The Mystics of Islam

Islam is far from being only a range of acts of strict observation that the believer is asked to do. It is also the vast garden of mystical inquiry, an ongoing effort to reveal the powerful action of the Sublime in the material world we live in. This mystical quest for the Devine is exemplified here by the poem of Farīd-ud-Dīn ʼAttar of Nishapur about the Speech of the Birds, where the hoopoe instructs the other birds on the Sufi path. Engaging into this path means destroying all the attachments of his own ego with the sensitive world and delve into mysteries. In the end, the annihilation of the self allows the great joy of the eternal union with the Supreme.