In this parable from Farid al-Din Attar's Manteq al-Tayr (The Conference of the Birds), a madman plagued by a fly and a flea likens his suffering to that of the tyrant Nimrod, who was famously destroyed by a gnat entering his brain. A companion draws a broader spiritual lesson from this state: just as a lowly, polluted fly cannot reach the mythical Simurgh on Mount Qaf, a soul weighed down by sin and worldly distraction cannot attain proximity to the Divine. The allegory uses the irritating insects to symbolize the inescapable torments of earthly existence and the paralyzing nature of spiritual impurity on the mystic path.