2025 Readings 15

 And here's another book that circled around me for years before I sat down for a complete read: Farid ud-din Attar's The Conference of the Birds. Attar, who lived from c. 1145-c.1221, is another one of those Sufi writers who I love. As I've recounted before, when I was converting to Islam the Imam asked why I was considering the decision. I provided him a number of reasons (it was not a rash decision), and in the end I mentioned my love of so many Sufi writers. He smiled and said, "Yeah, about that," which speaks to the troubled relationship that the Sufis often have with "mainstream" Islamic thought - or, more appropriately, the trouble that "mainstream" Islam has with Sufism. Of course, some of the most influential Islamic thinkers, people who have led an immeasurable number of folks to the faith, were Sufis: Attar, Rumi, Hafez, Ibn Arabi, Ibn Battuta, and probably even Ibn Khaldun, etc. Over the years I've read portions of The Conference of the Birds, and it's made its way into the Epics book and also the proposed Ramadan in Winter book. Only recently did I decide to plow into it fully. Ramadan is coming up soon and, in addition to rereading the Qur'an, I usually try and read one or two other related works as part of that month of self-reflection, so i guess I'm just getting an early start with The Conference of the Birds. The work itself is a beautiful allegory focusing on a group of birds, all representing different aspects of the human condition, who are led by the Hoopoe to visit the mystic Simorgh. Consequently, a goodly portion of the work is made up of conversations between the different birds and the Hoopoe, which in the process tells us something about faith and human nature. That said, I think a larger portion of the book is made up of a wonderful series of parables that get at many of the same themes. 

For example, here's an exchange between one of the birds and the Hoopoe:

A bird who fears death

Another bird spoke up: "The Way is long,

And I am neither valiant nor strong.

I'm terrified of death; I know that I - 

Before the first stage is complete - must die;

I tremble at the thought; when death draws near,

I know I'll shriek and groan in snivelling fear.

Whoever fights death with his sword wil meet

Inevitable, absolute defeat;

His sword and hand lie smashed. Alas! What frief

They grasp who grasp the sword as their belief'

The hoopoe answers him

The hoopoe said: 'How feebly you complain!

How long will this worn bag of bones remain?

What are you but a few bones? And at heart

Each bone is soft and hastens to depart.

Aren't you aware that life, from birth to death,

Is little more than one precarious breath?

That all who suffer birth must also die,

Their being scattered to the windy sky?

As you are reared to live, so from your birth

You're also reared to one day leave this earth.

The sky is like some huge, inverted bowl

Which sunset fills with blood from pole to pole - 

The sun seems then an executioner,

Beheading thousands with his scimitar.

If you are profligate, if you are pure,

You are but water mixed with dust, no more - 

A drop of trembling instability,

And can a drop resist the surging sea?

Though in the world you are a king, you must

In sorrow and despair return to dust.

Obviously, if you know your Sufism you can see several of the main themes jumping out in this section. I can't believe that it took me so long to read the entire work. Clearly, The Conference of the Birds is highly recommended. It's also one of those books that I can clearly see reading again and again. As Janet and I begin, slowly, to put together our plans for moving overseas, one of the biggest challenges is deciding what books to take and what to disperse out into the world (I suspect I will do most of the dispersing, whereas Janet's will be slowly making their way across the Atlantic). My main criteria is: Will I read this book again several times in my life? If so, they will make the journey. Consequently, The Conference of the Birds will find a new home, but in my new home.