JOURNAL OF THE FACULTY OF LETTERS AND HUMANITIES (KERMAN)
Year:2018 | Volume:20 | Issue:42 |Papers Count:11

Our ancestors paid special attention to didactic literature, especially the ethics, whose main subject is good and evil and focuses on the people’ s behavior toward each other. The goal of ethics is to guide people toward good and beauty and prepare them for modifying personal and social behavior, a theme that is prominent in Persian prose and poetry. Khajeh Nasiradin Tusi is one of the scholars who focused on this subject, especially in his two books of “ Nasirean Ethics” and “ Mohtashami Ethics” . The Nasirean Ethics inspired lots of other writers, centuries later to create works based on his books. Another book with the subject of household management or family ethics is “ Jalali Ethics” written by Jalal-al Din Davani, a 9th century scholar. The book is in fact a rewriting of Khajeh Nasir’ s work and the only differences between them are in making the religious tone bolder than Khajeh’ s philosophical view, its composition according to the style of his time, summarization of the book, addition of some Arabic Koranic verses and poems. The aim of this study is to review the subject of “ household management” (family ethics) in these two books.

The topic in question is concerned with the sociological aspect of literary and historical experience. The basis of sociological criticism is built on the premise that literary works are the products of social life and that a good understanding of a work without considering its social aspects is impractical. To reach a better, more scientific, and more precise understanding of Abolfazl Bayhaghi’ s social depiction, the social capital theory has been employed here. The total latent capabilities which prevail and strengthen social communication and society, in such a society, and in this “ Pedarian and Pesarian” confusion and by distancing from a solid ideology and thus creating negative interaction all lead to the violation of values and the mutual social bonds. What is depicted from Masoud’ s age is revenge, demoting and untrustworthiness. The conspiracy of the people in such an atmosphere also leads to subjugation of agents and discouraging of those who care about government. This happens in a way that the conspiracy of the avengers and the king’ s confirmation leads to the decline of the society. To affirm the contention in question, Robert Putnam’ s social capital theory has been employed. This theory is studied from three aspects, namely, social trust, participation, and support in the incident of the plot of Busahl Zuzani against Kharazmshah Altountash. All evidences prove Putnam’ s view in the way that internal class relations in Qaznavid court were based on profit gaining functions and distrust. The consequences of the plot were fostering distrust, negative participation, increased sense of insecurity, and diminishing social capital.

The aim of this study is to reveal the role of mystical concepts in Baha Valad’ s creative hermeneutical interpretations of Koranic verses in Ma’ arif. Mystics have created various innovations in prose and poetry and produced outstanding literary pieces. This study is an analytical-descriptive examination of Valad’ s hermeneutical methods and their relationship with association. The researchers have considered all instances of hermeneutical interpretation in Ma’ arif and compared and contrasted them with interpretations provided by other interpreters of Koran. The findings showed that the most important mystical principles have been drawn on in his hermeneutics; however, the principle of “ disappearance of being” is the most frequently used one, and “ love” comes second. It was argued that Valad has made use of such methods as definition and redefinition, reasoning, narrative variation, combination and narrowing, but his most innovative technique is association. It was also shown that association in Valad’ s work is achieved, among others, through such literary devices as simile, metaphor, fable, antithesis and pun. The researchers suggested that there is a certain relationship between hermeneutical interpretation, eloquence and association. It was also concluded that hermeneutics is not always a good way of discovering textual meaning but sometimes a method for creating new meanings which are partly originated in the text and partly in the author’ s imagination.

The deep impression of Sufic prose of Meibodi is partly due to his structural innovations. This study examined compound sentences to indicate the influence of syntactic innovations and structural flexibility on meaning. The significance lies in understanding several capacities of Persian language for expressing elusive ideas. The data was gathered by systematic sampling from Kashf-ol-Asrar in order to explore the influence of structural expansion of compound sentences on their meaning. A few types of structural connection and meaning formation in compound sentences can be identified in Meibodi's prose. First, linear connection between the structure and meaning of independent coordinate sentences. Second, the connection between the structure and meaning of compound subordinate sentences. Third, cluster sentences which are a combination of coordinate and subordinate compound sentences. The evidence showed that, often, an independent sentence appears at the beginning of the utterance and some part of the meaning of previous sentences is included in the subsequent sentences in different ways, and also each sentence becomes a part of the meaning of next sentences, although they enjoy structural and semantic independence. The final meaning of the utterance is constituted in such a process of semantic interaction. Consequently, the rhetorical fruit of using such innovative compound sentences is semantic deepening and suspension, besides the aesthetic function. Thus, it can be argued that Meibodi, in addition to lucid expression of complex ideas, gives the reader a deep and lasting impression.

“ Nasihat-ol-Molouk” , by Imam Mohammad Ghazali, is a book written, in clear and simple prose, on practical wisdom in religion, and intended for providing guidance for kings and courtiers. Ghazali adopts certain powerful linguistic structures to express his ideas and thoughts, while sustaining its clarity and simplicity, making it into a discursive text in Persian literature. The present study explores stylistic features of Nasihatol-Molouk in relation to its intra-textual ideological elements to show how linguistic structures serve to convey ideologies to readers. Results of the study implied that Ghazali’ s mystical attitude, derived from the unity of Sharia and Sufism, influences his recourse to certain linguistic structures. Recurrent use of Koranic verses, Hadith, and sayings, and frequent references to anecdotes show how ideological thoughts drive the text. Moreover, the study proved that literary figures such as metaphor and allegory are used by the author in the service of dominant ideology.

