In Farid al-Din Attar's Conference of the Birds, the tale of the sleeping lover who is reprimanded by his beloved serves as an allegory for spiritual vigilance and the demanding nature of true devotion. When the beloved finds the lover asleep, she leaves a note stating that while merchants seek wealth and ascetics may sleep after worship, a true lover has no business with sleep. Attar uses this narrative to illustrate that authentic spiritual love (Ishq) requires an unwavering, continuous wakefulness of the heart. The sleeping lover represents a seeker whose spiritual complacency makes him unworthy of the Divine Beloved's presence. In Sufi thought, the true lover must endure the pain of separation and remain ever-vigilant, as heedlessness (symbolized by physical sleep) is fundamentally incompatible with the all-consuming path of divine love.