Mircea Eliade's Concept of "Homo Religious" in Persian Anecdotes; an Analysis Based on Asrar al-Tawhid

According to Mircea Eliade, there is always an absolute and sacred reality for "homo religious" which is beyond this world, manifests itself in the world and sanctifies it. This absolute and sacred reality is the same as that expressed in Sheikh Boo Saied's behavior and speech in anecdotes of Asrar al-Tawhid (The Mysteries of Unification). By studying the sources and using the analytical and descriptive method, in the present article has been attempted to evaluate the characteristics of the "homo religious" of Eliade on the main characters of the anecdotes in order to adapt his view to the stories of Asrar al-Tawhid. The results show that Sheikh Boo Saied, as the homo religious, has set aside the historical time and has reached the sacred time. That is why each of his followers who are the samples of "homo historicus" can feel the sense of eternity and inescapability, regarding to their connections with the sacred time. Eliade's "sacred action" is the same as that which has been mentioned in mysticism of Sheikh Boo Saied as unity. By analyzing the anecdotes of Asrar al-Tawhid in accordance with the proposed model of Eliade, Sheikh Boo Saied is a sample of "homo religious", and his supernatural deeds and the events surrounding him do not mean denying the real world and escaping into the dream world.