Dying before Death’ and ‘rebirth’‘ In Persian Mysticism and Literature

The spiritual tranquility, freedom from greediness, and independence are old sweet dreams, which are interpreted eagerly and enthusiastically by Muslim mystics in their sayings and writings. They have shown us many ways to actualize these colorful dreams. One of these ways is resort to ‘dying before death’ or ‘willful death’ or in other words ‘annihilation in God’. In this way, before the wayfaring mystic dies naturally or compulsorily, he choose to die to his bodily and spiritually vile life, and will be reborn by the divine and spiritually praiseworthy moral attributes, that is, he is annihilated from himself, and subsists on God. This article tries to investigate and answer these questions: What is the final and actual purpose of mystics’ from ‘willful death’? What are the prosperous effects of this kind of death? What is the source of Muslim mystics? Inspirations in founding and suggesting such a way? Finding a relation between ‘dying before death’ in Islamic mysticism and the concept of Nirvana in Buddhism, and explaining the question of rebirth, which is the other side of‘dying, before death are the other issues to be discussed in this paper.