In Chapter 45, Poem 20 of Attar's Mokhtar Nameh, the process of extracting rosewater is used as an allegory for the spiritual seeker's necessary surrender to hardship. The rose must endure the 'fire' to be transformed into pure rosewater, mirroring the soul's journey through torment to achieve spiritual refinement.

The phrase 'throwing the shield upon the water' (سپر بر آب انداخت��) is a classical Persian idiom representing complete helplessness, surrender, and giving up the fight. This imagery teaches that the mystic must abandon all defenses and submit completely to divine trials to reach a higher spiritual state, just as the rose must yield to the fire.