Conference of the Birds Summary

Conference of the Birds Summary, by Samira Rahmatullah

Basic Story:

A bunch of birds decide that they need a king/God. The hoopoe tells them that they have a king/God…their king/God is the Simorgh, who lives in a distant land. The journey to the Simorgh is long and laborious, and most will not make it. They decide that they need a leader for the journey, a teacher or guide, and conduct a lottery to choose a leader. Ofcourse, the hoopoe wins the lottery and is the chosen leader/teacher/guide. He is then handed the difficult task of persuading all the birds to embark on this difficult journey. Each type of bird (duck, finch, etc) symbolizes a specific human type (the lover, the coward, etc.), and presents a different excuse for why it cannot/doesn’t want to embark on the journey. The hoopoe responds to these excuses with a number of fables/stories with a common and relevant theme. Finally the birds who are convinced to go on the journey pass through 7 valleys: quest, love, insight into mystery, detachment, unity, bewilderment, poverty & nothingness…then finally reach the Simorgh. Once they are there, they realize that in seeing the Simorgh they actually see themselves. The Simorgh is indeed the reflection of all 30 birds that make it. The first lesson is thus the following: to find God you must look within yourself because he is there. However, this is not to be confused with indwelling (incarnation, ie. Jesus), to which the Sufis are vehemently opposed. Upon coming to this realization, the birds dissolved into Nothingness. Then after sometime, their selfhood is regained and they attain eternal life. The second lesson: (pg. 221) “you cannot hope for life till you progress through some small shadow of Nothingness. First he will humble you in dust and mire, and then bestow the glory you desire. You cannot live whilst life and Self persist. Till you reach Nothingness you cannot see the life you long for in eternity.”

Things we discussed in class:

1. Role of the hoopoe as guide/teacher. He doesn’t quite live up to the virtues he preaches, such as humility. Is quite arrogant about his role as teacher, and at times rude in his approach. Compared him to Al-Hallaj, who doesn’t want to be a teacher at all. Other extreme of humility. We talked about how the leader gets “chosen” as opposed to be self-proclaimed. The hoopoe is chosen as leader due to “Solomon’s glance”. The teacher is very important in Sufism. Without a teacher one would not know the correct path to reaching God. 2. Role of love in all the fables/stories. Love/devotion for God (or whatever is meant to symbolize God in the story) is encouraged, but love for the wrong thing can lead to destruction. ie. (pg. 57) the pious man who fell in love with the christian girl only received humiliation for it. There is also a strong element of suffering in one’s love/devotion for God. The suffering seems almost necessary in order to reach God. 3. the final goal being that of annihilation in God (fana). Ie. (pg. 206) the moth story. In order to become one with the flame it has to be annihilated. One can reach God only by losing oneself or annihilating oneself in God. Once this has been achieved one eventually regains self-hood, but is at this point “enlightened”. 4. similarities with the Buddhist tradition include detachment from the self/giving up the self. Also, in Mahayana Buddhism though not in Theravada Buddhism so much (we studied the latter in class), enlightened individuals can regain selfhood instead of being released from the cycle of rebirth, coming back as bodhisattvas. Also, the Buddha himself regained selfhood after reaching enlightenment. There are also some similarities with Hindu devotional poetry in the suffering/love/devotion for God that is experienced by those on the journey towards God.