In the name of ALLAH, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Animal Farm; The Conference of the Birds: 02 Iconic Literary Works; One Lesson

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Animal Farm is a satirical allegorical dystopian novella, in the form of a beast fable, by George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair; June 25, 1903 - January 21, 1950; An English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell), first published in England on 17 August 1945.

 George Orwell finished Animal Farm at a time, when WW-II was at it end and USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, a transcontinental country in Eurasia, existing from 1922 to 1991; was a communist state, established after the Russian Revolution and Civil War, and comprised 15 Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs) with capital at Moscow). It is a political fable based on the story of the Russian Revolution and its betrayal by Joseph Stalin. In the book a group of barnyard animals overthrow and chase off their exploitative human masters and set up an egalitarian society of their own.

Animal Farm retells the story of the Russian Revolution and the rise to power of Joseph Stalin. Through his novel, Orwell hoped to show that the end result of the Revolution was a more oppressive and controlling government than the people had worked to overthrow. George Orwell's Animal Farm is an allegory for the Russian Revolution, where farm animals, inspired by Old Major, rebel against their human farmer, Mr. Jones. Led by the pigs, particularly Napoleon and Snowball, they create a society of equality based on the Seven Commandments of Animalism. However, Napoleon eventually seizes power, expels Snowball, and transforms Animalism into a tyrannical regime where the pigs become as oppressive as humans, ultimately leading to the farm's original name, Manor Farm, being restored.

 Animal Farm represents the Russian Revolution of 1917. Mr. Jones, the original human owner of the farm, represents the ineffective and incompetent Czar Nicholas II; Old Major (pig) represents Karl Marx; Napoleon (pig) represents Josef Stalin, Snowball (pig) represents Leon Trotsky and Squealer (pig) represents propaganda. The pigs represent key members of Bolshevik leadership: Napoleon represents Joseph Stalin and Squealer represents Vyacheslav Molotov. In the novel; Boxer (horse) is a representation for all the Russian laborers and workers.

 In Animal Farm, the cows represent people who base their decisions on expected returns. The cows support the animals' revolution by ensuring that no one will steal their milk. A tame raven; is the allegory for the Russian Orthodox Church. The hens represent the Russian Peasants. The Russian peasants were forced to give up their produce for the state. Dogs Napoleon uses to protect the farm which is very alike to the KGB.

 At the heart of the corruption of power in "Animal Farm" is the character of Napoleon, a pig who emerges as the leader of the farm after the rebellion. The pigs, as the most intelligent animals, quickly position themselves as the ruling class. The pigs as "Ruling Class" come up with Seven Commandments for the animals to live by, which include: "Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy," "Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend," "No animal shall wear clothes," "No animal shall sleep in a bed," "No animal shall drink alcohol," "No animal shall kill any other".

 Boxer believes everything that Napoleon tells him. The language is simple and reflects Boxer's naivety; he is the strongest animal on the farm but does nothing when conditions get worse. Boxer works so hard on the windmill that he injures his hoof. Eventually, one of his lungs burst as well, and he is shortly sold for slaughter. Snowball is one of the key pigs who take the teachings of Old Major and turn them into a way of thinking called 'Animalism'. He is an intelligent and animated pig. He comes up with new ideas and cares about the working animals. His plans and ideas revolve around providing education and better conditions on the farm.

 The working animals experience internal conflict as they realize their dream of freedom has been corrupted, replacing one tyrant (Mr. Jones) with another (Napoleon). These conflicts in "Animal Farm" demonstrate how power struggles can transform revolutionary ideals into new forms of oppression. At the end of Animal Farm, Pilkington and other human farmers come to eat dinner with the pigs at the farmhouse. "The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which." The last line of the book highlights the tragic and ironic transformation that has taken place on Animal Farm. As the other animals watch through the window, they find they are unable to tell pigs and humans apart. The pigs have started to dress and behave exactly like humans. Thus it shows that "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

 The main themes in Animal Farm are class, equality and inequality, and power and control. Animal Farm demonstrates the idea that power always corrupts. Animal Farm still continues to have relevance to this day. The themes of corruption, propaganda, and power abuse are universal and still pertinent today in a world where corruption and authoritarianism exist. The novella's heavy use of foreshadowing, especially in the opening chapter, creates the sense that the events of the story are unavoidable. A moral lesson is a teaching or principle conveyed through a story or narrative that imparts ethical guidance or insights into right and wrong behavior.

"The Conference of the Birds" or "Speech of the Birds" (originally in Arabic / Persian namely منطق الطیر / مقامات الطیور) is a poem penned by Iranian Sufi poet Abu Hamid bin Abu Bakr Ibrahim commonly called Farid ud-Din Attar (1145-1221), commonly known as Attar of Nishapur. It was originally published in 1177 AD. Edward FitzGerald (31 March 1809 – 14 June 1883) an English poet and writer, worked on the concise translation of this poem what he entitled The Bird Parliament in 1857.

