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In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Infinite and beyond-measure praise and gratitude belong to that Lord, the illumination of Whose sun of divinity bestowed a hundred thousand wisdoms upon every atom, such that: "And there is not a thing but that with Us are its depositories, and We do not send it down except according to a known measure" [15:21]. A Sovereign Who, by a single speck of His craftsmanship shining upon every part of the components of the universe, seated a hundred thousand Universal Intellects upon the four-pillared cushions of authority, such that: "And there is not a thing except that it exalts [Allah] with His praise, but you do not understand their glorification. Indeed, He is ever Forbearing and Forgiving" [17:44]. A Holy One Who sent down a hundred thousand holy souls—which had not yet donned the armor of form in the camp of the assembled hosts—from the sublime heights of Lordly elevation to the lowest depths of elemental nature, such that: "We have certainly created man in the best of statures; Then We return him to the lowest of the low" [95:4-5]. A Wise One Who recalled a hundred thousand pure souls—which, like green-clad parrots of honor, possess dignity—from the trap of the wretched world and the cage of the physical body back to the spaciousness of the highest divine nest, such that: "O reassured soul, return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing [to Him]" [89:27-28]. A Creator Who, from the marriage of the letters Kaf and Nun, brought forth from the concealment of non-existence into the plain of existence a hundred thousand diverse forms, such that: "When He intends a thing but that He says to it, 'Be,' and it is" [36:82]. A Sustainer Who mixed four opposing adversaries within the eight chambers of composition, bringing them to a state of equilibrium, so that by means of the holy soul, they became capable of receiving knowledge and the realities of things, and became manifest in open dispute, such that: "He created man from a sperm-drop; then at once, he is a clear adversary" [16:4]. A King Who set afloat upon the water the vessel of the twelve thousand pillars of the Glorious Throne, keeping it steady, such that: "and His Throne was upon the water" [11:7]. An Innovator Who entrusted the fortress of the twelve zodiac signs of the heavens to seven keepers, and raised their dwellings from blue smoke, such that: "Then He directed Himself to the heaven while it was gas" [41:11]. An Originator Who, when He brought the Jamshid of the sun to its peak at the celestial equator of the mid-day empire, coupled decline and setting with that perfection, such that: "And when it set, he said, 'O my people, indeed I am free from what you associate with Allah'" [6:78]. A Subduer Who overturned the golden drum of the sun from the back of the white elephant of the day, stained its yellow shield with the blood of the twilight, and cast it into its path, such that: "he found it setting in a spring of dark mud" [18:86]. A Maker Who, by the hand of the craftsmanship of Bilal of Abyssinia, branded the dark forehead of the night with the crescent moon, such that: "They ask you, [O Muhammad], about the new moons. Say, 'They are measurements of time for the people'" [2:189]. A Gracious One Who, every morning, cast the luminous robe of day around the neck of the dark night by the hand of the true dawn, such that: "And by the night as it closes in, and by the dawn as it breathes" [81:17-18]. An All-Powerful One Who scattered a hundred thousand western dinars from the golden eastern tray upon the heads of the inhabitants of the worlds, such that: "And We have made the night and the day two signs, and We erased the sign of the night and made the sign of the day visible" [17:12]. A Generous One Who brought forth from the infinite ocean of mercy a unique and chosen pearl like Muhammad, the Messenger of God, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, to the shore of existence, and seated the hungry of the high and low realms, and the thirsty of the east and west, at the table of his bounty, such that: "And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds" [21:107]. The Seal of the Prophets, the master of the saints, the cream of the pious, the leader of the pure, the guide of a hundred thousand worlds, the leader of the sons and daughters of Adam, the Qurayshi Messenger and the Hashemite Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his family and companions after him.

