indifference to external things
cultivated by the Sufis. During the invasion of Persia by Jenghiz Khan
(1229 A.D.) when Attar had reached the great age of 110, he was taken
prisoner by the Mongols. One of them was about to kill him, when another
said, "Let the old man live; I will give a thousand pieces of silver as
his ransom." His captor was about to close with the bargain, but Attar
said, "Don't sell me so cheaply; you will find someone willing to give
more." Subsequently another man came up and offered a bag of straw for
him. "Sell me to him," said Attar, "for that is all I am worth." The
Mongol, irritated at the loss of the first offer, slew the saint, who
thus found the death he desired.

[47] _i.e.:_ The stages of the Sufi's progress to God.

[48] c.f. G. Meredith

"Out of hundreds who aspire,
Eighties perish, nineties tire;
Those who bear up in spite of wrecks and wracks,
Were seasoned by celestial blows and thwacks."

[49] It should be remembered that the name Simurgh means "thirty
birds."

[50] The niche in the mosque wall facing Mecca, towards which
Muhammadans pray.

[51] Christians are regarded as idolators by Moslems.

[52] The Kaaba.

[53] Alluding to the Koran (Sura 18) where the angels are
represented as worshipping Adam by the command of God.

CHAPTER XIII

Suhrawardy[54]
(1153-1191 AD)

Very few remains in writing, except their Persian poems, have come down
to us from the older Pantheistic mystics. In the Kingdom of the Caliphs
heretical books were suppressed by stronger measures than being placed
on the Index. To express views openly at variance with the established
religion was to imperil one's life. The Persian Sufis, therefore, who in
their mystical works generally used Arabic, veiled their views in a sort
of technical language, which was quite unintelligible to the
uninitiated. Still some works are preserved which give us an insight
into their tendencies.

The Sheikh Suhrawardy, who was a martyr to his convictions, must be
regarded as the chief representative of this free-thinking tendency in
Sufism. His works have been more appreciated by the Persians and Turks
than by the Arabs, among whom copies of them are no longer to be found,
while they may be met with in Turkish libraries.

Suhrawardy belonged to the orthodox school of the Shafiites, and gained
a great reputation for his learning.