The Mystical Approach of the Night in the Poetry of the Holy Defense

Mysticism is the recognition and realization of the Truth with the heart, and the mystic is one who walks in this way to see God with his heart. Perhaps one of the best definitions of mysticism is: "Mysticism is nothing but an aesthetic and artistic view of theology" (Shafi'i Kadkani, 2002, 19). The best platform for the emergence of Sufi ecstasy is the field of literature, especially poetry: "Sufism is closely related to literature, including prose and order, as if the mysticism of the literary language, especially poetry, is more expressive in expressing mystical findings. A form of mystical language is a scientific or teaching language. In this language, a mystic tries to convey his findings to others in the language of order or teaching poetry, such as most of the poems in Mathnawi-e Ma'navi and Shabestari's The Secret Rose Garden " (Fanaei Eshkevari, 2013:56).Resistance literature is another literary variant influenced by the spirit of resistance and freedom of nations.  In our country, especially in the contemporary era, resistance literature has become more manifested by the literature of Holy Defense, which itself is a subcategory of resistance literature."Although there are differences among poems with themes of resistance in the period before the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the period of Holy Defense, and the postwar era, all of which are considered as periods of contemporary poetry, the common point among them is fighting against oppression, advocacy of justice, and call for resistance against the enemy" (Hejazi, 2008, 74).Eight years of Holy Defense for the Iranian people is a passion for epics, faith and mysticism, as warriors defended their religion and country with such a vision: "In the field of culture of Holy Defense, love and mysticism, valor and masculinity, courage and epic, sacrifice and devotion, faith in purpose and confidence in victory, and in one word, genuine human moral values emerged. The culture of Holy Defense is a collection of thoughts, beliefs, values, interests and attachments, common relations, and habits manifested during the Holy Defense. The areas of 'spoken', 'written', and 'behavioral' form this valuable and value-creating culture, and can naturally be transmitted to later generations" (Barzanoni, 2006,7).There are similarities between the literature of Holy Defense and mysticism, whether it is the literature of Holy Defense as epic literature, because it is the narrative of the warriors of Islam, and at the same time, our mystical literature also implies epic concepts: "A mystical front in our literature has exactly the epic form: the hero of mysticism is a hero who dreams of immortality (and immortalizes himself by joining the eternal God through fanna-fi-Allah); his enemy is a demon in the name of the soul, a pitched war between them. In this war, there is a talk of bloody roars and whales, love whales, sea of monotheism and other epic objects" (Shamisa, 2002, 46).The poetry of the Holy Defense, as its name implies, should have an epic color, and it may seem, in the first place, that this branch of literature is a subcategory of epic literature (although technically the Holy Defense literature is a subcategory of resistance literature) because it is about battle, courage, and preparation for sacrifice in the way of national ideals and values, but more carefully, the poetry of Holy Defense can be considered a subcategory of mystical literature. Iranian soldiers' view toward war was a spiritual one, and saw jihad in the way of God and being killed in war as equivalent to martyrdom, which is a high status. So, the poetry of Holy Defense, whichsuch literature, can also be mixed with mystical terms and interpretations.

Mystical terms and concepts are of great variety and illuminate the study of the poems of the Holy Defense, as well as how poets deal with them. One of the terms that has taken another color is the night. Mystics make use of natural phenomena to express their spiritual experiences, and night is of no exception. Mystical terms are not mono-semantics and sometimes accommodate fruitful meanings. Night is one of these terms, the multifacetedness of which becomes clear when taking a look at mystical texts, its. The night can be transcendent and precious, on the other hand it can be degraded and represent the darkness of existence and the symbol of the human soul. The purpose of this paper is to investigate and evaluate the 'night' used in the poetry of the Holy Defense with a mystical approach.     

