MYSTICAL AND ARTISTIC INTERPRETATION OF THE NUMBERS 40, 10 AND 7 IN RELIGIOUS-SUFI SOURCES (ON THE EXAMPLE OF KHOREZM DASTANS)

Abstract

The article examines the mystical and artistic interpretation of the numbers 40, 10 and 7 in religious-Sufi sources and Khorezm epic dastans. The object of the study is the epic dastans of Khorezm — such as the “Go‘ro‘g‘li” cycle, “Oshiq G‘arib va Shohsanam”, “Yusuf va Ahmad” and “Sayyod va Hamro” — together with the religious-Sufi sources that form their artistic foundation (the Qur’an, Hadith, and the teachings of the Kubrawiyya, Yasawiyya and Naqshbandiyya orders). In classical Eastern artistic thought, numbers are treated not merely as quantitative markers but as semantic units that encapsulate the structure of the cosmos, the stages of the soul’s perfection, and the symbolic expression of divine order. The theoretical basis of the study combines the Pythagorean–Neoplatonic tradition, the science of abjad and jafr (letter–number correspondence), and the sources of Qur’anic revelation. The central thesis is that 40, 10 and 7 should be interpreted not in isolation but as three facets of a single spiritual system, representing, respectively, the temporal measure (trial and purification), the ethical-semantic completeness (the closure of the circle of perfection), and the spatial-hierarchical structure (the order of stations). This unity is substantiated through the Qur’anic verses of Surah al-A‘raf, where 30 and 10 are interpreted together as 40, and Surah al-Baqara, where 3 and 7 symbolically constitute the complete ten. The paper reveals the contribution of three Khorezmian Sufi orders: Kubrawiyya (ten principles, seven lights, chilla), Yasawiyya (chilla, chiltan, sixty-three) and Naqshbandiyya (wuquf-i adadi, numerical discipline in dhikr) to the development of numerical symbolism in Sufi thought. It is demonstrated that the numerical symbols in the dastans are not accidental but a systematic phenomenon nourished by living Sufi practice. The study draws on the methodological approaches of orientalists such as Annemarie Schimmel and Henry Corbin.