The Journal of Epic Literature
Year:2010 | Volume:5-6 | Issue:9|Papers Count:31

This article is concerned with Feridun B. Ahmad Sepahsalar and his famous treatise about the life of Moulana Jalal al-Din Mohammad Balkhi. Sepahsalaris the only biographer who according to his own words has spent 40 years in Moulana's presence and among his contemporaries, he alone undertook the task of writing life occurences of his master. Apart from introducing the owner of Resale and finding the origin of the title Sepahsalar and his other title Chalabi, and searching for evidences in Persian and Turkish poetry as to his true character, this article concentrates on the content of Sepahsalar's Resale.

The present article deals with the sayings of Baha al-din Valad written in his famous journal, entitled Maaref which has been published in 13333 by the efforts of Professor Fourouzanfar. It is an attempt to make a comparison between the characteristics of the beloved in the words of Baha Valad with what Moulana has drawn of his beloved and master Shams Tabrizi in his Ghazaliat.Through this comparison and assessment, the writer seeks similarities in line of thought of the father and the son and also reveals point of departure in their thoughts.

One of the most complicated philosophical questions is the question of free will and determinism. Knotted which such issues as <Jabr and tafviz>, <good and evil>, <Haqq and duty> and so forth the matter gets further complicated. Moulana has addressed this intricate question frequently in different contexts in Masnavi and Divan Shams and has artistically delved the problem with his utmost talent and innovative mind. Although he has not provided a clear answer to the problem however he has appeared better than any poet in this difficult arena.This article, traces Moulana's perspective in this regard.

Sama is a kind of trance like state of contemplative ecstasy befallen a mystic and it is identified with Moulana.Moulana Jalal al-Din Mohammad Balkhi has recognized music and understood its hidden reality. He was able to hear the sound rising from every particle calling God and this realization perpetually moved him to practice sama.In this article description of sama both in Abu Said-e Abi al-khayr's and Moulana's time are given and then their connections and differences, and also the quality of sama in Moulana's time are studied.

Moulana, the most eminent Iranian mystic of the seventh century, before frequenting extraordinary figures such as Shams Tabrizi, Salah al-Din Zarkoub and Hosam as-Din Chalabi, among people like his father, Baha Valad, enjoyed a wide reputation and had a high stature among people. People have taken part in his sermons and were obedient to his commands. However after meeting Shams he was transformed and following the death of Shams his past temperament never returned nevertheless later Salahedin Zarkoub and Hosam al-Din to a certain extent filled his place.The main focus of this article is the great service made by Hosam al-Din to Persian literature and Iranians. His pivotal role and influence in composition of Masnavi is further exemplified by bringing evidence from Masnavi.

The purpose of this article is to point out moral and spiritual foundations which were drawn from the words of Moulana present whether in Masnavi, Ghazaliat or Fihe ma fih in order to demonstrate that in the midst of crisis and unrest of the present world how these rich moral principles can be illuminating and soothing, to the contemporary anguished man.Empathy, kindness towards people, aversion to injustice, liberality, and indulgence are characteristics selected among other grand thoughts of Moulana and emphasized by the author.

Determinism and freewill are among the principal religious and discourse related issues which have been the subject of many discussions and investigations in Philosophy and Mysticism.  Upon acceptance of determinism the mystery of man's responsibility and the riddle of creation of sin arise and upon acceptance of freewill (Tafviz) we are faced with the paradox of limitation of God's power and an exception to the ultimate law of causation emerge.Legal theorists, philosophers, mystics, each with their own criteria have attempted to solve the riddles. Moulana however cast a different look on the subject. Firstly he maintains that determinism and freewill like any other philosophical problem is disputable and discussion over it is endless. Secondly he illustrates that for practical reasons both problems are required by man and depending on his need, man sometimes inclines towards one or the other. Thirdly, since he looks at the problem from the pluralistic or dualistic perspective as a rational philosopher and a free thinker he justifies free will and from a monotheistic perspective, as a mystic believing in monotheism, confronting him he sees a determinism which is the same as free will and superior to that which he calls <determinism like spirit>.

