Investigating Epistemological Transformation in Mehdi Akhavan Sales’s Poetry: From the Perspective of Raḍavi Doctrine (Imam Riḍā’s Thoughts)

Raḍavi doctrine (or Imam Riḍā’s status and thoughts) is a concept impartible from Iranian culture, especially Persian poetry and prose. In contemporary literature, not only has this effect not diminished, but it has manifested itself in a variety of attitudes and diverse methods. Mehdi Akhavan Sales, a significant contemporary poet, is one of the few poets who has spoken about Imam Riḍā (as) with two different views. Investigating Akhavan’s poetry revels that he did not have an optimistic view of external necessities and social manifestations of Raḍavi doctrine in his early poetic years. However, at the end of the poetic period, this perception gives way to believing in the Raḍavi position and beyond that, i.e. love and devotion to Imam Riḍā (as). This epistemological transformation can be explained on the basis of the two hypotheses of "evolution" and "contradiction". According to the "contradiction" hypothesis, the poet has lived in astonishment and epistemological contradiction for the rest of his life. This transformation in Akhavan’s intellectual system - as a prominent dissident poet in the contemporary period - is very important, indicating that contemporary dissident poetry has not neglected the illumination of Imam Riḍā’s thoughts.