A comparative and intertextual study of the " True False story (Elephant in the Dark) based on Jacobson's theory

Mystics have cherished and paid attention to the works of their predecessors, especially those of Sanayi and Ghazali, as a literary tradition.Composing Mathnavi M’anavi, Rumi referred to the works of Sanayi, Attar and Ghazali and retold some of their allegorical anecdotes with changes in form and content.  The story of the "True False story" (Elephant in the Dark), which expresses the deficiency and inability of human beings to know God, is first narrated by al-Ghazali in Arabic, in Ahya al-Uloom, and then in Persian in Kimiyaye sa’adat, and is later adapted by Sanayi and Rumi. This descriptive-analytical study, based on Roman Jacobson's theory of communication, examines the anecdote and the function of the "True False story" anecdote in these works, based on the French view of comparative literature. The article then tries to show their differences and similarities. The main question is, oncerning six elements of sender, receiver, message, context, code, and contact in the communication process of the " True False story ", which of the emotional, motivational, literary, referential, Has it been metalanguage and verbal language foregrounded by the orientation of each of these texts? Are there similarities and differences? Findings show that in Al-Ghazali and Sanayi's works, the direction of the message is towards the subject and the text, while the anecdote has a referential function, but Rumi returns to the audience in the direction of the message and his anecdote has an action function. All of this is also related to the recipient, the message, and the context.