Journal of Comparative Literature
Year:2018 | Volume:10 | Issue:18 |Papers Count:12

Generally, versified historiography or recording historical events has had a special place in Arabic and Persian poetry. But this has been widely and differently emerged in Arabic literature in Abbasside era. Iranian poets of this era had been greatly influenced by eminent Arab poets and litterateurs in recording historical events, as they had made a close relationship with Arabic literature and poetry. In this respect, the historical panegyrics of Amir Moezi as a court poet influenced by Arab poets like Mutanabbi in his use of words, poetic images, and themes could be compared from different aspects with the historical panegyrics of Ibn Hani who has been also influenced by Mutanabbi and is called the “ Mutanabbi of the west” . He has-directly and consciously-adopted many of the themes in his panegyrics from Arabic poems, through the study and mastery of the poems of some contemporary or earlier Arab poets-or indirectly and unconsciously-through the influence of some contemporary or earlier Iranian poets. And he had observed the overall design, general structure, themes, and poetic images of Arabic odes in a number of his odes. So, in this research, by comparing and examining the historical praises of these two poets and expressing their similarities and differences in terms of theme, structure, and poetic images, the position of each of them in recording the historical events of their eras was shown.

Broken letters include a set of alphabetic letters, among which one or more letters among them have the shape or combination of Alif Lā m Rā , Alif Lā m Mī m, Alif Lā m Mī m Rā , Alif Lā m Mī m Ṣ ā d, Ḥ ā Mī m, Ḥ ā Mī m ʿ Ain Sī n Qā f, Ṣ ā d, Ṭ ā Sī n, Ṭ ā Sī n Mī m, Ṭ ā Hā , Qā f, Kā f Hā Yā ʿ Ain Ṣ ā d, Nū n, Yā Sī n, figuring at the beginning of 29 out of the 114 Surahs of the Quran. Despite the mysterious nature of these letters, interpreters and Quran scholars have explained and interpreted these letters and they suggest different ideas in this field. Persian poets and authors have engaged in the creation of original themes by considering the form and feature of broken letters of the Quran and by relying on religious, didactic, expressive and, rhetorical values of broken letters in Quran, while explaining the virtues, concepts, content, instructions, and stories in Surahs, and by using artistic and literary devices of adaptation, insertion, allusion, and so on. and they have well benefited from the use of external signs of these letters by creating excellent combinations, interpretations, and images. Therefore, by incorporating these images, themes, interpretations, and combinations made of broken letters of the Quran and Persian alphabetic letters with the flavor of equivoque and pun and other fine literary devices, they have added to its grace and elegance. This study has tried to indicate the role of these letters in creation of interpretations and themes of Persian literature by presenting poetic and prose evidences of common and mixed artistic, literary, and religious structures and applications in both categories of letters in Persian literature, while taking a brief look at the interpreters, Quran scholars, and religious researchers’ views of the broken letters of the Quran.

In discussions about kalam, usually the cases in which the viewpoints of a speaker and a well-known mystic and scholar are in complete accordance with each other are almost very rare. There are significant similarities between Imam Muhammad Ghazali’ s and Shams Tabrizi’ s verbal ideas that have been unnoticed from the sight of researchers and have remained understudied. In this study, the researchers have enumerated their views of kalam and then determined their accordance with each other. One of the findings of this study is the indication of the accordance of Shams’ s and Ghazali’ s thoughts about “ faith” with each other, as both of them have valued faith in heart over faith in words, and basically, in higher level, count that as acceptance in heart. Moreover, they both believe that there is no direct relationship between faith and miracle, but that true faith relies on having special qualifications. Also, in the discussion of “ predestination and free will” , they have widely criticized the arguments of both absolute determinists and libertarians, pursuing a way to build the basis of their own system of thought. Furthermore, in the discussion of “ temporality and eternity” considering the nature and attributes of God, neither of them believe in any separation between the nature of God and his attributes. Also, about “ vision” of God, they both try to prove this claim that vision of God does not entail any quantification or embodiment for the holy nature of God.