The value and position of the night in Islamic culture is definitely derived from the teachings of the Qur'an and the prophetic tradition, and since mysticism is not separate from Islam, in order to better determine the spiritual position of the night, we have investigated it from the perspective of Quranic verses and hadiths, and then from the perspective of mysticism to evaluate the attitude of the poets of the Holy Defense with a mystical approach to the night by specifying the spiritual characteristics of the night. Night and its value in the Qur'an .The night is very important in the Islamic religion, because God has sworn to it in the Qura'n and assigned a separate Surah (Al-Layl) to it. In contrast to the day, which is special for working and trying to live a worldly life, the night is a good time for peace and stillness, and as a result, a better heart-focused attention towards God. This is why it is recommended in the Qur'an that: " Stand vigil through the night, except for a little [of it], a half, or reduce a little from that (Qura'n, 73:2-3 ).The special emphasis of the Qur'an on performing worship and night prayers has increased the importance of the night for Muslims, especially since worship in the night is a sign of the truth of the faith of the servants: "Indeed the watch of the night is firmer in tread and more upright in respect to speech, for indeed during the day you have drawn-out engagements" (Al-Muzzammil: 73: 6-7). In the Qur'an, God has mentioned thirty nights completed with ten other nights, which is a total of forty nights of prophetic solitude with God: " We made an appointment with Moses for thirty nights, and completed them with ten [more]; thus the tryst of his Lord was completed in forty nights" (A'raf, 7:142).The night is so high in position that the Qur'an was revealed at that time: " Indeed we sent it down on the night of ordainment " (Qadr, 97:1). The existence of the nights of ordainment for man is a blessing that makes man hopeful for both the erasure of previous sins and the determination of a good fate.-Night in Hadiths The night is also mentioned frequently in the hadiths of the Prophet (s) and the Infallible Imams (a), and as quoted by Muhammad (PBUH), this mentioning is influenced by the recommendations of the angel of the revelation: "Jibrail recommending me to worship during the night made me believe that the  good people of my Ummah would never sleep, but only a part of the night " (Ibn Babiway, 1988, 13). In emphasizing the importance of the night, the Prophet (S) goes so far as to draw a line around certain people and distinguish them from other people and gives them a special title: 'The Companions of Layl (night)', who are the noblest Muslims: "The noblest people of the Ummah are the bearers of the Qur'an and those who are familiar with the night"  (Allama Majlisi, Vol 110, 230).Imam Hasan al-Askari (a) says about night in a mystical expression that he considers night as the path to truth and proximity, and thus, the night is a shortcut that brings man to his great goal as soon as possible, which is the proximity to Allah. Indeed, the proximity to Allah and reaching the position of proximity to God  is a journey which cannot take place except by staying up during the night" be 2. The Verse 103 It doesn't arrive). (Allama Majlisi, vol. 75, 380).-Interpretations of The Night in Mysticism Night is one of the multifaceted terms in mysticism. From a point of view close to the view of the Qur'an and hadith, the night has a great status that has secrets in itself.In the heart of the night, God reveals his friends and lovers, because lovers visit friends and enjoy proximity to God in the solitude of the night, away from the sight of aghyaar:"When night comes, the special friends of God will be praying: their hearts in prayer, their hearts in need, their lives in secret... When it is time for dawn, it is commanded that these doors of the victory will be opened and the skirts of the holy throne will be thrown over and those closest to Him should be extinguished by the command of the glory. Then, Jabbar-e Kaenat, with his pride, says: Every friend came with their friend in private, where are my friends?" (Meybodi, 1982, 3710)But night is a multifaceted phenomenon in mysticism. The night can also be the bedrock of pure mystical moods and the joy of worship and make proximity to God possible, it can also represent the dark part of existence and take on a negative semantic burden. The night, in the words of mystics, sometimes refers to God, for example, Shaykh Mahmud Shabestari, with the term 'bright night', refers to the right to transcendence: "The meaning of the bright night in the words of Shabestari is the 'essence of ahadith', "which is likened to the night in colorlessness and indiscriminateness, because as there is nothing to be understood in the night, in this stage of nature, which is the stage of the demise of manifestations, there is no perception, for the inconsiderate nature of proportion and constraints is all vanishing. But, it is bright because the right of the Truth is bright in Himself and everything is takes light from Him" (Sajjadi, 2004, 497).Night is sometimes a symbol of the high levels of existence: "Also, mystics, since they often look at the truth and the heart of affairs, consider the night to have esoteric and spiritual meanings and characteristics, which are mostly interpretations; for example, ibn 'Arabi interprets Layl as intellect and clergy and lunch as a appearance and tangible, and believes that it is necessary to bring man to the limits of existence. And his senses are aroused" (Asadollahi & Fathi, 2015, 12,13).The night is an allegory for 'possible' because of its darkness, and from this perspective, its semantic burden is reduced: "The darkness of the dark night is a possiblity because the possibilities are 'zill' and the diagram of plurality and manifestations of the truth" (Sajjadi, 2004, 497). Also, the night in the interpretation of the wisdom of Illumination is the stage of absence and 'the position of the standing property': "The standing property are also inferred as the darkness of the night. As the night of humanity implies, is the position of the standing property. The darkness of the night is the darkness of the possibilities because the possibilities are subtle and the diagram of plurality and manifestations of the truth" (Sajjadi, 2004, 496).A corporeal thing is in the position of darkness and appears to Incorporeal things as a defect. The materialistic world is Absolute darkness: "Sohrevardi considers the materialistic world to be a shadow of a black stain on Gabriel's left feather because of its inherent darkness" (Amini Lari, 2010, 3).Sometimes night, blackness, and darkness and the day and light are interdependent, which refer s to spiritual conditions. In this definition, the night represents ghabz and obstruction: "This bright day is the sign of the covenant of the heart, and that dark night is the example of a resentment. O you! who are calm in the daylight of the state, do not feel safe that the darkness of the night is a suffering. That's why the states are sometimes ghabz or bast" (Sajjadi, 2004, 497).In a summary of the mystical categories mentioned, the night is seen from the perspective of time capacity, place of solitude, secret and romantic need, joiner with true lover and mystery or discover secrets. The night, due to darkness and anti-light, represents the ego and the dark side of the existence of man, the possible and the universe of matter, as well as the stage of non-existence. From a more specialized mystical point of view, the night represents the essence of ahadith as well as the highest levels of existence.

By examining the selected poetic evidences of the Holy Defense in this paper, the night with a mystical approach in these poems has various interpretations that this diversity of perceptions can be close to the multidimensionality of the night in mysticism.From one perspective, the night is at odds with light, which can represent blasphemy and falsehood, as well as sensuality and sensuality. The night is the time for the red death, which in the poetry of the Holy Defense is equivalent to martyrdom.The night itself has no credibility or value, but it is the people who pay the price for it by their behavior or devalue it.As can be seen and the evidence quoted in this article, the night in the poetry of the Holy Defense is consistent with its mystical interpretations, but in the poetry of the Holy Defense of mystical terms and interpretations such as the essence of ahadith, rationality and clergy, and the position of the lords of the fixedness is not a sign.Two things that are specific to the poetry of the Holy Defense and are new in mysticism, are the occurrence of red death or martyrdom at night and the last night or the night of the operation.