Abstract

The story of the struggle between assimilation and transcendence of the
Essence Attributes and Acts of God can be considered as the earliest and
most widespread verbal dispute among the followers of the Abrahamic
religions. In the Islamic world, sects such as Karrāmiyyah, Hashviyyah
and Ash‘arites have been accused of assimilation of God’s essence,
contrary to Mu'tazilites, Shi‘ites, and Muslim theosophists who have
been accused of equating the Attributes and Acts of God with those of
man.
This essay aims to study the approach of the distraught theosophist
of Nishabour, Farīd al-dīn Muhammad ‘Attār (540-618 A.H. / 1145-
1221 A.D.) considering the above mentioned subjects in his three
everlasting works (Elāhī Nāmah, Muṣībat Nāmah and Manṭiq al-Ṭayr).
This research suggests that even in the mood of composing his poems,
Farīd al-Dīn has also a transcendental approach as he frequently
expresses. Unlike Ash'arites, ‘Attār doesn’t differentiate between the
Attributes and Essence of God. He believes that the reason lags behind
the cognition of substance of the Essence, Attributes and Acts of God
and also thinks that God is pure against being called by name, he believe
whatsoever the servants perceive, in fact, reflects their own imagination:
“man perceives no more of him than imagination".
Also in Manṭiq al-Ṭayr, the Simurgh was seen as thirty birds by the
birds at the end of their journey: "they saw unspeakable and nonattributable
Holiness". The Farīd al-dīn’s transcendental approach that
even gets close to the leading edge of negative theology, reminds us of
the first sermon of Imam Ali (AS) in Nahj al-Balāghat. On the other
side, ‘Attār’s cavils at the Divine mercy which has been uttered by the
distressed shows that he believes in rationale for good and evil deeds
and he considers God not indisputable.

Keywords

• Farīd al-Dīn ‘Attār of of Nishābour
• God Transcendence
• Resemblance to God
• ‘Attār Romances
• Islamic Theology