Ayat al-Nour is among those verses which contain wonderful allegories about a supreme and supernatural truth. In this beautiful allegory, there are mysteries that are sometimes required to be expressed in a symbolic language. Islamic mysticism in the light of the holy Quran and hadiths of the Infallibles (A. S. ) is rich and profound in the debates of Ontology and monotheism. With close attention in these teachings, new horizons and broader perspectives are explored. Some of these concepts are the result of absorption and inspiration and some are considered to have the aspects of reasoning and describing, which are acquired in the light of Qurnic instructions. Some main words in this verse include: Nour, Meshkat, Mesbah, Zojageh, Shajareh, Zaitooneh, La sharghiyah, La gharbiyah. These words contain various literal, metaphorical and allegorical implications. This study has been conducted to discuss and analyze the suggested interpretations of Ayat al-Nour by referring to Ibne Arabi’ s and molana’ s works and the scholar’ s analyses, and then to describe and analyze.

The present study has aimed at comparing different types of speech acts in Persian and English verbal cultures. The results obtained by comparing data revealed different speech acts were present in lullabies of both languages with the frequency sequence of directive (explicit and implicit), expressive, representative, commissive, and declarative types. In both languages, expressive acts are stated in different forms of praises, wishes, prayers, fears, and threats. In Persian language, however, comparison between child and different flowers in the form of simile is very common. Likewise, the elements of fear and threat have had more expansion and variety in Persian lullabies. Being worried over the husband’ s remarriage is the characteristics of Iranian women in the past. Moreover, English lullabies were found to be void of the element of mother’ s tiredness. Expressing belief attachments and social concerns in the form of representative speech acts were also common in lullabies of both Persian and English verbal cultures. Commitment to fulfill promises made to the child, as well as expressing conditions that the child is forced to accept, namely commissive and declarative acts were also found in both languages, especially in Persian.

Dramatic Expression is considered as one of the literary devices in poetry. A contemporary poet benefits from different dramatic techniques to materialize his or her thoughts. Conflict is one of the most basic techniques in so doing, as it adds a bilateral dimension to the literary work, makes possible its relation with the time, the society, and the world, and makes a connection between subjective and lyrical perspectives. The similarities between Khalil Havi and Mahdi Akhavan Sales, such as living in the same socio-political conditions, the use of symbolic expression and different dramatic techniques made it possible to investigate how the technique of socio-political conflict has been used, as well as the similarities and differences between the two poets from an extratextual perspective by focusing on a descriptive and analytical approach. Also, as social criticism will better explain the poets’ encounter with the existing reality, some of their poems have been analyzed from the critical literature perspective. Investigating Havi’ s and Sales’ s poems indicates that they both have implicitly applied the technique of conflict in socio-political issues based upon the local, temporal, and natural symbols. Their difference in using this technique is mostly related to symbol instances.

Investigating the role of Kurdish scientific centers in the development of philological and literary sciences falls within the field of French school of comparative literature, as the scientific centers of one of the Iranian ethnic groups has been influential in the literature of another nation. In the Abbasid era, when the bloom of Arabic and literary sciences was more remarkable than in any other period, considering the requirements and suitable religious and political context, the role of scientific centers of Kurdish districts of Diar Rabia, namely “ Mosul, Hakkari, Nusaybin, Sinjar, Ras al-Ain, Arbil, jazirat Ibn Umar” , which are parts of the Cizre region, is prominent in the development of literary and Philological sciences and their branches, such as morphology, syntax, rhetoric, criticism, and so on. Taking a descriptive-analytical approach, this study aims at demonstrating the effective role and the real position of these centers in the promotion of Arabic and literary sciences in the Abbasid era, and its findings show that these regions by training scientists and litterateurs such as Mosulians, Arbilians and Jazarians who paved the way for remarkable changes and played an effective role in the evolution of Arabic and literary sciences by creating their valuable works.

Naguib Mahfouz in Shahr al-‘ Asal and Abu Turab Khosravi in Hozour describe the situation of a couple who after moving to their new house, notice that their residence has been occupied by some strangers. The goal of this paper is to offer a description and a comparative study of these two works based on the American school of comparative literature. The results of the study suggest that the two authors have adopted an identical approach in the prelude of the story. Also, both of these Arabic and Persian stories are composed of three main characters, namely a young couple and a stranger usurping their house. "House" in both stories plays a key role, which has been questioned by the connotative meaning of home as a shelter or safe place for man. Also, both works are corresponding in terms of using the Anachronism technique, i. e., in addition to the flash back technique, the technique of mingling past and present times has been adopted in both works. Moreover, the analysis of both stories in terms of similarity of functions revealed that out of thirty-one functions of Propp, there are eleven overlapping functions in both stories in a similar sequence. The sequence of plot functions of both works is indicative of a consistent internal pattern, which can be illustrated through the relevant codes of each function as such: (B, H, C, A, δ , γ , λ , φ , ε , β , α )

