The Reflection of Ghorbat al-gharbiyah in Masnavi Manavi

The issues of separation from higher world, spiritual nostalgia and return to origin have been expressed with symbolic language in allegorical texts of Iranian-Islamic mysticism. One of the most important texts is Sohravardi's Ghorbat al-gharbiyah (the Occidental exile). Sohravardi proposes the concept of "the Occidental exile" in a utopian and an idealistic geography. By using descriptive-analytical method, the present article tries to study this concept in Masnavi Manavi of Jalāl al-Din Rūmi and to show his hermeneutic and mystical apprehensions with regards to Sohravardi's allegories. The research shows that how Sohravardian terms like ideal east and west, utopia, corps astral, being imprisoned in tenebrous well and mystical journey (suluk) to the east and higher world, all have been manifested in Masnavi Manavi. Doing so, it reveals that the common source of these two scholars, is, Quranic hermeneutic. They interpret the tales and allegories of Quran and indicate that the man can obtain his/her divine and luminous identity and understand that his/her true place is not the material world, and must resort to intuition and purification.