Sufi perspectives on religious unity: Ibn Arabi, Rumi, and Attar

Sufis and especially Ibn Arabi, Rumi and Attar believed in the unity of all religions a in many ways, The Conference of the Birds is indicative of typical Sufi thought in that it unswervingly adheres to many of the principles and beliefs that are fundamental to this particular perspective. Essentially, the poem chronicles the coming together and discourse of the "birds of the quest" that must succeed through seven valleys, which are largely representative of the varying states of Sufism that may be undertaken to achieve union with God. These valleys are known as Search, Love, mystic Apprehension, Detachment/Independence, Unity, Bewilderment, and Fulfillment in Annihilation. In the Search stage, the birds (which symbolize differing people and facets of mankind) are seen as being dissatisfied with the mundane, material world and seek a more fundamental understanding of the Divine and the presence which it brings. The Love stage or valley is indicative of one of the primary paths to achieve such a union with God. Each valley represents a further step or escalation of the path that ultimately concludes in an awakening of man's true soul, liberated from the physical confines of its corporal shell, and fully immersed or annihilated within God's beauty.

There are several points of note to be found within these valleys and within The Conference of the Birds as a whole. Foremost among these is the duality inherent within many of the images and the language of the Attar. As Darbani and Davis denote in the introduction to Attar's poem, "most sufi authors tend to retreat into paradox at crucial moments, either because they feel their beliefs are genuinely inexpressible by other means or because they fear orthodox reprisal" (4). Although it would be somewhat hyperbolic to categorize the dichotomy expressed within many of the concepts and the dictions employed by Attar in this particular poem, the duality between the Detachment/Independence stage of the soul's progression as well as the annihilation in God which actually leads to the recreation of the soul as part of God is certainly prevalent and prominent within this poem. To annihilate or to destroy oneself is certainly paradoxical, while the inherent independence to be found by detaching oneself from worldly affairs is also indicative of a dichotomy that is chronicled within Attar's work.

This dichotomy, of course, is actually magnified within the most eminent notions of Sufism, in which adherents and mystics must essentially give up all they have ever known (in a secular sense) to gain all they could ever want (via their spiritual union with God). This destruction of the self is one of the primary motifs found within The Conference of the Birds, as the following quotation readily demonstrates.

If you desire this quest, give up your soul

And make our sovereign court your only goal.

First wash your hands of life if you would say:

'I am a pilgrim of our sovereign Way';

Renounce your soul for love; (Attar).