Introduction

Farid al-Din Abu Hamed Mohammad ibn Ebrahim, known as ʿAṭṭār Neyšābūrī, is one of the most prominent poets in the field of Persian mystical poetry. The personality, life, and works of ʿAṭṭār are among the most ambiguous issues in the history of Persian literature. This ambiguity, alongside his widespread fame, has caused the creation of many legends about him and the attribution of numerous incoherent and weak works and poems to ʿAṭṭār. The attribution of other authors’ works and poems to ʿAṭṭār Neyšābūrī and the fabrication of legends about him and his works gradually gained more speed and scope from the Timurid era and the early ninth century AH; therefore, sources prior to this period have double importance in studies related to this poet of the spiritual path (see: Bašarī, 1397/2018: 109).
For the critical edition of the divan of poets such as ʿAṭṭār Neyšābūrī, in addition to the manuscript copies of the divan, the use of supplementary sources such as tazkeras, dictionaries, and old poetic anthologies solves many difficulties for the editors. Among these, old jungs and safinas can be particularly helpful and significant. The question raised here is: what is the importance of these sources, and in what respects can they assist in the critical editing of the poems of ʿAṭṭār Neyšābūrī?
The claim of the present research is that, until now, in the study of ʿAṭṭār Neyšābūrī and the critical editing of his works - especially the Divan - old jungs and safinas have not been employed as they deserve; therefore, this study seeks to demonstrate, through a careful examination of these sources, the various aspects of their importance.

Literature Review

So far, many editions of the Divan of ʿAṭṭār Neyšābūrī have been published; among them, three editions are of greater scholarly credibility: the first reliable edition of the Divan of ʿAṭṭār was the critical edition by Saʿid Nafisi, whose first edition was published in 1319/1940 and the third edition, with a new revision and the addition of several sources, appeared in 1339/1960. The next reliable edition was prepared by Taqi Tafażżoli, whose first edition was published in 1341/1962. The most recent reliable edition of the Divan is that of Mahdi Madayeni and Mehran Afshari, supervised by Alireza Emami, published in 1392/2013.
In none of these editions was sufficient attention paid to old jungs and safinas. For example, in the most recent reliable edition of the Divan, the editors, in the introduction of the book, mentioned only two collections and old safinas: manuscript no. 2051 of the AyaSofya Library, dated 730 AH, and the Safina-ye Shams-e Haji, manuscript no. 1026 of the Nafezpasha Library, dated 741 AH (ʿAṭṭār Neyšābūrī, 1392/2013: 16). However, the avoidance of the editors of the most recent edition of the Divan from using later manuscripts resulted in a limitation of their sources in editing, while old safinas could have been extremely useful in their work.

Research Methodology

In this article, the poems of ʿAṭṭār in seven old jungs and safinas have been studied in four areas, and the recordings of the poems in these sources have been compared with the reliable editions of the Divan of ʿAṭṭār. The main focus of the present study is the most recent reliable edition of the Divan, i.e. the edition of Madayeni and Afshari, while in some cases reference has also been made to the editions of Nafisi and Tafażżoli.

Discussion

As mentioned, in the present research the poems of ʿAṭṭār in old safinas are examined in four parts: the first part deals with poems that in the existing editions of the Divan have been critically edited using limited sources, showing how the recordings of these poems in the old safinas can help the editors. In this section, verses from an old safina are also cited and analyzed, which probably belong to the opening of the Sogandnama the initial folios of which are missing in manuscript no. 306 of Sena, and which Taqi Tafażżoli also quoted in his edition of the Divan of ʿAṭṭār without the opening (ʿAṭṭār Neyšābūrī, 1368/1989: 721–733).
The second part discusses noteworthy recordings of some verses in safinas and old collections (especially the Halet Efendi collection), showing that some of these recordings, although unique, can guide the editor to the authentic text of ʿAṭṭār’s speech. Some other recordings also confirm and support the recordings of certain manuscripts of the Divan.
The third part examines the indication of the words’ pronunciation in manuscripts and, by providing evidence from the Halet Efendi collection, shows how they can help the editor in reading and critically editing the text.
The fourth part discusses newly found poems attributed to ʿAṭṭār in old safinas and the proper way to deal with these poems. It is shown here that the attribution of some poems in jungs and safinas to ʿAṭṭār Neyšābūrī is probably the result of a scribe’s slip of the pen in writing the author’s name. It is also discussed that some of the poems attributed to ʿAṭṭār in jungs and safinas are so alien to the language and thought of this poet that it is difficult to accept their attribution to him; therefore, caution must be exercised in attributing such poems to ʿAṭṭār Neyšābūrī. Nevertheless, examples are presented from an old jung that, due to their closeness to ʿAṭṭār’s poetic style, the antiquity of the source, and the absence of competing claimants, can be considered as newly found poems of ʿAṭṭār Neyšābūrī.

Conclusion

As demonstrated in the text of the article, a number of poems attributed to ʿAṭṭār Neyšābūrī are found in a few old manuscripts of this poet’s Divan, and their recordings in old poetic jungs and safinas are very useful and valuable for the critical editing of these poems.
Moreover, old jungs and safinas sometimes preserve unique and noteworthy recordings, which indicate the authenticity of their sources and can guide the editor to the authentic form of ʿAṭṭār’s speech.
The indication of the words’ pronunciation in the texts of some safinas can also serve as a guide for the editor in how to read and critically edit ʿAṭṭār’s poems. Even if these recordings of the short vowels result from the scribes’ personal preferences in reading the text, they still constitute an old sample of this kind and should be incorporated into the text or reported in the footnotes.
In old jungs and safinas, sometimes poems are attributed to ʿAṭṭār Neyšābūrī that have no trace in the manuscripts of this poet’s Divan. Regarding these poems, with caution, those that have no serious claimant and are close to ʿAṭṭār’s poetic style can be considered as newly found works of this poet, and they may be reported in the appendices of the critical editions of the Divan of ʿAṭṭār.