Collage
My inspiration came from our Week 10 reading of The Conference of the Birds by Farid al-Din Attar. The characterization of each bird with a particular vice is a beautiful analogy to the the sinful desires that attract men and women away from living a holy or fulfilling life. In my collage, I include photos of all the birds in the story with their vice written across their picture. Some vices were more easy to concisely name than others. Some of the vices were more like descriptions of how the bird strayed from the worship of God. For instance, the Nightingale was easily characterized because it worshipped Love rather than God. The Peacock, on the other hand, was more difficult to characterize because it sought to return to a worldly paradise rather than pursue the eternity of spiritual connection to God. Or, the Finch, who thought it could take the place of a figure as virtuous as Joseph, but could not stand before Simorgh (God). The Finch strays from the worship of God by using hypocrisy and meekness to avoid the struggle and hard work necessary to achieve the spiritual connection.
The Conference of the Birds was my favorite of our readings this semester. The story is unusual and incredibly effective at communicating some of the most important parts of Muslim life. The temptations that exist are difficult to avoid as they may seem trivial when considered in the small doses seen in everyday life. However, in order to live a fulfilling and spiritual life, it is important to analyze even the minute vices that distract from worshipping God and following the life of the Prophet. For instances, the Duck’s vice is Purity. Purity does not seem sinful, however, when an obsession with cleanliness starts to get in the way of forming a connection with God or takes up time that could be used to aid others it becomes a vice. Al-Din Attar does an impressive job describing how small temptations can confuse one’s understanding of their unimportant actions in relation to the everlasting nature of God.
While I labeled each of the birds in my collage, they were eventually able to overcome their vices and work together to reach Simorgh. This reveals how Muslims can overcome temptations by coming together and the importance of providing and accepting help from other members of their community. In this way, the collage represents the stage in which the birds have come together, but have not yet fully overcome their worldly desires.