Point and Circle in Persian Mystical Literature Based on Ibn Arabi's School

Ibn Arabi’s symbolic and metaphorical look at natural and geometric elements provided the basis for the emergence of unity of existence metaphors in Persian literature. His dual metaphors, which often refer to the emergence of multiplicity out of unity, penetrated the works of other Persian mystic poets and literary scholars. The point and circle is one of these dual metaphors that points to the simultaneous contradiction and identicalness of creator and created. This metaphor has been studied in Ibn Arabi’s works from various aspects and different features of unity point and multiplicity circle have been explicated. Sometimes the relationship between the point and circumference of the circle is considered through the radius of the divine names; other times the circular structure of the circle and its identicalness at the beginning and end of the curve of descent and ascent are referred to, and sometimes renewal of essences is explained through applying point of fire metaphor. After Ibn Arabi, this view was adopted in the literary writings of the mystics like Sadeddin Hamuyeh, Fakhreddin Araqi, Azizeddin Nasafi, Sheikh Mahmoud Shabestari, Shirin Mahadi Maraghei, Shah Nematollah Vali, Shah Daei Shirazi and the commentators of Fusush al-Hekam; either in the same way or with new similarities. In this article, we will examine the metaphorical application of point and circle in these works. The research methodology is library-oriented and based on the works of the above-mentioned poets and authors.