leads them to ignore a voice from beyond the clouds warning,“Throw not
yourself with your own hands into ruin”(Q2:191). They set out on a
difficult quest across mountains and valleys of torrid heat and frigid cold.
When theyfinally arrive, they are denied an audience with the king, who
has no need for them. Forbidden from staying yet unable to return, they
seek death and take refuge in prayer. Recognizing their contrition, God
eases their despair by revealing himself as the cause of their journey. The
story concludes by stating that only those who understand the language of
the birds through faithful prayer can truly recognize the divine.
Metaphysical associations with the Simurgh expand in Suhrawardi’sThe
Simurgh’s Shrill Cry. Suhrawardi connects the Quranic Hoopoe with the
quest for the Simurgh described in theEpistle of the Birds:“Those who have
been illuminated have shown that every Hoopoe that abandons his nest in
springtime and plucks his feathers with his beak and sets offfor Mount
Qaf.”^41 The title of theseventh chapterof the Quran, Mount Qaf represents
the root of all mountains, part of a circle of mountains circumscribing the
world emerging in Mesopotamian and Buddhist mythology and rein-
scribed in both the Pahlavi and Arabic traditions.^42 Suhrawardi uses this
association to indicate that the Hoopoe will realize the Quranic revelation
(Q22:47) that“one day with thy Lord is as a thousand years, of those which
ye compute,”by falling under the shadow of the mountain, transforming
him into the Simurgh. Although not equating the Simurgh with God,
Suhrawardi renders him with comparable attributes.
The Simurgh’s nest is on Mount Qaf. His cry reaches everyone, but he has few
listeners; everyone is with him, but most are without him...
The ill who totter on the brink of dropsy and consumption are cured by his
shadow, and it causes various symptoms to vanish...
This Simurghflies without moving, and he soars without wings. He approaches
without traversing space. All colors are from him, but he himself has no color. His
nest is in the orient, but the occident is not void of him. All are occupied with him,
but he is empty of all. All knowledge emanates and is derived from his shrill cry,
and marvelous instruments such as the organ have been made from his trilling
voice.^43
The Simurgh emerges through layers of cross-cultural allusion. As a
metaphor for divine light (containing color without having one), the
Simurgh may reflect ancient Roman and Buddhist associations of the
Phoenix with the sun. These associations were particularly important in
(^41) Suhrawardi, 1982 : 88. (^42) Prior, 2009. (^43) Suhrawardi, 1982 :88–89.
The Simurgh 91