Robai is a well known genre in Persian poetry which many Persian poets namely Jalal al-Din Mowlana has adapted so many times. Moulana has been the center of attention by many literary scholars with his two outstanding works that is to say Masnavi and Ghazaliat Shams. Nevertheless the world of his Robaiyat likewise is filled with poetic experiences and artistic innovations which must not be overlooked. However, the literary credit of Robaiyat is overshadowed by the above illuminating works. This article points to certain artistic motivations, and literary innovations in Robaiyat Moulana. The reference for this study has been Kolliyate Shams Tabrizi provided by Towfiq Sobhani published in 1381 by Ghatreh publications. This work contains 1983 robai.

The great Indian mystics have always been in contact with the Persian mystics. Migration of the mystics to India and coming of Moslems from the old Khorasan to this land has greatly helped the development of these relations. Indian mystics have always had elders and relatives in Khorasan and this bondage has continued for some time.One of the most distinguished eminent Persian mystics is Moulana Jalal al-Din Mohammad Balkhi whose mystical and spiritual identity remained unrecognized in India in his time, however he was always praised by the poor and the Indian mystics and his Masnavi and Ghazaliat were reverberated in gatherings and speeches of the Indian mystics. Mystics such as Bu Ali Qalandar, Sheykh Amanallah Panipat, shaykh Hassan Badakhshi for the confirmation of their mystical sayings especially about unity of being have drawn upon the verses from Masnavi. In this article the manner in which the Indian mystics came under Moulana's spell is studied, and where appropriate examples are provided.

Depth and vastness of Moulana's thought is due to the strong bond he has with koranic sciences. A glance at the frequent occurrences of the koranic concepts demonstrates that Moulana seeks redemption and salvation of man in the realm of prophetic revelation (wahy).Moulana has creatively incorporated the meanings and themes of koranic verses in his anecdotes thus focusing on these stories is expressive of the interpretative methods that have been employed in Mathnavi.

The sublime thoughts of Moulana are considered as the most illuminating manifestation of spirituality in the east and it is such pure spirituality which finds utmost importance in the world today where humanity is threatened by the materialism from every direction. In fact, the phenomenal talent and grand and heavenly thoughts and profound soul of Moulana has been the greatest treasure ever presented by any nation to the literature, culture, and civilization of the world to the extent that the illuminating light of his spirituality has captured the heart and soul of great thinkers and poets from all over the globe from Allameh Iqbal in the subcontinent to Professor Nicholson the famous English orientalist and commentator of Masnavi in the west. They are all under the influence of Moulana's profound humane thoughts. It is therefore the purpose of this article to illustrate instances of such influence particularly focusing on the mystics and literary figures of the subcontinent.

The pure essence of poetry in composition of great poets is imperative which in its perfection literary devices and techniques is of utmost importance. The poetry of such poets as Hafez and Saadi has such pure sublime quality and in comparison with Moulana's poetry it could be said that it is more poetic. However what gives to poetry of Moulana such grandeur and sublimity is pure love and the manner he expresses his innermost feeling.In general two main factors of music and love are greatly influential in conveying Moulana's pure feelings to reader. How the music and its devices work and how his special kind of love finds expression in his poetry is the purpose of this article.

The present article seeks to find an answer to the question whether or not Moulana in the roots of his pluralistic thoughts is essentially the propagator of the world peace and non-violence in modern terms. Thus attempt is made to bring examples from Moulana's encounter with the phenomenon of Tatar and overt violence seen in the 7th century AH, and to examine his main line of thought in comparison with the modes of thoughts of the propagators of non-violence such as Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Desmond Toto,… in order to draw a clear picture based on points of similarities and differences.

On exploring Moulana's poetry one encounters two distinct type of selves, one is the false self which is merely an image and a shadow of the self in contrast with the other self which is a true one and constitutes the true concept of man's being.The purpose of this article is to enumerate the features of the two kinds of selves, find similarities and differences between them and finally show the transition from the false self to the true self. In view of the fact that the manifestation of the false self is seen specifically in a kind of personality disorder called Narcissism the role of psychology in this regard, has been significant. Moulana strongly resists to such approach towards the world and mainly bases his concentration more than any other subject on the fight with the egoistic feeling which is nothing but a mirage like effect. Moulana warns man for his need to be praised and by showing man’s true value to him through love takes away the inferiority feeling of man which leads him to egotism. He regards love the remedy for all the maladies and a secret to conquer egoism in a world which is unstable in terms of affection. On the other hand arriving at his true self, in a rapture of ecstasy and compassion Moulana achieves a godlike state whose differentiation from a claim based on sheer narcissism and its false image is absolutely essential and often difficult. In the peak of his ecstatic experiences at the unconscious level, Moulana finds strength, wisdom and absolute presence, and becomes indestructible and unchallenging. The difference between these two realms and the two personality types which have the same appearance is illustrated and also Moulana's deliberate insistence on distinguishing this difference are dealt with in this article.

