Dictionary.net

A celebrated Persian poet; born near Nishapur in 1119; died about 1229. (?) Son of a spicer, he followed his father's trade (whence his surname of Attar), but afterward became a dervish and one of the greatest mystics of Persia. He is said to have been killed by a Mongol soldier during the invasion by Jenghiz Khan. Of his extant political works the most famous are: "The Book of Council", a series of didactic poems on ethics; "The Parliament of Birds" (1184-87). His principal work in prose is "Biographies of the Saints".