A Study of Hermeneutical Interpretation and its Relation to Association in Baha Valad's " Ma arif"

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.