An analythical study of Riyaz ol-Mohebbin: A Mystic-Ethical Work from the Qajar Period

This research is an analytical study of Riyādh al-Moḥebbin to recognize its place and importance in Persian literature. Riyādh al-Moḥebbin is a work of ethics and mysticism written between 1264 and 1270 AH. This book contains fictional and historical anecdotes about love and all its kinds. The book also contains many poems by Mawlanā, Sa'adi, Ḥāfeẓ, and other great Persian poets that represent the author's literary studies. The author also, has composed many poems, mainly in the form of a Masnavi, that, although are poetically moderate, some have been appropriate to state and expressed while anecdotes through the characters' language. Also, at the end of the book, some other parts of his poems have a poignant theme of the epic of Ḥosayni, one of the most influential Āšurā poems, expressing the strong feelings and beliefs of the writer for the fifth of al-Aba. The study also argues about the pseudonym assignment of Riyādh al-Moḥebbin to Rezā-Qolī Ḵān Hedayāt, and this claim is rejected on the basis of the evidences contained in the text. In continue, the most accurate reference available from the printed and manuscript versions of this work has been introduced. In this contribution, firstly, the materials were collected through library research, and then the research questions and hypotheses were organized. Subsequently, the obtained information was classified and its stylistic characteristics were extracted from the point of view of historical stylistics and a structural point of view with the case study of Riyādh al-Moḥebbin.