TEHRAN -- Iranian literati and scholars will be gathering in Neyshabur to mark National Attar Day which falls on April 13 this year.

 

They will be gathering at the mausoleum of the classical Persian poet Farid ud-Din Attar (c. 1145-1221) in Neyshabur as an annual ritual.

 

Several experts on Attar are invited to attend a conference arranged one day ahead of the national day on April 12 at the Simorgh Cultural Center in Neyshabur, an official in charge of the conference, Jalal Hashemi, told the Persian service of ISNA on Friday.

 

Ahmad Ahmadi, Nasrin Faqih, Mehdi Seyyedi, and Gholamreza Khaki are among the scholars who will be speaking at the conference, he added.

 

The Neyshabur Municipality has also organized several programs for the day including art and cultural programs, music performances, and adorning the tomb of Attar.

 

Asrar-Nama, Mantiq at-Tayr (Conference of the Birds), Mosibat-Nama, Elahi-Nama, Mokhtar-Nama, Khosrow-Nama and Tadkerat al-Awliya are among Attar’s masterpieces.

 

Attar’s most famous work “The Conference of the Birds” is an allegorical poem describing the quest of the birds, which symbolically represent Sufis, for the mythical Simorgh, or Phoenix. 

 

RM/YAW

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