Bodily Ascension of the Prophet from Attār's Viewpoint in his Asrārnāmah

According to the view of the famous mystic of the seventh century, 'Attār, in spiritual wayfaring not only the interior but also exterior or the body is transformed and put in an evolutional route. Discussing the spiritual perfection of a mystic he talks about the transcendence of body in his famous works such as Asrārnāmah, Elāhināmah, and Mosibatnāmah. In Asrārnāmah, he says that when a mystic fights his soul and causes it to reach the state of annihilation, not only the spirit but also the body will become pure, enlightened and illuminated so that the body goes beyond the border of matter. He, then, refers to the purity of the Prophet‘s body and says that it owns the characteristics of a spirit; That is why it has the capability of ascension and for this reason the Prophet ascended the heaven with his body in the night of ascension. One should know that bodily ascension is a divine miracle that belongs to the great divine prophets only and its secret is hidden from humans. The purpose of the writer in this article is to show that regarding 'Attār's discussion, spirit joins the source of absolute perfection by austerity and fighting the body. In this evolutional process the body also changes and takes the characters of a spirit. Of course this is something relative and of degrees and relates to God‘s will.