Attar of Nishapur

Faridoddin Abu Hamed Mohammad Attar Nishapuri (Persian: فریدالدین ابوحامد محمد عطار نیشابوری; c. 1145 – c. 1221), better known by his pen-names Faridoddin (فریدالدین) and Attar of Nishapur (عطار نیشاپوری), or simply Attar (meaning apothecary), was a Persian poet, theoretician of Sufism, and hagiographer from Nishapur who had an immense and lasting influence on Persian poetry, on poet Rumi, and on Sufism. He wrote a collection of lyrical poems and number of long poems in the philosophical tradition of Islamic mysticism, as well as a prose work with biographies and sayings of famous Muslim mystics. The Conference of the Birds, Book of the Divine, and Memorial of the Saints are among his best known works.