Ibn-al-Faridh is one of the most eminent Sufi poets in Arabic literature; Maulana (Rumi), on the other hand, is regarded as the master of love and mysticism in Persian literature. The most beautiful and the most significant mystical notions could be find in their poetry. These two mystics have considerable similarities in their worldviews and thoughts, which are completely overlapping in many mystical subjects. For both, the foundation and the basis of their belief is built upon “ the unity of being” and its perception. The notion of “ the unity of being” is one of the most important debates which has been discussed in mysticism from very old times. It was in the 7th century AH that Ibn Arabi expressed it in a philosophical framework. Therefore, the beliefs of the two mentioned great mystics resemble very much those of Ibn-Arabi in some aspects, with the difference that Ibn-Arabi has discussed the question of “ the unity of being” in a reasonable and logical way, while Maulana and Ibn Fariz have expressed it in the language of love and poetry. Although these two great mystics have suggested special ways of spiritual wayfaring, they have reached the same result, i. e., reaching unity through Love, intuition, annihilation, and so on. Thus, there was a need to investigate the notion of “ unity of being” and the way to reach it according to the thoughts and the poetic works of these two mystic poets.

The present article is a comparative study of the Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan and Once Upon a Time Based on Edward Saeid’ s views, which consist of center-oriented discourses of orientalism and its metaphoric contrasts. The novel the Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan and the short story collection Once upon a time following the unidirectional and center-oriented discourses of orientalism present an apparently realistic description of social, political, and cultural phenomena and by ignoring the positive aspects of Iranians’ life and disregarding the dignity and the ancient civilization of Iranians, present believable images of the ethics of people in Iran and the East, in their pessimistic descriptions of Iranian characters. In fact, these two works show special views of reality in terms of narrative techniques, which have strong tendency towards the negative and holistic discourses of orientalism in terms of content, thought, and context. . The main themes of these works include the critique of politics, culture, society and in particular the Iranian ethics. Also, both works share the same style and main thought, and the methods and symbols which have been used to marginalize the eastern people in general and the Iranians in particular have been provided in a special system influenced by the orientalist narratives.

Sometimes authors and poets share common points in their way of thinking and acting due to the linguistic, religious, geographical and other similarities, and sometimes only their works reveals these common points. Hossein Monzavi and Badr Shaker al-Sayyab might be considered in the second group. Although these two poets cannot be generally regarded as followers of Romanticism, many of the poetic images in their works have been created in the romantic atmosphere. Images which, on the one hand, restrain the poet’ s internal emotions and mental states, and on the other hand, play a significant role in conveying the poet’ s emotions. Al-Syyab, due to his stay in Iran, has become familiar with Nima and Nima's poetry and Monzavi, that is, undoubtedly had been partially influenced by Nima. In this paper, after a brief reference to the poets’ life and discussion about the concept of image and the characteristics of romantic image, some of the poetic images in their poetry has been investigated in the three categories of transformation in nature and objects, shadow likeness, and the impact of individuality on fighting.

Satire is a genre of literature that has been observed in different frequencies in the works of most Persian and Arab poets, who have created remarkable works worth reading in this genre. The stylistic comparison of this literary genre in Persian and Arabic poems forms the basis of determining the similarities and differences between them. The present study has been conducted in the field of comparative literature and is based on the American school of comparative literature, with the aim of investigating the main stylistic similarities and differences between Khaghani’ s and Hotaieh’ s satires on three linguistic, literary, and intellectual levels. The study has adopted a descriptive-analytical methodology and is based on the two poets’ books of poetry. The results suggest that at the linguistic level, both poets have used different meters in writing satire, but the rhythm in Khaghani’ s satires is more prominent than it is in Hotaieh’ s satires. Also, they have both written in a non-offensive language. At the literary level, Khaghani’ s satires are more abundant with figures of speech. Finally, at the intellectual level, Hotaieh was motived by social inferiority in writing satire, but Khaghani was motivated by subjective and personal discomfort in writing satire.