The Mystical Attitude of Ahmad Ghazali and Transformation of Pure Love of Layla and Majnun

The scholars in the field of mysticism have expressed a variety of ideas about the concept of love, which show the importance of it in Iranian religious thoughts. Ahmad Ghazali (452 -520 AH) created a dramatic change in the nature of love by writing mystical works. He presented a new interpretation of the story of Layla and Majnun's love in Sawāneh, his first work in the field of love in Persian language. In Arabic literature, Layla and Majnun love story is a kind of pure love (Ishq-e Azrā) or Platonic love. By using descriptive-analytical method, in the present article the attempt is made to consider the stages of the transformation of pure love of Layla and Majnun in Ahmad Ghazali's thoughts and to answer this question: In a comparative study, how do we interpret the similarities and differences between the Layla and Majnun love in Ahmed Ghazali's attitude and the pure love in Arabic literature? The results show that, based on Ghazali's romantic and mystical principles, virtuous, secular, painful, unending and pure love transforms to admirable, divine, pleasant and hopeful love and leads to perfection.