مجله پژوهش های ادب عرفانی (گوهر گویا)
سال هفدهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 50، بهار و تابستان 1402)

Rumi is a Persian poet and mystic of the seventh century AH who pays attention to the audience and the effect that his poems and writings have on the personality of the audience. Among the reasons for this claim, in addition to his direct references to the appropriate observance of the audience, is the existence of many questions in Masnavi that cause thinking in the audience’s mind. Contrary to the audience's expectation of convergent questions that focus more on the literary aspect, this study seeks to investigate other aspects of convergent questions to extract the educational functions of convergent questions from the first book of Masnavi. For this purpose, by collecting and classifying the convergent questions from the first book of Masnavi, we extracted the educational functions of the convergent questions from Masnavi based on the motivation they have in the audience. In this research, using the library research method for data collection, and sample selection for data analysis, the qualitative research method of content analysis was used in the final report. The result of this research indicates the inclusion of convergent educational questions in the first book of Masnavi with functions such as creating a reminder, accepting disability, paying attention and focusing on a subject, showing negligence, and expressing regret.

Kashf al-Mahjoub is a Persian work by Abu Yaghoub Ishagh Ibn Ahmad Sajestani. Its subject is wisdom from Ismaeli’s point of view. Questions and ambiguities have long been debated such as whether this book was written in Arabic or Persian, whether it has been translated by Nasser Khosrow or someone else, and whether the Arabic version was removed during the translation process. This research was done using the analytical-statistical method based on the assessment of the surviving works of Sajestani and Naser Khosrow and stylistic components. In this research, we showed that Sajestani wrote Kashf al-Mahjub in Arabic and later it was reported to Khama, one of his co-religionists, in Persian. The style of translation and the structure and writing style of the book show that the time of translation should not exceed the fourth century and the beginning of the fifth century AH. Another issue is that the book has not suffered any shortcomings or distortions during the translation process, and most importantly, we proved that contrary to the opinion of some famous Western and Eastern researchers, the translator of this treatise is not Nasser Khosrow Qabadiani.

Statement of the problem:

 The relationship between language and the mind and the fact that language reflects the mind is one of the important subjects of cognitive linguistics studies. The conceptual metaphor which itself is one of the results of cognitive linguistics deals with this issue. In conceptual metaphor, the conceptual domain of the destination, which is abstract, is explained objectively with the help of everyday experiences and influenced by the culture in the source domain. The directional metaphor, which is one of the types of conceptual metaphors, has spatial directions (up, down, inside, out, front, back, surface, depth, etc.), and makes some abstract concepts localized and more comprehensible. Mystical experiences are often abstract issues, and the mystic makes them more understandable to his audience with the help of language.

In this research, the conceptual metaphors of Masnavi Manavi are investigated and analyzed by relying on directional metaphors, focusing on the first book of Masnavi Manavi.

In the first book of the Masnavi, Rumi conceptualized some abstract concepts objectively by taking help from spatial directions; for example, the spiritual position is in a high position and the influence of music, parents' words, and the impressionability of these words causes growth and upward movement (transcendence). In addition, happiness and freedom have an upward movement; therefore, positive and ideal issues have an upward direction, pride, and intoxication, which are negative issues with an upward direction. On the other hand, ingratitude, contempt, and humiliation, which are negative issues, tend downward. Humility, which is a positive moral characteristic, goes downwards, unlike the characteristics of conceptual metaphors. Inside, outside, after, before, depth, and surface are also spatial directions that are used as conceptual metaphors in the first book of Masnavi, which have been studied, categorized, and analyzed in this study.