Hosam al-Din Chalabi is a close disciple and companion of Moulana, and had a significant role in creation of Masnavi, its orientation and development. His influence upon Hazrat Khodavandegar was vast enough that in his absence Moulana felt no inclination to compose.  The attention and love of Moulana towards his disciple is to such a degree that it is difficult to distinguish master from disciple. Moulana repeatedly refers to Hosam al-Din as <the light of truth> (zia al-haqq) or the life of the heart, Mirror of the soul, Sultan al-Hoda, and host of other titles, a testimony to his special position in Masnavi, since the entirety of Masnavi was composed at his request.This article presents a brief description of Hosam al-Din's life, then his role in creation of Masnavi is explained, and finally the spiritual image of Hosam al-Din and his influence on Moulana in between the lines of Masnavi is revealed.

The purpose of this article is to search for social-cultural foregrounds in tales in Moulana's Masnavi in order to be able to draw a picture of the society of his age. For this purpose 90 stories which had more clear social background have been selected from six books of Masnavi. Then different classes, and social professions were classified and social- cultural debates reflected in these stories were analyzed.This study is mostly concerned with social-cultural issues of these stories and the departing point in anecdotes which points to the existing realities in that society. The end result, finds the society of the poet's era grappled with imitative conduct, oppression, corruption, lie, hypocrisy, stupidity, and ignorance, superficiality, murder, theft,…etc.

Without a doubt, Masnavi Moulana is one of the masterpieces of the world literature which has gained extraordinary popularity among different nations. Among countries which have looked at Masnavi from different perspectives is India which holds particular regard for Persian literature and culture.Over the past years, Masnavi Manavi has been published repeatedly and different commentaries have been written on it. These works have been undertaken by such great scholars and literary figures as Abdul latif Gojarati, Seyyed Abdul fatah al Hosseini, Afzal Allahabadi,…In this article attempt is made to present an outline of these commentaries and to introduce a movement towards Moulanalogy in India.

Moulana has mentioned both partial and the universal intelligence. In addition he has examined the universal intelligence both from the standpoint of epistemology and ontology. The standpoint of each faculty in man's thought and the relationship between them considered as separate entities is further investigated in Moulana's thought. Accordingly this article made use of Plato’s views regarding dianoia (partial intelligence) and nous (universal intelligence) and their relation with man, world, and God.

The biggest problem of free will is our anxiety and uncertainty, but the worst drawback of determinism, is irresponsibility.  By uniting free will and determinism, Moulana sets forth a theory which he designates Jabbari. According to him Jabbari means the acceptance of determinism from the psychological point of view and acceptance of free will from the sociological point of view, that is to say accept whatever happens since it was meant to be hence neither hate yourself nor hate the other, at the same time both accept the responsibility of your conduct consciously and also demand the responsibility of the other.

This article is an attempt to present a brief report regarding new poetry recitation of Moulana's works in the west. These recitations which are on the increase both quantitatively and qualitatively often lead to insights and visions which are quite new to eastern readers and Farsi speakers. In Parts, this article is devoted to the manner in which the popularity of the name Rumi in modern life of the western world was gained and how fast Moulana has reached such new heights of popularity is further revealed to the reader along with providing references.

The key difference between the world today and the past era could be sought in the quality of rationality and type of rationalism. Modern rationality with its potentials and capabilities has certain drawbacks which require extensive reconsiderations.Since Moulana has profound innovative and critical perspective about rationality, in this article inspired by his grand thoughts, debates over rationalism are attended to in order to clarify the shortcomings of this modern approach in the present world. The article seeks answers to two fundamental questions:1. What are the efficient ways of acquiring knowledge?2. What would be the likely outcome of such efficient rationalizations?In response to the first question, the main criteria for yielding the highest expected utility of the faculty of intellect such as learning and the interrelationship of reason and heart are each attended to and analyzed from different aspects. The answer to the second question involves finding the origin of the close association of knowledge and rationality with ability and strength. The latter are the main outcome of employing reason efficiently.

