Salaam alaikum Jalal

You mentioned to me that the term morge sahar is not found in any of your Sufi dictionaries or philosophical writings of the past masters, and that the term might therefore be a modern Iranian one. (I see that the famous song goes back to 1906, when it became symbolic of constitutional revolution in Iran, and I assume the song could not have been so powerful if the idea of the morghe Sahar had not been current for some considerable time in advance of that.)  Of course if the term is not ancient, then it becomes irrelevant to my studies.

However, before letting go of it, I wondered if perhaps it had been imported from the Arabic and might have been an old term there, or might be related to some older ideas. So I consulted Lane and found in vol 8 (supplement area) 3019, mim-ra-ayn, given as “a bird so called”, and also “[a valley which] abounded with herbage”. (That sense also parallels the entry for tawus, in vol 5, 1890, where one of the meanings is “verdant land, wherein/whreon is every kind of plant/flowers in the days of spring” – going to want to come back to that, I think.)

In vol 4, p 1318, I found that sahar means “the time a little before daybreak” and “the last part of the night”, while in the same entry on p 1316, sahar (no 8), I found two references from the Sihar, Kamoos, and Taj el-‘Aroos, where “he [a cock] crowed at the time called sahar“, and “he [ a bird] sand, warbled, or uttered his voice, at that time”.

I don’t know what words were used for the cockerel and the bird (“he”), but I wondered if these references might justify seeing the idea of a morning bird as an ancient one in Arabic circles.

Ruzbihan Baqli (1128-1209) seems to have designated birds in many ways.  Carl Ernst notes that for him birds often appear as personifications of Qur’anic verses and hadiths  One of these apparently is the “bird of Qur’anic theophany”, which he quotes as saying “If from the suffering of love I heard the call of the birds of the morning of ‘God spoke [to Moses] (Q4:164), I would be the partner and companion of the Sinai of ‘There is no conspiracy (Q 58:7)’ (Sharh-i shathiyyat, 229)

Here is the article: http://jalal.untiredwithloving.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Symbolism-of-Bird-and-Flight-Ruzbihan-Baqli-Carl-Ernst.pdf

Al-Ghazali (1058-1111), in his Ayyuha l-walad (Letter to a Disciple), refers to the “caller beneath the Throne”, which calls in the latter part of the night and when the dawn breaks, and this would appear to be a reference to the rooster angel.

And he and ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Muhammad al-Tha’alibi (961-1038), Thimar al-qulub (Fruit of the Hearts), also attribute a saying to Luqman the Wise about the rooster calling out before daybreak in this way.

Here is the source:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0MDO/is_3_33/ai_n16619186/pg_4/

I don’t have the Arabic! But I am wondering if these references might suggest the concept of a morghe sahar (more sahar) in the early Arabic sources?