Erfaniyat Dar Adab Farsi

Death and thinking about it have definitely occupied the minds of poets, writers, mystics, and thinkers throughout the history. In fact, thinking about death has overshadowed the thoughts and the works of many writers and thinkers particularly in the Persian literature. Mystic poets like Sanai, Attar, and Molana have always cherished death in their poems and believe that death is inevitable and cannot be escaped. They, however, believe that true and voluntary death is possible through abstinence and the purification of the soul. Inspired by the Quran’ verses and Ahadith, they presume that we need to voluntarily surrender ourselves before the real death comes. In this short article, the author attempts to describe and analyze the views of mystic poets like Sanai, Attar, and Molana in relation to the concepts of death and voluntary death as well as the ways by which a voluntary death can be realized. Their views of death will be depicted through some examples of their poems.