 The Conference of the Birds is an allegorical Sufi poem (made up of many smaller poems; long poem of approximately 4500 lines is a masterpiece) guiding the reader along the way to Truth, which involves completely surrendering the self in order to truly know God / ALLAH. This “annihilation of the self / ego in Ultimate Authority ALLAH” is called al-fana', a key concept in Sufism.

 "The Conference of the Birds," a mystical, allegorical rendering of Sufi belief, takes the reader on an epic journey as the birds of the world go in search of their perfect king. The birds formally adopt the hoopoe as their leader, and the hoopoe describes the seven valleys they must be crossed in order to reach the Great Simorgh's court. The Seven Valleys are a Sufi spiritual concept within the epic poem The Conference of the Birds by Farid ud-Din Attar, detailing a mythical journey for birds led by a hoopoe to find their legendary king, the Simurgh. The valleys represent stages of spiritual development, including the Valley of the Quest, Valley of Love, Valley of Insight into Mystery, Valley of Detachment, Valley of Unity, Valley of Bewilderment, and the Valley of Poverty and Nothingness.

The main theme revolves around spiritual awakening and the journey of self-discovery, illustrating the soul's quest for enlightenment through the allegorical journey of birds seeking their king, the Simurgh. The journey involves shedding worldly attachments, confronting ego, and ultimately realizing the divine. Thirty birds reach their goal, but only after traveling through seven arduous valleys and mastering their own personal faults.

 “The Conference of Birds,”(in Mantiq al-Tayr) a 800 old story, may be discussed from the modern scientific perspective. The story narrates the journey of a group of birds toward the living place of a legendary bird, Simorgh, as a symbol of the human search for self through following valleys:-

 1. Valley of the Quest, where the Wayfarer begins by casting aside all dogma, belief, and unbelief.

2. Valley of Love, where reason is abandoned for the sake of love.

3. Valley of Knowledge, where worldly knowledge becomes utterly useless.

4. Valley of Detachment, where all desires and attachments to the world are given up. Here, what is assumed to be “reality” vanishes.

5. Valley of Unity, where the Wayfarer realizes that everything is connected and that the Beloved is beyond everything, including harmony, multiplicity, and eternity.

6. Valley of Wonderment, where, entranced by the beauty of the Beloved, the Wayfarer becomes perplexed and, steeped in awe, finds that he has never known or understood anything.

7. Valley of Poverty and Annihilation, where the self disappears into the universe and the Wayfarer becomes timeless, existing in both the past and the future.

 The above stated valleys in Mantiq al-Tayr (The Conference of the Birds) are basically accepted through interpretation as the stages of human desires along with the characteristics that are required as stages of spiritual enlightenment, where the birds (seekers) must undergo transformation from worldly desires to divine unity. These valleys represent the shedding of ego and attachment, culminating in the annihilation of self and the realization that the seekers themselves embody the divine Simurgh. The journey requires immense effort and spiritual effort, with each valley demanding greater sacrifice and surrender from the pilgrim.

 In the "Conference of the Birds," the birds mentioned have certain symbolism as shown below:-

 Hoopoe: The wise guide and spiritual teacher of the flock.

Nightingale: Represents the lover, consumed by worldly love and longing.

Parrot: Symbolizes the desire for worldly pleasures and false immortality, and would rather stay safe in her cage and live forever.

Peacock: Represents a soul attached to illusory notions of heaven or worldly beauty.

Duck: Symbolizes someone who is too attached to their comfort and routine.

Ostrich/Partridge: Represents someone focused on material possessions and avarice.

Falcon/Osprey: Symbolizes pride and arrogance, especially the social status of a companion to royalty; and the one who doesn't bother looking for the Simorgh.

The heron symbolizes misguided longing.

The owl symbolizes the love of wealth.

A crow symbolizes a complex mix of intelligence, wisdom, transformation, and mystery, but also carries associations with omens of death, ill fortune, and trickery. Its meaning varies significantly across cultures, from a divine messenger and guide to a feared harbinger of evil, reflecting its dual role as a link between the seen and unseen worlds.

The Simurgh: the mythical bird they seek ultimately turns out to be their own collective being, symbolizing that divine truth resides within, not as a separate entity.

 On the way to find the Simorgh, birds drop out of the journey one by one, claiming that they are not able to bear the journey or that the differences between them are too great to overcome. However, the wisest bird, Hoopoe, convinces them to continue the journey, advising them to focus on the integrity and ignore the conflicts between them. In the end, only thirty birds stay in the group as they reach Qaf, the dwelling place of Simorgh. It is worth mentioning that Simorgh [Si (thirty)+morgh (bird)] means “thirty birds” in Persian, referring to the number of birds that endured the journey. What happens at the end? All they discover is a water lake in which they see their own image and not the mythical Simorgh: What they were looking for exists within their collective self and in the totality of all things.

