The Similarities and Differences between the Bird's Letters of Avicenna, Najm Razi and Ghazali Based on Campbell's Theory

The language of birds and its cryptic aspects has been attracted among large number of philosophers from the earliest times. Avicenna was the first person who wrote a treatise on birds in the Islamic period. After him, scholars and thinkers used the language of birds as a means of expressing mystical, political and social idea. It can be mentioned Ghazzali and Najm Razi among these philosophers. Joseph Campbell has studied the role of this issue in the formation of the hero’s character by considering the archetype of the hero journey; it’s including three stages of departure, realization and return. In this study, with the descriptive-analytical method, we attempt to determine the similarities and differences between the works of these three Iranian philosophers based on the Campbell's model. According to the studies in the present article, all three treatises are similar in separation and accession stage; Of course, the details of these stages are also different in these treatises. After that, the path of each story separated in the return stage and, this issue has created differences in the structure and text of these three works that it can be said these differences are derived from the philosophical, mystical and social author’s point of view. Remarkable point is that the journey stages of the in Avicenna's treatise are more complete than of the other two authors.