Muslim Saints and Mystics by Farid Al-Din Attar

Muslim Saints and Mystics by Farid Al-Din Attar

So cried Abu Yazid al-Bestami, founder of the ecstatic or 'drunken' school of Sufism, while rapt in union with his God. Mysticism, as testified to in these selections from the one prose work by the great twelfth- and thirteenth-century Persian poet Farid al-Din Attar, is not always a respecter of conventional piety or dogma. Another celebrant here, Abo 'l-Qasem al-Jonaid, kisses the feet of a thief who has just been hanged and explains: 'A thousand compassions upon him! He proved himself a true man at his trade. He did his work so perfectly that he gave his life for it!'

Attar's Memorial of the Saints is a classic of Islamic mysticism - deeds, parables and miracles evoking the riches of the interior Sufi world. The translator, Professor Arberry, late Professor of Arabic at Cambridge, assists in introducing us to the beatitude both of the loftiest member of the Baghdad Circle and of the lowest slave. A reverent, thought-provoking and, not least, amusing collection.

Details

• Paperback (very good)
• ISBN: 9780140192643
• Condition: Very good, no notes/stamps 
  
• Publisher: Penguin Arkana