Introduction With the Tongue of the Heart: The Role and Development of Metaphors in Sufi Literature and Practice
Asiatische Studien - Études Asiatiques May 1, 2026 Roman Seidel, Vicky Ziegler
ʿ Abd al-Kar ī m al-Qu š ayr ī ’ s (d. 456/1072) statement “ praiseworthy speech is talking to God with the tongue of the heart ” 1 evokes a fundamental assumption shared across the Su fi tradition: that the encounter between God and the seeker unfolds in a mode of expression not reducible to ordinary speech. This “ tongue of the heart ” signals a register in which metaphor becomes...