ABSTRACT
However, when it comes to the Sufis, the boundaries and borders of this territory become hazy. For instance, 'Attar's (d. 618/1221) reference to the notion of territory is in such general tenns that one hardly sees any distinction between the territory of Muslims and that of non-Muslims. 'Attar does not draw specific lines between earthly physical territories. Rather, he focuses on the distinction between the inner and outer territory, within and without the soul. For instance, in his Man{iq al-rayr, when the heron expresses its desire to retire to the seaside, the hoopoe answers:
The hoopoe told him: .. 0, you who know not the sea, The sea is full of whales and beasts, Sometimes bitter, sometimes salty, Sometimes calm, sometimes fierce It is an agitated, also unstable thing Sometimes going, yet coming back The sea is only a source of Her land Why do you forget the essence oflfer?,,2
By drawing the heron's attention to the Absolute Territory and Soul of the Beloved, referred to as "Her land" and "the essence of Her" in these verses, the hoopoe points out that persistence in any geographical territory leads to residing in the darkness as it prevents one from reaching "the Absolute Territory" or "the Land of the Beloved."
