نشریه مطالعات عرفانی
پیاپی 5 (بهار و تابستان 1386)

The core of the complicated story of Daquqi is full of mysterious aspects and reflective elements. In this article, first, we deal with the introduction of symbols and the scenes of Daquiqi’s revelations; then, ponder on the story in relation to the story of Moses and Khidr. We believe this story is based upon the Quranic story of Moses and Khidr. The mysteries of Daquqi’s event become clearer with regard to the dialogue of Moses and Khidr. Both of the stories try to show the distinction between the world of unseen and visible.

In this article the methods of Mowlavi’s symbolization is studied by analysing one of the stories of Mathnavi. His method is shown in two ways in this story: first, a symbological analysis of the story is displayed; then, there is a diagram that shows the evolution of meaning and its ascend and descend. Symbolism is one of the poetic imaginative figures for whose variety of concepts and extensive capacity of meaning is higher in rank than metaphor. To show the differences between symbolism and metaphor, there is a discussion about the formation of symbols (similie=metaphor=symbol) focusing on two terms of ‘sun’ and ‘moon’. The chosen story from Mathnavi is called “The Accompanyment of Wolf and Fox with the Lion for Hunting” in studying the story the meaning of the word ‘lion’ which is a favourite symbol of Mowlavi is described.

The use of fiction for expressing mystical meanings has started with Sanaee, and reached its climax with with Mowlavi’s Mathnavi. On one hand, Mowlavi follows the holy Quran in telling stories, and focuses on one story in different places and situations. Because of this, like the holy Quran, Mathnavi has several layers which starts from the first layer, and while telling the story, displays the other layers. On the other hand, like westerm novelists, he develops a story through dialogue in which he offers descriptions of time, places and characters. Another thing that makes Mowlavi’s works similar to the works of modern writers is leaving the mind to the stream of consciousness. Theses points are studied in this article with some evidences.

Esoterism (or dealing with inward aspect of things) with regard to the unity of existence and centralizing God can be considered as the main basis of Mowlavi’s world-view. Explaining esoterism in three dimensions of being the origin, the content and the end, we try to deal with the figurative-ness of the world of form and its characteristics such as limitation, plurality, unreality, destruction, contrary and dependency. Regarding the dual identity of form that can make it leading and/or misleading, we study this verse of Molavi, ‘perhaps someone is led or misled by form/ intends the form and finds or looses God’ and display the views of five commentators of Mathnavi (Lahoori, Akbarabadi, Abdollatif, Khaje Ayyoob and Sabzevari). Finally, the chosen commentary is presented and supported considering the two realms of inside and outside of context.

One of the cores of Mathnavi is that it contains precious jewels from the holy Quran, prophetic traditions and their explanations and interpretations in such a way that some authorities believe it is a mystical and poetical commentary of the holy Quran and traditions. In this article, an attempt is made to find the factors, motives and reasons that lead Mowlavi to semantic interpretation of holy texts. The author divides intentional or non-intentional motives and factors in this issue into three groups. The first group refers to the author-centred factors, which are his personal and inner motivations. The second group is related to addressees and readers of his work, and the third one deals with explained and interpreted texts and their characteristics. Finally, the writer tries to compare his classifications with new theories of hermeneutics, and to confirm them by enough evidences.

Mathnavi is a collection of relatively varied contrasts wherein the opposition of the two worlds constitutes one of the most important foundations of the poet’s thought. In the constellation of Molavi’s thoughts, the dominance of the Unseen world over the Visible world is constantly palpable. The discussion of ‘return’ is one of the foundations of his thought, leading us toward the Unseen world under the disguise of different terms. In this article, we encounter various meanings of death. These meanings, though leading us to the next world are different from one another. They are: transitional death, natural death, advisable death and martyrdom, among which Molana deals with the first one more than the others. In order to content his readers regarding the Unseen world, Molana has taken resort to allegory, because when he speaks of a world for which there is no boundary and form, he inevitably makes use of something perceivable in the world of form.

The best way of explanation and interpretation of mystical texts – here especially regarding Molana’s Mathnavi – is searching the hidden meaning of the text through other parts of it and other literary mystical works, especially those that were before him. This way besides giving us a certain interpretation of the text, will sometimes confront us with new manifestations of meaning and other underlying structure of the text. This article is another look at one of the couplets of Molana’s Mathnavi by considering the idiomatic meaning of omnipotence in mystics’ works before him, and also other works of Molana himself.

Some texts, especially mystical and literary, are so intricate and labyrinthine that can be interpreted differently. These various interpretations sometimes result from the interior aspect of the texts, based on semantical understanding, and sometimes arise from their exterior aspect, based on different ways of reading the texts. Accordingly, while in another article along with other interpreters of Mathnavi, the word “قدرت” in the following verse was read as ‘power’ (Qodrat), in this article it is read as ‘your value’ (Qadrat) and interpreted differently: If the world seems great and endless to you, You should know that it is nothing with His power (or with your value). Based on the first reading, this verse illustrates the infinite power of God who has ability over all things. Some mystics call it “the world of power”. On the other hand, according to the second reading the verse explains the boundless grandeur of man, which was read as “the greater world” by some mystics, and that: What exist in the world is not out of you, Ask for what you want from yourself, since you are everything. In this relation, we look at some other verses of Mathnavi, showing their intricacy and different meanings.