Iran will commemorate National Day of Attar, the ancient Persian mystic and poet, in a virtual program on Wednesday, said the head of Iranian Society of Cultural Works and Luminaries.

Hassan Bolkhari added that Chairman of the society’s board of directors Mehdi Mohaqeq, Iranian Culture Minister Aide Mahmoud Shaloui, Isfahan University Professor Seyyed Ali-Asghar Mirbaqeri-Rad, and an expert in Attar studies and senior researcher Ali-Mohammad Khorasani will present lectures at the online event, ISNA wrote.

The program will be presented on the Instagram page of the society.

Known by his pen name Farid-oddin Attar Neyshaburi, the prominent Iranian poet was born in 1145 A.D. and died at the age of 75 in Neyshabur, northeastern Iran, during the Mongol invasion of Iran.

Attar is the author of numerous books and works of literature, most important of which are ‘Tazkerat al-Owliya’ (Biographies of the Saints), Manteq-ot-Tayr (The Conference of the Birds), ‘Asrar Nameh’, ‘Elahi Nameh’, and ‘Mokhtar Nameh’.

‘Tazkerat al-Owliya’ is a hagiographic collection about the lives, works, and beliefs of 39 Sufi saints during the 12th and 13th centuries.

Manteq-ot-Tayr, the name of which is taken from the Qur’an, tells the story of a group of birds who gather to decide who is to be their sovereign, as they have none. The hoopoe, the wisest of them all, suggests that they find the legendary Simorgh. The hoopoe leads the birds, each of whom represents a human fault, which prevents humankind from attaining enlightenment.

The hoopoe tells the birds that they have to cross seven valleys in order to reach the abode of the Simorgh.

A manuscript of Manteq-ot-Tayr, dating back to the 15th century, is kept in the National Library and Archives of Iran along with 17 other of handwritten texts of his works.

 

Source: Iran Daily