Idea and Imagination in Rumi's Thought

Rumi is one of the most well-known mystics in the history of Persian literature and his Mathnavi is full of philosophical and mystical concepts. One of these concepts is the World of Ideas which has been more explored by philosophers rather than mystics and literary men. In this study، we tried to analyze the world of Ideas and its related sense، imagination، and also their relations in Mathnavi. Our results showed that from Rumi’s point of view، world of ideas and imagination are ontological and epistemological concepts. By thinking about them the relationship between man، universe and beyond the universe as well as mystical and intuitive messages which are received by mystics or mystic poets will be well understood.