Answering the issue of suffering from the viewpoint of Attar Neyshaburi

Author:
Maryam Ismaili
Level:
Master
Field of study:
theology
Language:
Farsi
Faculty:
Faculty of Religions
Year:
2020
Publisher:
URD Press
Advisor(s):
Mahdi Lakzaei

Agony is an issue that every human being has experienced many times in his or her personal life with events such as suffering from illness, grief of parting, hardships of daily life, etc.

In this dissertation, we decided to examine this issue from the perspective of an individual who, in accordance with his personal life, has experienced agony many times and on the other hand, has witnessed people’s agony due to his special social status.

In his works, “Farid Al-Din Mohammad Attar Neyshaburi”, one the most famous poets and Gnostics in Iran, has repeatedly examined the cause of agony through different expressions and has sought a solution for it.

The cause of agony is the “evil” that opposes the good. Human being thinks that whatever is not good in his view is evil for him and, as a result, brings him grief and suffering.

But there are many cases in which people think evil has ruled over them, but at the end of that event, there is goodness of which human being is unaware because of his imperfect intellect. Therefore, it is necessary to be aware of the meaning of evil, the criterion for distinguishing between good and evil, good and evil in the Islamic worldview, the types of good and evil, and the creation and destiny of good and evil.

We should also examine evil from various perspectives such as Islamic mystics, Western philosophy and theology, Quran’s verses and in the view of Islamic narrations to find out that all Muslim and non-Muslim thinkers believe that what human thinks brings him grief is not always evil and with a little patience and reliance on the eternal source of God for increasing his spiritual capacity and changing his mind towards the events, he can proudly win this divine experiment.

In his works, Attar Neyshaburi, has dealt with all kinds of agony and solutions for liberation and, of course, its acceptance. Analyzing Attar’s works through the question of whether this agony has a benefit for human being or not, we came with the following answers: that agony causes perfection and cultivation of the soul, avoidance of evil, attaining the status of pleasure and gratefulness, a mean for measuring faith and sincerity, a mean for asking help from God and finally annihilation in the way of God. (It means that human being is so dedicated to God that s/he only sees God and seeks for his satisfaction).

For consolation of grief, Attar states that through not wanting or asking for anything, remembering the unstable essence of this world and the previous blessings of God, the increasing grief of love and divine desire, and through remembering the problems of other people, it is possible to reduce the pain and sadness which comes along with grief.