This article seeks the reflection of Baha Valad's thoughts in Maaref regarding the matters of soul in Moulana's Ghazaliat and Roubaiaat. The selected subjects, each demonstrates that they share the same perspective and use similar mode of expression. Their common features often dependent on old Sufis beliefs, in some instances seem to be contrary to what was customary among Sufis at the time.As far as the following discussions such as the origin of soul, characteristics of soul, Soul of other creatures in the upper and lower world, and also the finality of soul are concerned Moulana shares views with his father. A mere glance at the apparent similarities proves that Jalalu din Mohammad was under the influence of his father's thoughts.

Regarding literary theory and criticism, it is customary to believe that one can only apply them to contemporary texts. However criticism is a scientific tool and every text, whether classic or contemporary, from the modern perspective is prone to criticism and examination. One of the literary genres which has undergone significant changes over the recent years is the short story and a new offshoot of storytelling which becomes shorter and more concise each day is termed minimalism and as the name suggests in Farsi it is named <khordgeraei> and <hadeaghalgeraei>. They both share common characteristics. In rich classic Persian literature whether in prose or poetry, there are numerous anecdotes and stories which in many respects fall into the category of minimalistic stories. The present article is an attempt to present and examine examples of such stories from Moulana's Divan Kabir.

Old Persian language and literature is a rare treasure of stories and anecdotes whose conveyance to children and young adults is the responsibility of devoted writers of this land. Without a doubt the manner to convey this treasured legacy demands thorough understanding and familiarity with works and the audience it is addressed to, employing new and creative methods.In this article after examining the works published in the last fifty years, attempt is made to analyze the degree of attention paid to this subject and how the author of children's books has tackled the tales of Moulana to retell the tales of Masnavi.

Moulana Jalal al-din Mohammad Balkhi is the most distinguished thinker and poet of the 7th century AH whose two grand oeuvres Masnavi Manavi and Ghazaliat Shams are ranked among the greatest in the world. Although about these two masterpieces till present numerous commentaries, and books have been written, studies been made yet from all aspects particularly regarding their wonderful themes the works are forever open to researches.This article is a study of Moulana's grand thought, imagination, compassion, and feeling and also his poetics and his language which has captured the world with his genius.

The purpose of this article is to study and classify certain lines from Moulana's poetry in particular from Masnavi Manavi which has bearing on the movements, states, and signs and also to study Moulana's perspective regarding the manner by which the message is conveyed through these movements. Accordingly, Koranic tales and poetry of other poets relevant to the subject have been employed. Since a great deal of human communication is concerned with the body language, and there is a close relationship between the human soul with the subconscious movements and signs emanating from the person makes body language a more sincere means of communication, hence Moulana's attention to this form of communication is analyzed. The conclusion proves that Moulana finds body language a more sincere mode of expression than verbal communication.

It is known that in Persian poetry 10 verse forms have been used by the outstanding composers of the Persian poetry for more than a thousand year, but in terms of volume and quantity, and also in terms of quality and pleasantness they are not of the same rank and some more than others reveal the true value of Persian poetry. Masnavi and Ghazal within all verse forms are of particular importance.Moulana acquired his fame in these two realms and with the composition of Masnavi and Ghazaliat Shams in these genres, gave special credit to them.

Among Moulana's works the eminent book of Masnaviin many countries particularly Iran, turkey, Indian subcontinent has been the main interest of many groups and around it many works were created yet till present a codified report has not been presented.Producing scientific and statistical reports on the history of the state of scholarship on Masnavi in different countries on one hand cast light to the standpoint of Moulana and Masnavi in that land and on the other hand reveals the importance of Persian language and culture more than the past and also it paves the way for other scholars working in this domain. For this purpose, attempt is made in this article to divide the record of Masnavi scholarship into two periods. All works produced from the past till 1383 about Masnavi in the form of compilation, commentary, and translation published are examined, and classified according to the subject.

The present article is concerned with the introduction and examination of verbal refrains in the first three books of Masnavi. This detailed complete mystical Anthology is the most sublime example of mystical Persian poetry and has been the world’s inspiration for creation of many works in subsequent centuries.This article first introduces and exemplifies verb and its main subdivisions and finally enlists variety of verbs which have been appeared as refrains.