RESEARCHES IN MYSTICAL LITERATURE GAWHAR-I GUYA)
Year:2015 | Volume:9 | Issue:1 (SEQUENTIAL 28) |Papers Count:7

Meeting with the Self and reaching its truth is one of the obvious principles of Progression towards God which has been discussed allegorically, symbolically or in detail in many mystical works. What the mystics state in this regard conforms in some cases to what has been stated about the Self and relative concepts in psychology. In the language of Molana, this matter is expressed via several terms and idioms which associate the myth of Narcissus in mythology. Some elements such as water, spring, burrow, face, meeting, seeing the own image in water, etc and their concatenation in Molana’s sonnet bring this myth to the mind on the surface but, looking at the deep structure and semantic aspects of his sonnets, it seems that the two enjoy different values and are related to the diverse domains of mysticism and mythology.While paying attention to psychological theories, especially Jung’s ideas, this paper aims to explore the traces of the meeting-with-the-Self experience, the signs and forms of its manifestation, and the process of reaching it and elucidate the borders of these two phenomena that one of them is the negation of Being and God’s witnessing whereas the other is the affirmation of Being and narcissism or, in a word, being attracted by outward things, masks, shadows or, in other words, polytheism, infidelity and neglecting the truth. It is worth-mentioning that Freud’s approach to this myth completely opposes it to the experience of meeting and relative mystical notions, and it seems that Jung’s analysis of several elements of this myth is more illuminating.

The classification of various kinds of poems is one of the important issues in genre studies. The sonnets of Sanaei are amongst the rare instances which have also been classified in manuscripts and the very poems have been inserted in the writings of correctors and other Sanaei researchers. Critically exploring the past classifications, this paper tries to propose a new model according to which the sonnets are classified into two structural and content levels. At the first level, they are categorized into four groups and, then, it is revealed that amongst them simply some parts can be named as sonnet and the rest are sonnet-like providing the ground for the genesis of the sonnet. At the content level, the sonnets are categorized into description-oriented and advice-oriented each of which enjoys several sub-categories. This model can show both the role of Sanaei in the evolution of Persian sonnet and provide an almost clear image of the structure and motifs of sonnets.

In raising the flag of Ashura’s mourning and dirge, the Persian poets have tried to show their devotion to Imam Hussein in the form of verse. Composing Ashura’s poems, some of these poets have also paid attention to the mystical aspects of this eternal legend. Amongst them, the works of the poets whose motivations were love and knowledge are more significant. Contemplation on the literary and mystical interpretations of their poems leads the reader to more wits and meanings in them. The aim of this paper is to investigate those poems of Nayyer Tabrizi, ‘Oman Samani, Qaravi Isfahani and Elahi Qomshei which are about the role of Abulfazl (PBUH) as the water-carrier.

Symbol is any image or word which has an indirect hidden meaning besides its direct meaning. It is of much use amongst the mystics and Sufis, and it has been used in their works, especially mystical commentaries such as the commentary of the Quran attributed to Ibn Arabi. In this work, many instances of symbolism of Quranic words, symbolic interpretation of Quranic concepts and tales like the story of Mary and Jesus (PBUT) and the adaptation of Quranic verses to his mystical thought are seen. In the commentary attributed to Ibn Arabi, the Quranic words, expressions, suras and verses have been interpreted and symbolized according to the mystical philosophy of the author. One of the symbols in his thoughts relates to the concept of woman. Investigating the symbols related to this conceptual domain, this paper aims to explicate the symbolism of Quranic concepts in Ibn Arabi’s ideas.

Though the meaning of time seems to be the same for all people, it becomes a complicated, important and relative concept in mysticism which cannot be grasped easily because each mystic understands and interprets it differently depending on the states he experiences, even the same mystic may have diverse interpretations of it in various states and conditions. This paper aims to investigate the Sufi’s definitions of this concept as well as Hafiz’s understandings of it at the climax of the beauties and delicacies of Persian mystical poetry in the eighth (A.H) century.In the famous pedagogical texts of mysticism, moment is a mystical term which has been discussed under the jargon of Sufism. Though there are different implications and expressions about moment in the mystical texts depending on the states and discourses of mystics and Sufis, they all enjoy similar meaning approximately. However, in the view of Hafiz, this concept has unique characteristics due to his thought and use of mystical teachings in his poems to the extent that this concept is manifested in his poetry in a vast number of forms and meanings.In this article, first, the nature of moment and its relation with the concept of time is discussed and, then, via a terminological approach which is based on exploring the evolution of this concept, the introduction and review of literature are presented. Then, Hafiz’s view and understanding of time and his special attention to the Self moment in his mystical thought and experience is explicated and, while categorizing the moment of Hafiz and its various grades regarding poetic evidence in his Divan, the difference between the moment of Hafiz and others as well as how the sweet affair of loving and drunkenness seats the thought and poems of Hafiz on a position superior to others are shown.

Wakefulness is the first step in Progression so that till it does not happen, the movement in the path of mysticism does not begin. In several pre-seventh (A.H) century mystical texts, it has been mentioned as “Awakening and Vigilance” and considered as the first station of Progression. In some other texts, not mentioning these terms, it has been discussed indirectly under the station of repentance, and still in other works this concept and its place have been ignored. Anyway, awakening is an important and critical level in Progression which functions as a borderline separating the pre-and-post-repentance periods and, regarding the variety and multiplicity of the elements creating it, it is of special attraction for the researcher of mystical issues. Khajeh Abdullah Ansari is one of the writers which has considered this matter hair-splittingly in Manazel al-Saerin and has classified its elements exactly. Exploring the elements of awakening and vigilance in this work, this paper aims to explicate the place of these concepts in the spiritual evolution of mystics in Attar’s Tazkirat al-Oulia. The hypothesis of this study is that many mentioned tales about awakening and vigilance in Tazkirat al-Oulia can be analyzed and explained by the classification of Khajeh Abdullah Ansari. The results of this study confirm such a hypothesis.

In each moment that human has tête-a-tête with the Self and tries to know its hidden and mysterious aspects, he finds it very complicated and deep to the extent that its various aspects are still unknown and unraveled despite different studies on it in variegated fields. The necessity of this kind of knowledge which has been emphasized by the prophets and saints, and has a close relationship with the worldview of the human and knowledge of the existence and God, urges man to explore the deep dimensions of his existence by contemplating on unknown layers of existence, and consider this kind of knowledge prior to other kinds of knowledge. This kind of knowledge is so important that, in the view of some great philosophers and mystics, anyone who understands the true meaning of the hadith “one who knows his Self will know the God” can understand all philosophical, theological and mystical issues and truths.Since most mystical works and writings have been written on the basis of knowledge of God and the worldview of the human, the abovementioned hadith has been frequently referred to and interpreted and commented upon as a valuable reference to the extent that it has been regarded amongst the most necessary issues in such works. In most cases, the use of allegories and tales have made this such an issue more tangible and concrete, and facilitated the understanding of its difficulties. While investigating the evidence and exploring the constituents of this hadith with mystical approach, this paper aims to offer an analysis of the relative concepts such as the interrelationship of the knowledge of the Self and God, possibility and impossibility of such knowledge and the type of this knowledge (acquired or by-heart) and, then, by presenting some examples from mystical texts, it tries to discuss the concepts related to this kind of knowledge like definition, premises and results of the knowledge of the Self and God, and classify them on the basis of their similarities and differences.