The Manifestation of Quranic Ayahs in Sanai's Poetry based on Gérard Genette's Intertextuality

Gérard Genette is one of the most influential figures in the field of intertextuality whose theories have received much attention. He expanded Kristeva's scope of studies and tried to systematically study all relations a text can have with other texts. Based on the theory of intertextuality that discusses the relationships between texts and the impact of preceding texts on later texts, no text is self-sufficient and is therefore in one way or another related to its previous texts. Genette's transtextuality (his preferred term for intertextuality) sees textual relations within the five types of intertextuality, paratextuality, metatextuality, architextuality and hypertextuality. With no doubt every poet, scholar or Muslim influenced by Islam and religious books, tries to mingle with his poems and speech, words and phrases from the Quranic ayahs and traditions of Ahl al-Bayt. One of these poets is Sanai Ghaznavi whose greatness in poetry and exalted position in mysticism is acknowledged by most literary scholars. Although the true meaning of the divine ayahs is revealed through Imam's exegeses, Sanai gave an educational tone to his Quranic poems by his knowledge of some of those interpretations. This study attempted to examine Sanai's works in light of intertextuality so that we can eventually unveil the strong bond between Sanai's works and Quranic arguments and portray the Quranic concepts used in the works of this poet.