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...

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…