One of the concepts occupied the minds of thinkers in different fields of humanities from the past to the present is the meaning of life and the purpose and ways to achieve it. Muslim mystics are among scholars who implicitly discuss the meaning of life and its components. However, examining their words and thoughts reflects the point that one of their main concerns is to explain the meaning and purpose of life and how to achieve it. Using Victor Frankl’s theory of Logotherapy, this study examines the meaning of life and its achievements from the perspective of Rabia Adawiyah, the most prominent female mystic in the history of Islam. This study seeks an answer to understanding the meaning of life and the underlying components of meaning in the thoughts and beliefs of this great mystic. Based on the findings of this study, Rabia has a special look at life, its meaning, and purpose, and seeks to achieve the ultimate meaning, which she considers to be the right will. To achieve this, she performs acts that are in perfect harmony with Frankl’s theory and the posed values. Tolerating the sufferings and hardships that happened to her since childhood, loving God, looking differently at the relationship between man and God, and presenting a new form of relationship between man and God are among these actions. Of course, there are also differences in what the ultimate goal is in these two views. Contrary to Rabia, who considers the ultimate goal of life to be close to God and connecting with God, Frankl recommends having a goal in life to live better in this world and get rid of anxiety and emptiness.

When articulating or understanding linguistic expressions, we are involved in completely complex and delicate processes of conceptual construction drawn from many and diverse sources. Among these sources is ‘lexical meanings’. From the first periods of the development of Islamic Sufism, the creation of novel and unconventional meanings and linguistic games with words can be seen in a wide range of mystics’ languages. The textual juxtaposition of the conventional meaning of the word in front of the creative and original meaning leads to semantic polyphony, and the mystic’s goal of this juxtaposition is to break the customs and linguistic habits as the axis of aesthetics in Sufi rhetoric and as a result, anti-habits in looking at the linguistic and meta-linguistic reality. The current research tries to investigate the meaning-making mechanisms of mystics through ‘lexical semantic ambiguity’ according to the theoretical and methodological foundations of Langaker's domain theory. Based on the results of the research, the mystic’s creative dealing with the two phenomena of ‘polysemy’ and ‘homonymy’, while providing a suitable platform for meaning creation and discourse creation by changing the semantic fields of words in a deconstructive and defamiliarizing process, has added to the poetics and aesthetic value of the mystic language.

In recent years, spirituality has been recognized as one of the positive structures in mental health. Based on this, the current interdisciplinary research aims to design a model of spiritual counseling based on Masnavi Manavi. Masnavi is one of the most important sources of spirituality in the world based on Islamic mysticism. Rumi is one of the greatest Islamic mystics who defined and used love in its deepest and widest form.

This research was conducted using the qualitative method of content analysis based on the categories extracted from Mawlawi's Masnavi and articles related to spirituality. Considering the keywords of mysticism and Masnavi, 542 verses from six Masnavi books were extracted, coded, and classified in a table.

Out of a total of 558 central categories, there were 67 categories of common concepts, which were categorized into three stages: Spiritual Awakening, Spiritual Maturity (love), and Spiritual Manifestation (characteristics of love) along with the related subsets. Finally, the model of spirituality was designed.

This model can play an important role in the growth and excellence of today's humans due to its harmony with the modern approaches of psychology as well as its adaptation to mystical culture and texts. From this model, twelve therapy sessions were extracted as a package of spiritual counseling.

Sad Meydan is one of the oldest mystical works in the Persian language, which was the result of Khajeh Abdollah Ansari's sermons in Muharram 448 AH. The twenty-first field (Meydan) of Sad Meydan is about ‘tavakkol’ (trust) and it is stated in it: “Trust is ghantare-ye yaghin (the bridge of certainty) and emad-e iman (the pillar of faith) and mahall-e ekhlas (the place of sincerity)”. This statement is also mentioned in other books such as Tafsir Kashf al-Asrar, Ons al-Taebin and Hadighat al-Haghighat. However, in the manuscripts and prints of these texts, the combination of ‘mahall-e ekhlas’ (The place of sincerity) is also found in four other forms: mahakk-e ekhlas (the touchstone of sincerity), mokh-e ekhlas (the brain of sincerity), mikh-e ekhlas (the peg of sincerity), mahz-e ekhlas (the absolute of sincerity). Each of the editors of these texts has accepted and printed this combination in some way.

