Shaykh Muḥyi’d-Dín was doubtless conversant with the writings of the twelfth century Persian Ṣúfí, Farídu’d-Dín ‘Aṭṭár. ‘Aṭṭár was appropriately named as he was a perfumer before becoming a philosopher. ‘Aṭṭár’s most esteemed work was Manṭiqu’ṭ-Ṭayr or Language of the Birds. In it the journey of the soul is traced through Seven Valleys: Search, Love, Knowledge, Detachment, Unification, Bewilderment, and Annihilation. Bahá’u’lláh employed a similar, although not identical, pattern in His Persian Seven Valleys which delineates the seven stages of progress of the soul toward the object of its being. Bahá’u’lláh wrote this work after His return to Baghdád from the mountains near Sulaymáníyyih. The subject is essentially timeless and placeless, the inner verities of religion. The spiritual realities are the same in all the established religions and they constitute the foundation of faith. This is the purport of the declaration of Bahá’u’lláh concerning His Faith: “This is the changeless Faith of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future.” The social teaching of the Bahá’í Faith are clearly tailored for the twentieth century and for generations to come and depart markedly from the ethics of past civilizations and religious systems. But the Seven Valleys