This allegory from Farid al-Din Attar's Conference of the Birds (Mantegh ot-Teyr) describes a lover who weeps out of fear of Resurrection Day. The lover clarifies that he does not fear divine judgment, but rather dreads the moment after direct communion with God when he will be returned to his own self-awareness. In Sufi philosophy, particularly within the context of the Valley of Poverty and Annihilation (Faghr and Fana), individual ego and self-consciousness are viewed as barriers to divine union. True union requires the complete annihilation of the self (fana), meaning that selflessness (bi-khodi) is equated with experiencing the divine, while returning to the self represents a tragic separation.