A Comparative Study of Reason from Viewpoint of Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī and Sanai Ghaznavi

The reason has always been one of the most significant and controversial subjects among philosophers, scientists, mystics, and poets. The reason has been defined in many different ways because of its multiple concept and dissimilar meanings among different cultures, nations, and races. As the main means of cultural development in the past, philosophical debates on reason have been flourished in poetry, as well as many other challenges. This research, which is conducted based on analytical-descriptive method and library sources, aims to study the concept of reason and the realm of intellect in general, in the poems of Abu al-'Ala al-Ma'ari, the famous Arab poet, and Hadiqat al Haqiqa by Sanai Ghaznavi, a well-known Iranian counterpart. The main theme of the research is the study of reason in the poetry of the aforementioned poet. In Sanai’s Book of Poetry, reason is sometimes referred to as Persian wisdom and its sacredness while it is often considered as common sense or covers religious and theological meaning. This research tries to cover the concept of reason by its all significations. The findings reveal that there are more than twenty common concepts regarding the reason. Also, the poets have different views when the reason is the concept against of religion and wisdom is found in doubting. It is worth mentioning that Abu al-'Ala mostly uses reason in the terms of worldly intellect, but Sanai speaks highly of reason in the sense of religious and theological wisdom and a motive for understanding truths and spiritual life.