In Farid al-Din Attar's Conference of the Birds, the tale of the heavy-souled man who meets a dervish serves as an allegory for the spiritual necessity of worldly detachment. The dervish describes the physical world as a 'narrow pass' and a 'fire' (آتش) that one must cautiously traverse and evade like a lion. The narrative contrasts the physical vastness of the desert with the spiritual confinement experienced by those attached to material existence. True spiritual liberation and inner happiness can only be attained once the seeker successfully passes through this worldly fire without being consumed by its illusions.