Farid ad-Din Attar’s Memorial of God’s Friends: Lives and Sayings of Sufis

Paper 1: Read book and write by the syllabus : Farid ad-Din Attar’s Memorial of God’s Friends: Lives and Sayings of Sufis

Project description
Pursiun Literature in Translalion
Persian Mvstical Literature
Spring 2014
Paper Assignment 1

As Attar states in his introduction, the friends of God are different. and they follow
various paths in their relationship with the divine. Many of the biographies in the
Afemorial of God’s Friends show how the life of a spiritual master gives meaning to a
particular abstract concept, such as love, contemplation. or the fear of God.
For your first paper (four to five pages), please analyze of the following lives from
;lfumorial of God’s Friends: Oveys of Qaran, Hasan of Basra, RSbe’a-ye Adaviya, or
Fozeyl ebn AySz. Identify the key words or phrases that best characterize the attitude,
concept, or virtue that dominates this friend’s spiritual life and teaching. Then select at
least two anecdotes and two statements or aphorisms that exemplif). and give meaning to
this abstract ideal. How does the principle shape the character’s actions? How does it
inform his or her interactions with other characters? Are there times when another
character has a better grasp of the principle than God’s friend or exemplifies it more
fully? How does the friend’s action or teaching aID to or alter our understanding of the
abstract ideal? What religious practices or other concepts are associated with it? Is there
anything miraculous or socially outrageous in the character’s action or saying that makes
it more effective in conveying the ideal?
Remember that your readers are familiar with this text, so summarize only those aspecls
of the anecdote or aphorism that are directly relevant to your analysis. The accompanying
.4 Checklisi for Papers will provide you with instructions for formatting the paper and
guidelines to the factors that 1 and your classmates will use in evaluating your work.

A Checklist for Papers
CEUS R-354
This checklist summarizes some ofthe features of a successi%l college paper. Use it to help you proofread
and edit your papers before you hand them in.
Format:
4 My paper meets the assigned page-length requirement, and the pages are numbered.
My paper has one-inch margins, uses a 12-point font, and uses double line spacing.
I My name and the course number appear in the upper left corner of the first page.
I All quotations are properly cited with page or line numbers. The rare quotation of [nore than four lines
is indented one half inch from the left margin as a block quotation.
M y paper has an infom~ativea nd appropriate title.
Analysis and Argument:
Prrwriring: I harze a good analytical understanding of the text and have looked up the ineaning of
unfamiliar words and expressions.
d Pre,riting: 1 have thought about the topic and have worked out my ideas in outlines, sketches, and
rough drafts.
d My thesis statement expresses the central idea of my paper fully and specifically.
d My organizational statemenr gives my reader a guide to the development of my paper.
d I have supported my argument with textual evidence.
My quotations are adequately introduced and integrated into my writing.
u’ I have quoted only what is appropriate to my analysis and explained the relevance of the quotation to
my argument.
I All my paragraphs have one main idea, contained in the topic senrencr and developed in the rest of theparagraph. These ideas are clearly related to the thesis statement.
4 Sentences within the paragraph follow a logical sequence of thought.
d A transitional word, phrase, or sentence indicates the connection between one paragraph and the next.
I As a whole, iny paper presents a unified and logical treatment of the topic and idea presented in the thesis statement.
Content and Style:
I have used the presenr tense when discussing what happens in a literary text.
I have avoided unnecessary use of first-person pronoun.
I have avoided vague phrases and using unanswered rhetorical questions instead of conclusions.
I have avoided exaggerated and unsubstantiated claims (Beware the word unique.).
I have avoided usingyou when 1 want to refer to people in general.
I have avoided using this to refer vaguely to an idea in the preceding sentence.
Grammar:
I have double checked my paper for the following basic writing errors:
FRAG: Sentence fragments
d FS: Fused sentences
d CS: Comma splice
I AGR: Faulty subject-verb agreement
u’ REF: Unclear or inisleading pronoun reference
d apos: Missing or unnecessary possessive apostrophes
4 sp: Misspelled words
d WC: Imprecise or misused words
d AWK: overly wordy or poorly constructed sentences whose meaning cannot be easily gasped

Source is Farid ad-Din Attar’s Memorial of God’s Friend: Lives and Sayings of Sufis