The Masnavi-ye Ma‘navi, as one of the most prominent mystical works of Persian language and literature, represents and develops a coherent system of fundamental concepts through narratives, stories, and dialogues. Within this framework, the Ney-Nama, as the conceptual prelude to the Masnavi, introduces a set of concepts and themes and provides a conceptual framework for understanding the work’s...
Explaining the mystical structures of divine love and the manner of their convergence across mystical traditions constitutes a fundamental issue in comparative mysticism, because differences in epistemological, ontological, and anthropological foundations have produced diverse interpretations of this concept. The principal problem addressed in this study is the comparative explanation of the...
Shaṭḥiyyāt, as the most prominent manifestations of ecstatic mystical discourse, transcend the boundaries of conventional language and constitute the most direct expressions of a mystic’s revelatory experiences. A review of the scholarly literature concerning the shaṭḥiyyāt of Bayazid Bastami reveals that most studies have focused on content-based interpretation, the elucidation of mystical...
This article comparatively examines mysticism in the poetry of Hafez, Rumi, and Attar using a descriptive-comparative method. Poetry, as one of the linguistic arts, has represented human thoughts and emotions throughout different periods of literary history. Mysticism, as a religious and philosophical field of knowledge, likewise seeks to apprehend the profound spiritual meaning of life. With...
This article aims to conduct a comparative analysis of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and the seven mystical valleys presented in Attar’s Conference of the Birds. Despite the fundamental differences between the two systems—one emerging from modern humanistic psychology and the other rooted in Islamic–Persian mysticism—the step-by-step comparative analysis demonstrates that in both, the...
The mystical poetry of Hakim Sana’i of Ghazna, as one of the foundational pillars of Persian Sufi literature, is deeply interwoven with paradoxes and seemingly contradictory propositions that challenge formal logic. This study, aiming to reinterpret these contradictions as the apex of Sana’i’s artistic power, employs a descriptive-analytical approach within the framework of Croce’s aesthetic...
This study adopts a descriptive-analytical approach rooted in comparative analysis to examine the dimensions and components of self-purification (tazkiyat al-nafs) and human education in Dīwān-e Shams by Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī (Rūmī). It explores these themes in relation to and contrast with the perspectives of three prominent scholars in Islamic mysticism and ethics—Imām Muhammad...
Mystical experiences are a form of direct awareness of the presence of God or the transcendent truth, which the mystic attains through methods such as meditation, seclusion, remembrance (dhikr), asceticism, and divine love. These experiences emerge through detachment from worldly dependencies and deep internal focus, leading to a state in which the mystic perceives a sense of unity with the...
Among the central discussions in the evolution of language and thought within Islamic mysticism is the perceptual and ontological perspective of Islamic mystics, which has received extensive attention in the works of mystics and Sufis. From the perspective of the Sufis, wahdat al-shuhud (the unity of perception) signifies the perception and affirmation of divine unity. According to this...