In Fariduddin Attar's The Conference of the Birds, Majnun's declaration that he prefers a single insult from Layla over the praise of the entire world serves as a profound allegory for the Sufi concept of divine love and malamat (blame or reproach). Majnun reasons that an insult from his beloved represents her direct attention and a genuine connection, whereas worldly praise is empty and disconnected from true love. This illustrates the Sufi ideal that enduring hardship, affliction, or apparent rejection from the Divine is infinitely more valuable than receiving the admiration of the material world, because true spiritual presence is found only in absolute devotion to the Beloved.