Symbolism of Master and Disciple in Attar al-Nayshaburi's Asrarnama

Islamic mysticism is reflected in the most beautiful parts of the Persian literature. Aṭṭār is a mystic-poet with a particular style of writing in mystical literature, and his Asrārnāma (The Letter of Mysteries) is an attempt todisclose mystical secrets to the readers. One significant issue in Islamic mysticism is the relation between master and disciple. Asrārnāma frequently mentions master (murād), oldster (pīr), senior (mihtar) and the like, and it talks about their advice to the novice. In this paper, we have examined the type of relation between master and disciple in Aṭṭār al-Nayshābūrī's Asrārnāma, showing that in some cases, the disciple is not a human person, but it nevertheless respects the master. In this work, masters and disciples appear in different types, one of the most significant ones is that of apparently mad characters as masters. In this paper, we examine the vertical dialogue between masters and disciples and the character types of the former as to whether it is a mundane, terrestrial character or an extra-terrestrial one, and whether it is concrete or abstract, and whether a master might be a non-human person or even an animal and yet guide people.