Richards believes that the phoenix in Attar's poetry is a guide for the soul's return to God. The present study discusses how accurate Richard’s words about Shakespeare's poetry are. Shakespeare's poem is about a mourning gathering where birds have prepared for two lovers and their beloved, turtle-dove and the phoenix, which have recently passed away. What connects Shakespeare's poetry to the tradition of Persian mysticism is a type of mystical knowledge that comes through discovery and intuition, not through conscious awareness and logical reasoning. The most important similarity between the two works is the merging of the phoenix in Attar's poem and the turtle with the phoenix in Shakespeare's poetry. The most important difference is that in Attar's poem, the birds embark on a mystical journey to unite with the phoenix, but in Shakespeare's poetry, it is not a journey or spiritual practice, but rather pure and platonic love between the phoenix and turtle. Another point is that both works pay attention to the concept of reason: reason is amazed by this mystical journey and the unity and indescribability of the lover and the beloved. However, the most common point is that both the phoenix and turtle and the Simurgh must perish in order to achieve immortality. The turtle and the phoenix see their survival in the newly-born phoenix. In the end, the unity of existence in Islamic mysticism corresponds and resembles Platonic love: both transcend the sensory world and enter the ideal world.

In the Persian language, formal analyses of the mystical language are not in one type. Some studies analyze the mystical language by a formal approach and others follow a formal attitude toward the mystical language. A great group of these studies aims to introduce an explanation of the mystical language based on the properties of the mystical tradition. Many of these studies, despite their differences, have common properties that bring up some criticisms. Introducing the various types of formal analyses of the mystical language in the Persian language in this study, we have classified different criticisms and objects. The most important of these criticisms are inattention to mystical experience, the disproportionate and unjustified position of mystical experience in formal explanations, the inextensibility of some results, and the confusion of literary language with the language of mysticism. Introducing a formal explanation of the mystical language, the exegesis model of the mystical language could respond to the above objects. Ignoring the conventional ontological and phenomenological properties in this model, exegesis is defined as passing from one context to another. Despite different genres and structures, this exegetic construct has been found in mystical texts. Therefore, this pattern can be considered as the main and fundamental feature of the mystical language, which is also connected with the content elements of the mystical tradition, without having a mandatory role in the linguistic and formal explanations of the mystical language. Transcendence, becoming, and passing from the exoteric layer to the esoteric layer are among contentual features which do not have any obligatory function in the linguistic and formal explanations of the mystical language.

Jawanmardi is an established sect in Iran that was initially formed as a social action to realize the rights of the oppressed, and over time thrived in terms of theoretical fundamentals, teachings, and practices, while also divided up into various movements and associations. Such groups played a substantial role in the community during diverse epochs. Precisely in the wake of Islam, the social actions of Jawanmardan were significantly reformed in a way that some Islamic scholars consider Islamic mysticism as the major source of impact for Javanmardi groups, specifically futuwwat. Although Jawanmardi has been a serious social movement in the history of Iran, its significant dimensions, i.e. social interactions and actions, are yet to be investigated. In fact, their theoretical fundamentals, interactions with other groups, and social movements and social actions have not been fully explicated. Taking a historical method a descriptive-analytical approach, the present study analyzes social interactions and actions of Jawanmardan (adherents of Jawanmardi associations). The findings suggest that Jawanmardan were influenced by Islamic mysticism as their major intellectual source while more research reveals the implications of pre-Islam. Additionally, they preserved diligent and restless interactions with mystics, governors, and craftsmen. Jawanmardi associations mainly strived to combat oppression, serve humans regarding guardianship of cities, prodigality, altruism, maintaining safety, as well as patrolling ways and pilgrimage and commercial caravans (travelers journeying together).