Nature of God Essay

Maqamat-e Toyur (The Conference of the Birds) is a book of poems by Attar and is widely appreciated for it narrates the vault and levels that one may go through to understand the true nature of God. The tale begins with a group of birds who long and wish to meet the great Simurgh, who is a mythical creature residing far away. The birds then find hoopoe, a leader, and start their journey with his guidance.Their journey inhibits the crossing of seven valleys in order to reach the valley of Simurgh Aban (Flash), Ishq (Love), Marifat (Gnosis), Istighnah (Detachment), Tawheed (Unity of God), Hayrat (Bewilderment) and, finally, Fuqur and Fana (Selflessness and Oblivion in God). Finally, a group of 30 birds reach the valley of Simurgh, only to see each others reflection in a lake. It is then they attract that the wisdom they seek is not in the mythical creature, but has been in them all along, Si-Murgh meaning 30 birds in Persian.The concept of God existing inside is the basic theory of Sufism and Islam it has also been mentioned in the Holy Quran. The seven valleys even signify the levels that each human seeking the integrity must go through. These stages atomic number 18 not only for Sufis but for every Muslim, who wishes to find spiritual enlightenment. Attar has written tremendous texts for Sufism, explaining the depths of Islam with his poems and short stories and providing an insight through his stories.It is said that Attar had a tremendous impact on Rumi and he respected Attar a lot. Rumi is quoted as saying, Attar roamed the seven cities of manage We are still just in one alley (All About Religion). Jamal Ad-Din Al Rumi, has been the most well known Sufi poet and author around the homo. Although he was a man with extensive familiarity about Islam, and all his theories and texts are based upon Islamic teachings, his work has been credited by mountain from various religions. Rumi was born in 1207, in the contemporary Afghanistan.Duing the season in w hich he was born, there was extensive violence caused by political and social causes. After which the 13th century came into being and brought the threats of crusades by the Mongols, Rumi and his family travelled to the wolfram to find refuge. During his journey, he passed by Iran, Damascus and even performed pilgrimage at Mecca. While in Nishapur, Rumi met Attar and was deeply moved by Attars wisdom about Sufism. After that Rumi finally settled in Karaman and started preaching at the local mosque and teaching at the madressah.This is where he met Shams-e-Tabrizi, an unorthodox eccentric scholar, who shake up Rumi by his intense spiritual presence. After this meeting, Rumi quit his academic workings and start writing Sufi poetry. All Rumis poems have the search of the truth and union with God as the common ground, and love is the most mentioned word in his poems. Rumis words do not just provide a great insight for a person but also carry several meanings at once (Janghda, 157).A s eries of six books by the take in of Masnavi-I Manavi (Rhyming Couplets of Profound Spiritual Meaning) which include 424 stories, is one of the most well known texts of Rumi. These stories narrate the struggle of man in search of truth and last wisdom leading to God. As Rumi believed that ultimately every human on this earth seeks out to a high purpose, to search for something that exists among the material of this world, a higher purpose that can lift the human soul to higher ground.Masnavi-I Manavi is referred to as the roots of the roots of the roots of the (Islamic) Religion by Rumi (Arbery, 89). It has also been translated in many languages and is widely accepted as prime Sufi books. Masnavi-I Manavis stories such as, Why the Saints take refuge in mountains and caves and The Prophets vision of Gabriel in his real form described the essence of Islam and describe the depths of religion. Sufis have written tremendous books in the forms of poems, stories and travelogues.All the se contributions have enabled people to offend understand Islam in the light of mysticism. These literatures have allowed people to look into the teachings of Islam and understand them on a superior level. As Islam is a religion of peace and love, Sufism and its literature has promoted the religion of love throughout the world. The words of Rumi, Attar and many others have spread Islam through literature, because of these men of peace, Islam kept on spreading across the world without any exceptions of cultural differences.It is said that Rumis funeral went on for 40 day, in which Muslims, Jews, Christians and Hindus all came to pay their tribute. As he did not promote hatred for people who did not follow his religion or disagreed with him, but according to the teachings of Islam, Rumi preached tolerance and unity of all human kind (Janghda, 163). Nowadays that Islam has been given a crappy name by the fundamentalists across the world, as they have reformed and used religion for th eir own agenda.The words of Sufis still echo and call for peace and love amongst all religions and races through their literature. A man seeking for wisdom and the truth will always find it in the message of Sufis, a young misfire shall always find peace in a short tale of the mystic Sufi and a scholar will always question his system of logic when reading the swirling verses of Sufis. Arbery, Arthur J.. Sufism An Account of the Mystics of Islam. London Dover Publications, 2002. A. A. Janghda. Sufism. Hiba 10. 54 (2001) 144-163. All About Religion. 03 Jun. 2009. Religion FAQs At All About Religion. 14 Feb 2009 http//www.allaboutreligion.org/sufism.htm