Reciprocal Opposition of Common Mystical Themes in the Poems of Abu al-Hasan al-Shushtari and Attār of Nishapur

Mysticism is a kind of cognition based on a spiritual and indescribable state in which man feels that he received a direct and immediate connection with the existence of the Almighty God. These feelings are spiritual and transcendental states in which the mystic understands the absolute nature through the taste and conscience. Mysticism is one of the important subjects of literature that has been effective in expanding and enriching poetic themes. Abu al-Hasan al-Shushtari, known as ʽarus al-foqahāʽ (the Bride of the Jurists), is one of the poets of the Andalusian period in the seventh century AH, who composed beautiful poems in the field of mysticism. In the meantime, Attār of Nishapur is one of the prominent poets of the sixth century and a pioneer of mystical poetry and Persian literature. This article, by use of a descriptive-analytical method, aims at the study of commonalities of mystical thoughts of these two poets on concepts such as (unity of existence, divine love, mystical cup, freedom, immortality and annihilation, reality of the world, consent and submission) in the poetic structure and language. The results of this research reveal that Attār of Nishapur and Abu al-Hasan al-Shushtari are prominent mystical poets, and the concepts such as freedom, divine consent, mystical cup, death and annihilation in God's cause, love of the Essence of The One, are repeated in high frequency in the poems of these two poets. Attār in his poems influenced the souls and spirit of his addressees through symbolic utterances, solitariness, novelty of speech and silence. Abu al-Hassan al-Shushtari speaks always of melting in Divine Way and believes that the Divine Love should be expressed manifestly. Abu al-Hasan al-Shushtari in his poetry was greatly influenced by Attār.