In the Mosibat Nameh, Attar uses the allegory of a cat and a mouse stranded on a wooden plank after a shipwreck to represent the state of spiritual bewilderment (heirat) and self-extinction (fana). When confronted with the overwhelming terror of the sea, the natural enmity between the cat and mouse ceases, symbolizing how individual identity and earthly conflicts disappear in the presence of divine awe and the afterlife.