Text in English & Arabic. Abu Said Abil-Kheyr is revered as one of the fathers of Sufism and the rubaiyat. His philosophy of self annihilation in the path of divine love became popularised by Rumi two centuries later. His understanding of religious faith was different -- nearness and understanding of God is achieved through selflessness and love. The "I" was to be abandoned if closeness to God was to be achieved. Abu Said was born in North Eastern Persia a thousand years ago. He was educated in Islamic scholarship and lived and practised as a Muslim cleric. At a certain point he developed a revolutionary new understanding of being and presented it in the form of poetry. He used, what at first seems, simple love poems as a way to express and illumi-nate mysticism. His philosophy was sustained and propagated in a Sufi centre he founded in Nishapur.