves from the enterprise. A few, however, set out; but by the time they reached the

great

GREAT

king's court, their number was reduced to thirty. The thirty birds (si morg), wing-weary and hunger-stricken, at length gained access to their chosen monarch the Simorg; but only to find that they strangely lost their identity in his presencethat they are he, and he is they. In such strange fashion does the poet image forth the search of the human soul after absorption into the divine.
The text of the Mantik uttair was published by Garcin de Tassy in 1857, a summary of its contents having already appeared as La Poesie philosophique et religieuse chez les Persans in 1856; this was succeeded by a complete translation in 1863. Among Farid ud-din's other works may be mentioned his Pandndma (Book of Counsel), of which a translation by Silvestre de Sacy appeared in 1819; Bulbul Nama (Book of the Nigghtingale) ; Wasalet Nama (Book of Con-junctions) ; Khusru va Gul (The King and the Rose) ; and Tadhkiratu 1 Awliyd (Memoirs of the Saints) (ed. R. A. Nicholson in
Persian Historical Texts). See Sir Gore Ouseley, Biographical Notices of Persian Poets (1846), p. 236; Von

Hammer

HAMMER,
FRIEDRICH
- FRIEDRICH, JOHANN (1836— )
JULIUS (1810-1862)

Purgstall, Geschichte der schonen Redekunste Persiens (Vienna, 1818), p. 14o; the Oriental Collections, ii. (London, 1798), pp. 84, 124, containing translations of part of the Pandnama; E. H. Palmer, Oriental Mysticism (1867); E. G. Browne, Literary History of Persia (1906).

End of Article: FARID

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/EUD_FAT/FARID.html">
FARID
</a>

(Previous)
FARIBAULT

(Next)
FARIDKOT

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email