A comparative study of Two Mystical Odes by Avicenna and Nasib Arizah

The belief that the soul originates from the celestial world and it is imprisoned in the material world as a result of negligence is a fundamental belief in mysticism. Sophists try to purify the soul through knowledge and wisdom before it unites with the God in the afterworld. Avicenna focuses on this purification in his Ode, Einieh, and the contemporary Arab poet, Nasib Arizeh, in his long piece of poetry, Ala-Tarighe-Eram, follows the example of Einieh. Nasib Arizeh makes use of several terms and themes of Islamic mysticism including joiner, sorrow, spark and confrontation of light, celestial world, and darkness, the materialistic world. This paper explores the similarities and differences between the two odes and discusses the influence of Eineh on Ala-Tarighe-Eram.