Mowlavi’s Survey in the Allegorical Presentation of Human Pain and Suffering (The Dialogue of the Sufi and the Judge)

Pain and suffering as a philosophical, religious and psychological subject is man’s twin. This topic has found its way to mythologies and legends under the title of good and evil and has been the focus of attention and a philosophical and theological challenge. In the literature and mystical texts, the concept of pain and suffering is beyond mere argument and explanation and is more intuitive. Hence, the mystic presents intellectual concepts as tangible entities. In this way, he eases the understanding of those concepts for the ordinary mind while trying to emotionally persuade the audience. Building upon one of the challenging anecdotes of Masnavi (The Dialogue of the Sufi and the Judge), the present paper seeks to investigate Mowlavi’s mystical approach to the concept of pain and suffering. Mowlavi’s allegorical viewpoint about the presentation of pain and suffering shows that pain and suffering have been connected to joy and pleasure on the one hand, and cognition, spiritual perfection and providence on the other hand. Through these stories, Mowlavi has had an eye on the nature of pain and suffering, their sources and the ways to dispense with grief and has made it believable by means of proper allegories.