 The story or message of the poem also signifies that the meaning does not emerge from individuality but from cooperation and collective behavior among agents forming a society. The emergence of a unified moment and global order relies on the self-organization of scattered birds, each representing a corresponding human archetype.

 The main lesson of The Conference of the Birds is that the path to true knowledge, self-realization, and divine connection is an internal journey that requires perseverance, sacrifice, and the annihilation of the ego. The story illustrates that the truth is found within oneself and the community, not through an external quest for a king, and that the spiritual path involves overcoming inner obstacles and transforming the self.

The moral or societal lessons are often central to the themes of any piece of literature, allowing readers to reflect on their own values and choices in relation to the characters' experiences given in the literary work; be it a novel or a long poem. First let's take a view of current world order wrt the George Orwell novel "Animal Farm".

 Animal Farm seeks to criticize political systems and processes as a whole. It is a disservice to the novel to claim it supports any particular governmental system or to use it as political propaganda. It is said that George Orwell through this novel presents a fascinating allegory of the rise of the Soviet Union and the dangers of communism. Through a simple fable, Orwell provides a detailed study of how absolute power corrupts and how dictatorships don't ever work even if they have a populist basis. He as a devout Englishman may have tried to portray USSR; however, has he lived long and seen the world today, the parallel could have been different.

George Orwell died in 1950 and since his death world has suffered from the consequences of cold war, the dissolution of USSR, fall of Berlin Wall, the happenings of 9/11, the clash of civilization, the establishment of State of Israel and continual expansion and oppressions, the Naqka and Palestinian crises resulting unending miseries like Gaza genocide of these days in 2025, the expansion of NATO, Ukraine / Russia War, the China Containment Policy, and the India Pakistan War etc. Can we today remodel the characters of Animal Farm and see who are pigs; the ruling class today and mark all characters? Are they not the same countries, to whom George Orwell belonged?

If the novel shows that "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"; and UNO tells us that "all humans are equal"; but some beings like western white race is more equal than others humans. Can we identify, the horse; cow, hen and dogs in today's world? Is the world still not suffering from dominance of global north over global south and why "North" is continually employing unethical tactics to keep the "South" impoverished? Can the world dare to identify the real Napoleon (pig) character in today's world politics (it's not USA but Zionist Jews at AIPAC)?

 The terms Global North and Global South describe a global division based on socioeconomics and politics, distinguishing wealthier, more industrialized nations (often located in the Northern Hemisphere) from poorer nations with lower industrialization (primarily in the Southern Hemisphere). The Global South encompasses countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Oceania. These terms highlight inequalities in development, resources, and capacity, particularly evident in issues like climate change, where the Global South faces different challenges and priorities than the North.

 However, the half of the world's population lives in a distinct part of the world (China, India, Pakistan Bangladesh and Malaysia / Indonesia region). It's not "containment of China" strategy but a policy to limit "Rising Asia" including Russia, India, Pakistan, Turkey and prominently China's growing economic, military, and political influence by forming US coalitions, and initiating wars. When will the world's conscience awake for the miseries of the Africa and South America? The world has seen that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts ruthlessly as USA as a lone super power since 1991 played havoc and bombed weak nations (mostly Muslims) in the name of democracy and regime change mantra.

The solution may be derived from the other book namely "The Conference of the Birds" (Mantiq al-Tayr). We may term the desire and ambitions of acquiring world peace as the bird "The Simurgh"; the mythical bird or "peace" we seek ultimately will arrives by our own collective efforts. It symbolizes that elusive nirvana or utopian peace resides within us, not as a separate entity to be enforced by some super power as the sheriff of the world.

The world has suffered from many crises during last century and the three generations in different parts of world have travelled through many dilemmas to reach this decade of 2025 and now certain regions have emerged as natural entity. These entities must be honoured and respected and the dignity of human beings; as equal to all others in all continents with no exceptions whatsoever shall be restored. These regions must be considered as equal polar entities and shall be given equal representation at UNO. The world therefore shall be a multipolar world as the thirty birds in the “Conference of the Birds” with their own weaknesses and strength.

No country or region must be exploited and individual or regional resources must not be plundered through oppressive means like sanctions, financial restrictions and even violent means. The peace will only come through negotiations, open discourse; social media interactions and no idea of violent means be ever entertained except when a pig head animal raises his head and then only the ruling crazy heads be rolled and rest of the nation shall not be disturbed. The hens, cows and horses of world shall be respected and honoured and only then we may have a peace in this world.