The Conference of the Birds

Masih ingatkah pada lirik lagu 'Tanya Sama Itu Hud-Hud' nyanyian M. Nasir?

"ribu-ribu marga satwa mencari raja si muragh, yang sampai hanya tiga puluh"

Baris senikata ini diambil dari syair 'Manteq at-Tair' tulisan Fariduddin Attar. Beberapa hari yang lepas aku telah bertemu dengan buku 'The Conference of the Birds' ('Manteq at-Tair' dalam bahasa Inggeris) ketika mengunjungi Wardah Books di Bussorah Street.

Puisi kesufian ini berkisahkan tentang sekumpulan burung-burung yang bersidang untuk mencari raja mereka, iaitu burung Simorgh. Bila mendapati bahawa mereka perlu menempuh berbagai-bagai rintangan untuk mendapatkan raja mereka, banyak yang memberi alasan untuk tidak disertakan dalam ekspedisi ini, lalu si burung hud-hud, ketua mereka, terpaksa memujuk mereka dengan cara yang bijaksana. Dengan pimpinan dan bimbingan burung hud-hud, akhirnya burung-burung yang lain bersetuju untuk ambil bahagian dalam ekspedisi mencari burung Simorgh.

Sepanjang ekspedisi, banyak burung yang kecundang.... akhirnya yang sampai hanyalah tiga puluh ekor.

Syair terjemahan Inggeris ini mudah dibaca dan dihayati kerana susunan baris-baris ayatnya indah dan berirama tanpa menggunakan perkataan-perkataan 'bombastic'. Inilah kekuatan penterjemahnya, Afkham Darbandi dan Dick Davis.

Buku 'The Conference of the Birds' ini diterbitkan oleh Penguin.

Sedutan dari lelaman wikipedia:

The stories recounts the longing of a group of birds who desire to know the great Simorgh, and who under the guidance of a leader bird start their journey toward the land of Simorgh. One by one, they drop out of the journey, each offering an excuse and unable to endure the journey. Each bird has a special significance in Islamic culture. The guiding bird is the hoopoe, while the nightingale symbolizes the lover. The parrot is seeking the fountain of immortality, not god and the peacock symbolizes the "fallen soul" who is in alliance with Satan.

The birds must cross seven valleys in order to find the Simorgh: Talab (Quest), Ishq (Love), Marifat (Gnosis), Istighnah (Independence), Tawheed (Unity of God), Hayrat (Wonder) and, finally, Fuqur and Fana (Selflessness and Oblivion in God). These represent the stations that a Sufi or any individual must pass through to realize the true nature of God.

Within the larger context of the story of the journey of the birds, Attar masterfully tells the reader many didactic short, sweet stories in captivating poetic style. Eventually only thirty birds remain as they finally arrive in the land of Simorgh — all they see there are each other and the reflection of the thirty birds in a lake — not the mythical Simorgh. It is the Sufi doctrine that God is not external or separate from the universe, rather is the totality of existence. The thirty birds seeking the Simorgh realise that Simorgh is nothing more than their transcendent totality. In fact the word "Simorgh" in arabic means thirty birds. This concept has been compared as being similar to "Universal Pantheism" in western philosophy. As the birds realize the truth, they now reach the station of Baqa (Subsistence) which sits atop the Mountain Qaf.