In Attar's Elahi Nameh, the story of Hasan Basri and his Zoroastrian neighbor Sham'un illustrates the Sufi critique of material worship. Hasan demonstrates to Sham'un that despite eighty years of devotion to fire, the element remains unconscious and would burn its worshipper as readily as it would burn a stranger. This realization of the material world's indifference paves the way for Sham'un's deathbed conversion, symbolizing that true salvation and reciprocal love can only be found in the Divine's boundless mercy.