To proceed: A group of intimate friends, companionable loved ones, far-sighted peers, and harmonious associates—who possessed hearts as bright as the sun, whose breath was truthful like the true dawn, who laughed with burning passion like a candle, and who turned their faces in purity like a mirror toward this weak one—implied that since the sovereignty of the Khosrow Nameh became manifest in the world, the secrets of the Asrar Nameh were publicized, the language of the birds in the Toyoor Nameh (Mantiq al-Tayr) reached the status of revelation for souls, the burning grief of the Mosibat Nameh exceeded all limits, and the compilation of the Divan was completed, and the Javahar Nameh and Sharh al-Qalb, both of which were composed in verse, remained uncompiled due to passionate distraction and suffered damage and loss; and since the quatrains (rubaiyat) contained in the Divan are numerous, difficult to organize, devoid of the ornament of order, and distant from the essence of brevity—even though they possess composition, they lack arrangement, and many seekers remain deprived of their share and seekers return without their goal—if a selection were made and an option was chosen for their organization and arrangement, its order and ornament would increase, and its splendor would be enhanced by the beauty of brevity. Thus, in response to the requests of these religious brothers, among the quatrains that had been composed, which totaled six thousand verses, nearly one thousand verses were pruned away because they were not suited for this world, and we sent them to that world, for it is said: "Keep your secret, even from your collar button." One cannot go to that world with an unwashed face and without purification. From the remaining five thousand, we chose the amount contained in this collection with this arrangement, and left the rest in the Divan. "And he who seeks and strives, finds." We named this Mokhtar Nameh (The Book of Selection), and our suspicion is—indeed, it is a certainty—that no speaker has ever achieved such a comprehensive collection; for had they achieved it, it would surely have been revealed. These verses came about from a state of raw helplessness, not from calculated artifice, and they are free from affectation. We have written them down just as they came, while being immersed in heart's blood. If one day the plight of the helpless catches the hem of your soul, and for a few nights you hang your head in the collar of bewilderment, only then will you know from which nest these lovely nightingales and sugar-gathering parrots have flown: "He who has not tasted does not know." Furthermore, I do not know if such verses can be found in any other Divan, or if so many subtleties can be acquired; for this is a treasure of sacred meanings, "I was a hidden treasure, and I loved to be known," and a treasury of the results of the unseen, "And with Him are the keys of the unseen; none knows them except Him" [6:59]. If the reader, with contemplation and reflection, reaches the secret of the treasure, there is no way that their purpose will not be achieved. Although there were several verses that were not suited for this book—some because every intellect is too limited to grasp them and every understanding is incapable of receiving them, and some because they outwardly wore the garments of tresses, moles, lips, and mouths, and could be spoken of in the mold of forms and words current in the terminology of conventional people—yet, since they had been composed, we strung them all on a single thread, for seeing a mole without a face and a face without a mole is the condition of the short-sighted. But those who are people of taste and spiritual attributes, and are free from the form of words, move toward the meaning and behold the Holy Spirit in various garments; they shall not depart empty-handed from this feast. Indeed, since the speech was of all kinds, everyone can have a share in it according to their capacity. May the Almighty preserve the people of justice and fairness, and the companions of taste and insight!

The speech of Attar, which is in truth an antidote, should not be compared with the speech of others. For these two triads that remained as Attar's legacy in the world—firstly, the Khosrow Nameh, the Asrar Nameh, and the Maqamat al-Toyoor; and secondly, the Divan, the Mosibat Nameh, and the Mokhtar Nameh—the square-dwelling inhabitants of the eight octagonal heavens [sitting "on thrones facing each other" 15:47] behold them like the hexagonal cell of the bee filled with honey, and the state of the beholder rises ("and righteous work raises it" [35:10]). Indeed, the triad that Attar constructs is like this, and by its scent, poison can be distinguished from the antidote, and by its taste, the sign of familiarity can be recognized. Verse: "From a place emerge these words, Which is solely the place of the soul and the Beloved." This itself was a section of the kind of every virtue that emanates from every kind of human being. Now, let us return to justice, and stretch out our bare hand of hope in begging, so that the companions of taste may remember us with good prayers and honor us with beautiful mention, so that the Holy One, by means of the sincere, disinterested prayers of the friends of religion, may draw the pen of forgiveness over the records of our transgressions, for He is the Guardian of response. And this collection is set upon fifty chapters in the following order that is shown, and with God is success: Chapter One: On the Monotheism of the Creator, Exalted be His Majesty. Chapter Two: In Praise of the Master of the Messengers, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. Chapter Three: On the Virtue of the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them all. Chapter Four: On the Meanings Pertaining to Monotheism. Chapter Five: On the Exposition of Monotheism in the Language of Singleness (Tafreed). Chapter Six: On the Exposition of Being Effaced in Monotheism and Annihilated in Singleness. Chapter Seven: On the Exposition That Whatever Is Not Pre-eternal Monotheism is...