فصلنامه متن پژوهی ادبی
پیاپی 85 (پاییز 1399)

With regard to the legitimacy and salvation of the religious followers, three general approaches have always been the center of attention: Exclusivism, pluralism, and inclusiveness. Religious pluralism was born as an approach in the twentieth century, but its roots can be found in some of the speeches of the ancients such as Muslim mystics. One of them is Jalal o din Mohammad Maolavi (Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī) to whom ambiguous positions are attributed. This research has been done through analytical-descriptive method focusing on Mawlānā’s words and using the views of  scholars who study Mawlānā. The results show that despite the numerous evidences of exclusivism, inclusiveness, and pluralism in his words, the general and absolute verdict that he is an exclusivist or pluralist is unjustified in rescuing the religious followers. He believes that the truth is one. It seems different because people look at it from the different angles. The unobtrusiveness of the true reality and the limitations of the perceptual powers are the reason of the different opinions. Mawlānā believes that divine religions are one light radiated from different lights and there are not any differences between them. All of them rescue people’s life. But regarding legitimacy, he considers Islam as having superior legitimacy and in some cases as the absolute truth.

Social and human relations and reflection on how to use these relations, whether in its intelligent form ,i.e. scientific works or in its less obvious form, i.e. ethical advice have always been thought- and research-provoking areas over time. These relationships, especially in the contemporary world, have become increasingly important due to the special features of this time, i.e. individualism, individual self-sufficiency, diminishing inter-family relationships, etc. The prominence and importance of this category is that if in the present time, the human being does not have the necessary knowledge about these relationships and how to use them, he/she will face fundamental difficulties in collective life. Therefore, any research in this field - and especially interdisciplinary research - is considered valuable research and becomes more important. In other words, literary texts - here a mystical one: Asrar al-Tawhid – are representations of these social and human relations, especially because they are based on true anecdotes. Based on an interdisciplinary approach, the present study seeks to explain these relations from the perspective of the social application of rhetorical techniques and seeks to show how an intelligent Sufi, Abū-Sa'īd, used rhetorical techniques in creating better and more humane relations.

Mystical Love, as the vastest theme in Gnosticism and Sufism, takes a large proportion of Gnosticism literature. Among the ignored capacities of Mystical Love are the positive excitements hidden in this mystical moral. Many of these positive excitements are available in mystical morals and the Sufism conducts as well as in mystic journey. The present interdisciplinary study aims at analyzing the psychological functions of mystical “love” existing in Masnavi-Manavi with a positivistic approach in order to confirm the fact that mystical morals and concepts have paramount psychological capacities. At the end of this research, it will be determined that mystical “love” with its unique characteristics including unity of love, the lover, and the beloved as well as increasing the tolerance level through bearing the difficulties of love, can enhance the strength and the inner capabilities of the traveler of the mystic way and help him in the pathway of approaching to God. In lower stages, this love is comparable to “kinship and loving” as one of the virtuous capacities of human in positivist psychology.

The stories about heroes and Ayyars are the most popular oral stories, which have often been written a long time after their emergence and narrating. “Abumuslemnama”, “Hamzaname” and “Samak-e Ayyar” are some of the oldest stories, and “Hossein Kurd-e Shabestari” is almost the newest sample of these stories. “Hossein Kurd-e Shabestari” is one of the stories that has been narrated during the Safavid era, and it has been considered as the continuation of Ayyari tradition and oral narration of stories. However, the analysis of the story of “Hossein Kurd-e Shabestari” shows that the character of Ayyar in this story has significant superficial and behavioral differences with previous stories. Using descriptive and analytical methods, this paper aims to probe these differences. The results of this research shows that “Hossein Kurd” was a common, maverick hero who did not have any heroic behavioral delicacies of Ayyars like Samak, and unlike the previous characters of Ayyars who were examples of conscious, educated, articulate and knowledgeable heroes, he is an illiterate hero who does not possess the privilege of acuteness, prudence and the skills of eloquence. In other words, the results of this paper show that in the popular literature stories, the character of a conscious hero has been replaced with the illiterate hero who has no awareness and rationality.

