The Cruelty of the Way and the Afflictions of Dīn: a Study of ʿAttar’s The Speech of the Birds’ Climactic Moment

Farid al-Din ʿAttar’s Mantiq al-tayr (The Speech of the Birds) has arguably the most celebrated conclusion in Persian Sufi allegorical literature: Thirty birds (sī-murgh) discover that they are the sublime entity that they seek, the mythological Sīmurgh. This article provides an analysis that considers this conclusion in light of ʿAttar’s vision of dīn (religion, or devotional commitments), as well as his view of the “way” of Sufi saints (rāh), one that focuses on matters of meditative breathing techniques. Offering new and lucid translations of this pivotal moment in the tale, this article explores ʿAttar’s literary conclusion as a matter of imaginative orthopraxy. Citation: Zargar, Cyrus Ali. “The Cruelty of the Way and the Afflictions of Dīn: A Study of ʿAṭṭār’s The Speech of the Birds’ Climactic Moment,” Mystical Landscapes in Medieval Persian Literature, ed. Fatemeh Keshavarz and Ahmet T. Karamustafa. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2025, pp. 219-244.