Attar of Nishapur
Attar of Nishapur | |
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Illustration of Attar by Hossein Behzad, dated 1960 | |
| Mystic Poet | |
| Born | c. 1145 Nishapur, Seljuk Empire |
| Died | c. 1221 (aged 75–76) Nishapur, Khwarezmian Empire |
| Resting place | Mausoleum of Attar, Nishapur, Iran |
| Venerated in | Islam, and especially by Sufis |
| Influences | Ferdowsi, Sanai, Khwaja Abdullah Ansari, Mansur Al-Hallaj, Abu-Sa'id Abul-Khayr, Bayazid Bastami |
| Influenced | Rumi, Hafez, Jami, Ali-Shir Nava'i and many other later Sufi Poets |
Tradition or genre | Mystic poetry |
| Major works | Memorial of the Saints The Conference of the Birds |
| Part of a series on Islam Sufism |
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| Islam portal |
Faridoddin Abu Hamed Mohammad Attar Nishapuri (Persian: فریدالدین ابوحامد محمد عطار نیشابوری; c. 1145 – c. 1221), better known by his pen-names Faridoddin (فریدالدین) and Attar of Nishapur (عطار نیشاپوری, or simply ATTAR, (Attar means apothecary), was a Persian poet, theoretician of Sufism, and hagiographer from Nishapur who had an immense and lasting influence on Persian poetry, on poet Rumi, and on Sufism. He wrote a collection of lyrical poems and number of long poems in the philosophical tradition of Islamic mysticism, as well as a prose work with biographies and sayings of famous Muslim mystics. The Conference of the Birds, Book of the Divine, and Memorial of the Saints are among his best known works. To date his best known translations of his work in English are The Conference of the Birds, and a curated collection of his poems The Invisible Sun, both translated by poet Sholeh Wolpe.