The goal of this study is surveying the similarities and differences between “ Sharh-e-Shatahiyat” by Rouz Bahan Baqli and “ Javaher-ol-Asrar” by Shaikh Azari Esfarayeni. The results indicated that these authors, through a pathology of Mysticism, have criticized the Sufi elders on the one hand, and have defended them on the other. Some of the common points of Sharh-e-Shatahiyat and Javaher-ol-Asrar include their Persian language, the respectful view of authors to Masters of Sufism and Mysticism, interpretation of Moqattae letters and semi-theophany words of the Prophet Mohammad and the theophany locutions of elders of Sufism, using verses from Holy Quran and the Prophet’ s utterances while interpreting theophany locutions. Regarding differences could be said that paying attention to semi-theophany locutions of Kholafay-e Arbae (the four Caliphs) is one of the characteristics of Sharh-e-Shatahiyat, was interpreting versified theophany locutions of mystical poets is the feature of Javaher-ol-Asrar. Moreover Rouz Bahan himself is a master of theophany locutions, and his interest in Hallajʼ s theophany locutions is obvious in his work. Such locutions, by Azari have not been reported, and, therefore, he can be counted as a member of Sahv School, who regarded all locutions from all sheiks. Differing ideologies of the two authors is also among the effective factors the content of the two works. Technical and difficult prose style of Rouz Bahan, in comparison with the relatively flowing prose of Shaikh Azari is another aspect of their distinction.

Tā rikh-e Vassā f is one of the artificial and technical texts in Persian language whose scholarly author has taken advantage of most of his contemporary sciences in its composition. As a result, terminologies from sciences like philosophy, logic, jurisdiction, medicine, astrology, geography, versification, rhetoric, etc. have granted this historical context a special feature, thus serving the author’ s use of figures of speech. The author’ s special look at the four elements indicates the very characteristic of the book. The altars love of the four elements led him to devise the first plan of the book based on four volumes, though later he added a fifth volume. This study attempts to extract, criticize, and analyze instances of employing the four elements from the five volumes in a descriptive-analytical manner and review the positive and negative aspects of using the elements within the text. The present study revealed that the obligation to the application of the four elements has caused several features to appear in this work, the most important of which include reinforcement of the text imaginary elements, taking advantage of most grammatical and syntactic capacities of Persian language along with the application of the mentioned elements, formation of miscellaneous words, terms and compounds, expanding the scope of Persian language vocabulary, and eventually creating literary terms with the help of the elements. Besides these characteristics, obligation to use of four elements throughout the text has occasionally led to the formation of loose compounds, grammatical anomalies, and extreme use of figures of speech in the text.

"Khvarenah" is an outstanding mythological concept that has survived in the post-Islamic Iran among the public and written works. Passing through a transformation process, from ancient times onwards, various changes have occurred to the quality and function of this concept and has made it an interesting and useful area of research with historical, sociological, psychological and even great rhetorical values. The present study, therefore, is to investigate the most important conscious and unconscious aspects of belief in "Khvarenah" by going through one of the most prominent Persian prose works of both historical and literary nature, i. e. Tarikh-e Beyhaghi. The aim of this study is to describe and analyze the details of belief in "Khvarenah" (Farreh) as manifested in both form and meaning of the mentioned work so as to clarify the largely half-hidden contribution of this ancient belief to the interpretation of events and the understanding of events and characters, and to indicate the evolution of its function up to the Qaznavid era. The findings showed that belief in "Khvarenah" is mostly manifest in the great events related to the kings, as well as, in some of their characteristics and behaviors. Rituals such as Mehregan also contribute highly to this manifestation. Deterministic approaches to Tarikh-e Beyhaghi in issues such as enthronement of the kings are reflections of this belief as well. Various manifestations of this concept in the form and content of this work reflect deviation in the function of "Khvarenah" from a mythological to a courtly and political function, and reveals the differences between some of its details and its ancient and genuine form.

Proverb is a popular brief statement including a simile or a theme of wisdom used in public conversations and reflecting the thoughts and beliefs, ways of thinking, attributes and temperament of the people of the past. Undoubtedly, religious truths have also been reflected in proverbs; however, since proverbs originate in the knowledge of the public, representation of truth, and, especially, of religious teachings, do not often conform with reality, and cause distortion of religious facts on the one hand, and infect the domain of Persian literature on the other. Therefore, it seemed suitable to acquire some criteria to note the inadequacy and contradictions of proverbs in reflecting religious facts, especially in the most regarded field of human entities of men and women. After deductive division of proverbs, the researchers concluded that, for different reasons like motivation of the proverb maker or limitation in expressive structure, Persian proverbs have failed to reflect religious teachings in many cases, and have caused erroneous interpretations that do not originate from religion.

In this study, two lines from Marzban-nameh have been analyzed. Allameh Mohammad Ghazvini has put a question mark in front of these two lines and has been doubtful in recording some words and their meanings. Khatib Rahbar considers the two lines as meaningless, and Mohammad Roshan, by changing a word from these lines, has made the text more complex and does not speak of the exact meaning of the words. What has complicated the intended lines is the distortion and conversion of a word in these sentences that has misled the interpreters and editors of Marzban-nameh. Based on the correction of a word from these lines, this study attempted to explain and analyze some ambiguous sentences from Marzban-nameh.