In Poem 23 of Chapter 12 in Attar's Mokhtar Nameh, the poet advises the spiritual seeker to abandon evil deeds and adopt a state of spiritual submission, symbolized by spreading the 'prayer rug of submission' (س��اده تسلیم). The poem uses the metaphor of a 'dog' (سگ) to represent the carnal self (nafs) that inhabits the physical body ('house of bones'). Attar asserts that one cannot peacefully coexist with this inner dog and must therefore drive it away to achieve tranquility and spiritual progress.