The Metaphors of Hair-Splitting and Candle Burning

In Chapter 47, Poem 18 of Attar's Mokhtar Nameh, the poet employs two powerful metaphors to depict the intensity of spiritual pursuit and love:

• Hair-Splitting (Splitting a Thousand Hairs): This represents the seeker's meticulous and rigorous intellectual and spiritual efforts to find even the slightest trace ('a hair's breadth') of news of the Divine. It underscores the difficulty and precision required in the quest for spiritual realization.
• The Candle Metaphor: The lover is compared to a burning candle, unable to turn away from the 'pure fire' of the Beloved's face. The burning represents the painful yet inescapable transformation of the lover through divine love, where turning away is impossible once the flame has been lit.