Shaikh Fariduddin Attar (رحمتہ اللہ علیہ)

Ash Shaikh Mir Asedullah Quadri

Abu Hamid bin Abu Bakr Ibrahim (1145-1229 CE) (ابوحمید بن ابوبکر ابراهیم رحمتہ اللہ علیه), was a Sufi Shaikh and a poet in Persian, well known by his pen name Fariduddin Attar (فریدالدین عطار). His famous work in poetry is titled ‘The Conference of the Birds (منطق‌الطیر)’, and his famous work in prose is titled ‘Remembering Awliya Allah’ (تذكرة الاولياء). Shaikh Attar’s works were great inspiration to Rumi and several other Sufi poets (رحمتہ اللہ علیہم). Rumi (رحمتہ اللہ علیه) praises Attar in his famous Mathnawi, saying (عطار روح بود و سنایی دو چشم - او ما از پی سنایی و عطار آمدیم) ‘Attar was the soul, and Sanai was his two eyes, and we followed Sanai and Attar’. He also wrote (گرد عطّار گشت مولانا - شربت از دست شمس بودش نوش) ‘Rumi turned to Attar, and He drank the juice from Shams hand’. He also wrote (هفت شهر عشق را عطار گشت - ما هنوز اندر خم یک کوچه ایم) ‘Attar travelled through all the seven alleys of love (of Allah), While I am only at the bend of the first alley’.