Criticism of the Monastery from the Viewpoint of Mowlana in Mathnavi

One of the basic and inevitable subjects in mystical studies is the issue of monasteries and the related matters. Thus, this article intends to investigate Mowlana’s criticism of the monastery in Mathnavi using the methodology of the content analysis. The results of this research show that Mowlana does not hold a positive opinion of these official and ceremonial centers of Sufism; he looks at some of the customs held in the monasteries such as giving up working and business, reliance on alms and charities, idleness and beggary, with a disdainful denial and probably he considers the very existence of these monasteries as a source of corruption and abnormal behavior among the Sufis. Of course, Mowlana’s criticisms of the monastery and its residents have an aspect of self-criticism; his aim is the identification of the defects of Sufism and also purifying it of the deviations which distort its countenance. Therefore, studying and learning about Mowlana’s criticism of the monastery may be a trustworthy touchstone when differentiating the truth from the falsehood and also the original Sufism from the Sufism represented by impure and crude residents of the monasteries (the pseudo-Sufis). Moreover, having analyzed Mowlana’s criticisms sociologically, we find him an intellectual who has sought to identify and correct the abnormalities of his own society. Mowlana, in some places in Mathnavi, regards the monastery as a symbol of the world and the society, and in the framework of criticizing it, somehow he criticizes his contemporaries.