Join us for a book club session with Ahmad Qadri as we explore Farid ud-Din Attar’s,The Conference of the Birds, as it creatively explores the mystical philosophy of ultimate proximity to Allah via a poetic story.
Inspired by the abilities of the Prophet Sulayman and his ability to talk to animals, Farid ud-Din Attar’s book details the journey of birds led by the Hudhud, or the hoopoe.
On their voyage, the birds are confronted (and some are even defeated) by disparate obstacles which act as ingenious allegories to the real psychological challenges that we face in our odyssey toward an unparalleled state of imān and ‘āfiyah.
Ahmad Qadri is a philosophy and Islamic studies graduate and PhD candidate from the University of Melbourne.
He has gained multiple ijazaat from different Islamic scholars and is the co-founder and director of the Arafura Institute for Islamic Sciences and Humanities. He is also the co-founder of the popular Islamic philosophy YouTube channel, Oases of Wisdom.
Ahmad’s research focuses on the philosophy of mind and consciousness as it relates to Islamic thought, one of the many aims of his research is to allow Muslims to better understand the philosophical nature of cognition in order to improve mental wellbeing.