Light is the inherent characteristic of the Almighty God which has devoted a great amount of inner observations by manifesting itself in the form of a phenomenon or absolutely from the form. Phenomena are of two kinds: macro and micro which can be followed by their especial instances. Color is the main feature of Illuminations. We took a glance at the concept of color in psychology and tried to explain the relation between color and light in invisible observations especially in the case of Latāyef –e- Sab'a (seven subtelities). This article therefore - without any relation to the realm of psychology - tries to understand and recognize colorful ascensions of light and analytically explore the position of color in Simnani's Ideas. We have explained our own understandings in the interpretation of unique colors of Atvār –e -Sab'a using the method of analyzing the practical concept of color. The results show that the colors of Yellow (Soul), Blue (Self) and Red (Heart) are three main colors in the chromatics of Simnani's mystic ideas. These three colors, as they are considered primary in the nature, are also regulated in the realm of Metaphysics according to their message and special effect resulting from the ascension of the traveler on the mystic way in the approximately different exaltation of change of heart and stable and legal phenomena. By analyzing and exploring the issue of color recognition, we aim to prove this question that the colors and colorful spectra of the seven lights, while having effectiveness and reality, have a kind of balance and equilibrium or in other words, a kind of order and regulation in the horizon of spectra. Therefore, what is mentioned in the analysis of light and color of each subtlety, follows a logic which we understood and recognized in Simnani's chromatics.

The history of the ancient Persia is fraught with customs that have either fallen in oblivion or undergone changes. One of those customs which has changed but remained cherished is that of giving and taking gifts. Bayhaqi History, as a source that narrates the circumstances in the royal court of Persia, and Shahnameh, as a book which shows part of the national history of Iran, are sources in which the ancient customs of Iran can be sought. Gifting used to be done on political or economic grounds, but it was favored, corroborated and continued by caliphs and rulers after the emergence of Islam in the country. For instance, precious gifts are said to be given on different occasions in the Ghaznavid court. This study aims at examining the gifting custom as recorded in the two books of Shahnameh and Bayhaqi History. The investigated issues include the types of gifts, the occasions of giving gifts and the gifted items. The results show that according to Shahnameh, gifts were given on epic grounds, while Bayhaqi History refers to official and political motives in this regard. In both books, gifting is of a high frequency. However, they differ in terms of precision; while Bayhaqi discusses the gifts in detail, Shahnameh reports them in general.

New historicism is an approach in cultural studies which reconsiders the relationship between history and literature, and emphasizes the historical context  of the text as the ground of the interaction of different discourses and power relations. In this study, the anecdote of "The Execution of Hasanak the Vizir", which is considered as one of the most important narratives of Bayhaqi History, is analyzed using new historicism approach, to better represent the role of effective discourse and ideologies in this text. The analysis of this anecdote has been done in two parts. The first part is related to Masoud Ghaznavi, who has the leading role in the plot and tries to indirectly retaliate his hatred of Hassanak with the help of the caliph's old decree. The second part is related to the Bayhaqi who is the narrator of the story and is influenced by the influence of the power discourse of that period, directs the words in accordance with the desire of the Sultan. In describing events with heroism and eliminating Masoud in the process of narrative rupture, while diminishing his role, he added to Busahl's function and justifies Masoud's actions.

Nezami's Makhzan Al-Asrar is one of the poems which have always been the focus of commentators and editors. Muhammad Ibn Qawam Balkhi's description (8th century AH) is one of the earliest descriptions which investigated one thousand and three hundred verses. Despite some deficiencies, the description of Muhammad Ibn Qawam Balkhi has carefully explored many of the implications, verses, narrations, and astrological and medical terms. In the present study ten verses of Nezami's Makhzan Al-Asrar are discussed based on Qawam Balkhi's description and some of the semantic aspects or implications which may be helpful in describing the verses are analyzed. It is noteworthy that the meaning and interpretations of other commentators have also been criticized in these ten verses.

