Examining the role of Īhām in expressing social and political issues: The case of Ghazals of Saadi and Saif Farghani

In the dark seventh and eighth centuries AH, which was the period of domination of the Tatar bloodthirsty and the governance of the unworthy cruel rulers over the cultural Iran, critical poems emerged in ways deeper than the protesting literature in the sixth century. In this period, Saadi and Saif Farghani were two liberals who each addressed the issues of the disintegrated society of that time. Since the arbitrariness of anti-people governments had captured the pen and speech in the labyrinth of tyranny, these poets inevitably turned to cryptic novelties, especially equivoque , to criticize the turbulent situation of the time. Based on a descriptive-analytical and comparative method, this study aims to investigate and compare the function of equivoque in raising political and social issues in the Ghazal of the mentioned poets in order to firstly explain the impact of Genghis Khan invasion and Mongol rule in this period on the common theme in their Ghazal and secondly, the most equivoques of the Ghazal of the mentioned poets is known by their political and social functions and their similarities and differences, as well. The final result of this research shows that the application of "Equivoque " method in raising political and social issues in Saadi's Ghazal is more frequent than Saif’s. Most of the equivoques criticisms of these two poets are directed at those in power. Among the types of equivoque , abstract equivoque and equivoque of proportion are more prominent in Saadi's Ghazal and equivoque of proportion and contradiction in Saif's Ghazal, respectively.