In the prose introduction (مقدمه) of Mokhtar Nameh, Attar of Nishapur outlines a foundational Sufi theological doctrine: the descent of the soul (نزول روح) from the spiritual realm to the material world. Attar describes holy spirits as once belonging to a divine, unembodied army (جنود مجنده) in the heights of lordship (اوج علو ربانی). By Divine Will, these pure spirits are sent down to the lowest elemental world (حضیض سفل عنصری), where they take on physical forms. Attar invokes the Quranic verse, 'We created man in the best of molds, then we reduced him to the lowest of the low' (Quran 95:4-5), to explain this transition from an exalted spiritual state to physical constraint.