"The Red Manes Mare" is a novel about the life of the Arabic famous poet, Imru'al-Qais, which is written in Persian. This research was done using a descriptive-analytical method and its main purpose was to explain the types of text relations based on Gérard Genette’s theory of transtextuality. The results show that the novel of "the Red Manes Mare" is an example of transtextual texts that has consciously linked with different ranges of Arabic texts and this link in line with creating a semantic system in these texts consisted of relations of intertextuality, hypertextuality, archittxtuality and paratextuality in Gérard Genette's theory. Base on intertexutality, it was concluded that some historical texts which were somehow related to Imru'al-Qais' life have been rewritten in the novel. Quantitative and pragmatic transformation of this work shows that there are some changes in parts of events and main contexts of the story than hypertexts. On the other hand, the interaction of types of literature is one of the most important features of the novel style. The novel also contains a final note with paratextual features.

In the novel "Fish Sleep at Night", the language is structured in a way that the three dimensions of Norman Fairclough’s framework including description, interpretation, and explanation could be elaborated. Fairclough's model is a practical tool to analyze the theoretical framework of the present research. This survey examines how critical discourse analysis has emerged in the novel using a descriptive-analytical method. The results show that at description level and upon studying words, which per se reveal admitting the higher position of man plus his power and dominance over woman. Frequent use of taboo words by men, interrupting women's speech, dual interactions, placement of the hero in the kitchen and the house, high frequency of declarative mood to achieve certainty of language, informality of vocabularies, agency of women, metaphoric use of words with religious and cultural identity are among the stylistic characteristics of description in the novel. Considering interpretation and from the viewpoint of intertextuality, the novel is influenced by Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir toward objection on the status of women. In terms of explanation, one can get to the hegemony of patriarchy, men’s power seeking and suppression of women.

The writers and poets of Persian literary texts have always used diverse rhetorical techniques to transfer their concepts more clearly. One of the most commonly used literary techniques is simile. This popularity is to the extent that no literary text could be found without benefiting from simile’s artistic capacity for conveying concepts. Mawlawī also used  simile with various structures along with appropriate literary techniques in Masnavi which is one of the most eloquent Persian mystical-educational texts. Among the similes in the Masnavi Ma’navi, a type of simile is observed that has a satiric theme and Mawlawī has used it to convey special concepts. This kind of simile is named satiric simile. Like many other innovations, the tradition of using satirical techniques in mystical poems begins with Sanai. In addition to the possible influence of Sanai, Mawlawī brings into existence his various innovations in satire. One of the type of satires in Masnavi is the meaningful similes that have satirical backgrounds. Explaining the functions of various similar aspects in satiric similes is one of the important purposes of this research. The present research attempted to study the found cases in Masnavi Ma’navi based on their rhetorical structure using a descriptive-analytic method.

Identity is a phenomenon that is created in the course of social communication by creating a border between self and other. The importance of this concept during adolescence period increases the necessity of its rethinking in the field of literature. The novel of "The Eye of the Horse" is one of the novels by Jamila Gavin that represents identity-making and identity-accepting of immigrants and by borrowing Western concepts and values and combining them with Eastern identity characteristics, challenges the indigenous Oriental culture (Hindi). The present paper attempts to answer these questions: how do the identity-making elements of the West challenge and change the identity of the immigrant? And to what extent factors such as otherness, bilingualism, etc. contribute to identity making? Accordingly, the relationship between the characters of the "the Eye of the Horse" novel as a symbol of the East and the West, as well as the suspension and consolidation of their identities in the Western dominant atmosphere are analyzed. The findings of this research show that in the process of forming the identity of the teenage characters of the novel the author has integrated the decentered and centered attitudes of East and West toward each other by creating an intermediate space, and has justified the supremacy of the West as a fixed principle by creating linked subjects. He has also introduced the naturalization and diminution of indigenous identities as an entry to the civilized world and globalization.