The ''Ilāhī-Nāma'' (, "Book of God" or "Book of the Divine") is a 12th century Persian poem by the

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

apothecary ''Apothecary'' () is an Early Modern English, archaic English term for a medicine, medical professional who formulates and dispenses ''materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons and patients. The modern terms ''pharmacist'' and, in Brit ...

-poet Farid ud-Din Attar (c. 1145–1221). It is made of roughly 6500 verses and features anecdotal stories varying greatly in length, with some only 3 verses long and others around 400 verses long. Attar endeavored to open the "door to the divine treasure" with this poem and he believed that the final work has praised

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

in a manner beyond any poet before or after himself. Foreword by Annemarie Schimmel
An incompletely edited version is publicly accessible
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Background

Work on the poem began around the same time as his ''Moṣībat-nāma'', all while Attar worked in a popular pharmacy in

Nishapur Nishapur or Neyshabur (, also ) is a city in the Central District (Nishapur County), Central District of Nishapur County, Razavi Khorasan province, Razavi Khorasan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Ni ...

Greater Khorasan KhorasanDabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 (; , ) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau in West Asia, West and Central Asia that encompasses wes ...

, during the age of the

Seljuk Empire The Seljuk Empire, or the Great Seljuk Empire, was a High Middle Ages, high medieval, culturally Turco-Persian tradition, Turco-Persian, Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim empire, established and ruled by the Qiniq (tribe), Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks. ...

. During his time as an

and

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

, Attar remained busy with and affected by the ailments of his customers and his ''Ilāhī-Nama'' reflects what he learned during his time at the pharmacy. Attar spent his later years in Nishapur, where he remained comfortably retired until he was violently executed as part of a massacre during the Mongol invasion of 1221. Edward G. Browne, ''A Literary History of Persia from the Earliest Times Until Firdawsi'', 543 pp., Adamant Media Corporation, 2002, ,

The frame-story tells of a caliph who asks his six princes of their heart's desire. Each of them responds with temporal wants, including the daughter of the king of the fairies, the Jām-e jam, and the ring of Solomon. So the incredulous ruler tries to explain the absurdity of each desire before using spiritual stories to illuminate the deeper interpretation of each of the princes' wants; examples include how the princess represents the prince's own purified soul, the cup of Jamshid is the moment when state of union with god turns into the mirror of reality, and the ring of Solomon is to be content with what one already has. The overall theme of the piece is that whatever one seeks is ultimately within oneself. Beyond the metaphysics of Sufism, the poem also exhibits Attar's secular knowledge as a man of medicine as he brings up an anecdote of a polymath's deft talent in removing a brain tumor. Aligned with his proficiency as an apothecary, Attar uses

alchemy Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

to mean the transformation of the body into heart and of the heart into pain. The text also contains high praise for the

Prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...

through Sufi-style mystical poetry, as Attar writes:

References

External links

* To view this article, perform a web search for <"Ilāhī-Nāma" Dabiri> (omit the angle brackets "<" and ">") then select the hit from Humanities Commons. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ilāhī-Nāma Poems in Persian Sufi literature Religious pluralism Religious syncretism in Asia Universalism Attar of Nishapur

Background

Contents

See also

References

External links