{"id":64272,"date":"2018-08-27T20:15:15","date_gmt":"2018-08-28T02:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=64272"},"modified":"2018-09-05T09:52:44","modified_gmt":"2018-09-05T15:52:44","slug":"farid-al-din-attar-on-finding-fault-with-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/08\/farid-al-din-attar-on-finding-fault-with-others.html","title":{"rendered":"Farid al-Din Attar on finding fault with others"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"In<\/a>
Some people, I expect, will be surprised to see that some areas of Iran \u2014 not all! \u2014 look like this.
(Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Farid al-Din Attar<\/a>\u00a0was a Sufi (that is, a Muslim mystic) who died in the early thirteenth century in what is today Iran and who is widely considered to rank among the greatest of all Sufi writers. \u00a0The title of his most famous literary work, a lengthy allegorical poem called \u2014 in both Arabic and, derivatively, also in Persian \u2014 the Mantiq al-Tayr<\/em>, is typically rendered in English as The Conference of the Birds<\/em> or else as\u00a0The Parliament of the Birds<\/em>. \u00a0It\u2019s full of little sermonettes and stories and exhortations, subordinate to the overall plot of the story that it relates. \u00a0(In that regard, I suppose, it\u2019s rather like Geoffrey Chaucer\u2019s Canterbury Tales<\/em>.) \u00a0Here are three passages from the Mantiq al-Tayr<\/em>, as\u00a0translated from Persian into English for Penguin Classics by\u00a0Afkham Darbandi\u00a0and Dick Davis:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A dog brushed up against a sheikh, who made<\/span><\/p>\n

No move to draw his skirts in or evade<\/span><\/p>\n

The filthy stray \u2013 a puzzled passer-by<\/span><\/p>\n

Who\u2019d noticed his behaviour asked him why.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThe dog is filthy, as you see,<\/span><\/p>\n

But what is outside him is inside me \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s clear on him is hidden in my heart;<\/span><\/p>\n

Why should such close companions stay apart?\u00a0 (151)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

To share His hidden glory you must learn<\/span><\/p>\n

That others errors are not your concern \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

When someone else\u2019s failings are defined<\/span><\/p>\n

What hairs you split \u2013 but to your own you\u2019re blind!<\/span><\/p>\n

Grace comes to those, no matter how they\u2019ve strayed,<\/span><\/p>\n

Who know their own sin\u2019s strength, and are afraid.\u00a0 (155)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A sot became extremely drunk \u2013 his legs<\/span><\/p>\n

And head sank listless, weighed by wine\u2019s thick dregs.<\/span><\/p>\n

A sober neighbor put him in a sack<\/span><\/p>\n

And took him homewards hoisted on his back.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another drunk went stumbling by the first,<\/span><\/p>\n

Who woke and stuck his head outside and cursed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHey, you, you lousy dipsomaniac,\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He yelled as he was borne off in the sack,<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019d had fewer drinks, just two or three,<\/span><\/p>\n

You would be walking now as well as me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He saw the other\u2019s state but not his own,<\/span><\/p>\n

And in this blindness he is not alone;<\/span><\/p>\n

You cannot love, and this is why you seek<\/span><\/p>\n

To find men vicious, or depraved, or weak \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

If you would search for love and persevere<\/span><\/p>\n

The sins of other men would disappear.\u00a0 (155)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from Seaside, Oregon<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Farid al-Din Attar\u00a0was a Sufi (that is, a Muslim mystic) who died in the early thirteenth century in what is today Iran and who is widely considered to rank among the greatest of all Sufi writers. \u00a0The title of his most famous literary work, a lengthy allegorical poem called \u2014 in both Arabic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1983,2220,2223,66,2013,2112,2110,2010],"class_list":["post-64272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-attar","tag-faultfinding","tag-incivility","tag-islam","tag-islamic-mysticism","tag-mysticism","tag-sufi","tag-sufism"],"yoast_head":"\nFarid al-Din Attar on finding fault with others<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Farid al-Din Attar\u00a0was a Sufi (that is, a Muslim mystic) who died in 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