Belief in Scapegoating in Rumi's Masnavi and Attar's Divan

 The main purpose of this article is to study and analyze the forms of scapegoating belief in the Molana’s Masnavi and Attar’s Divan and also to reach the meaning of this religion through these valuable works of mystical literature in order to investigate and extract mythical and folk examples of this religion in these poems.

 The present study was basically based on library studies and was done by descriptive-analytical method.

 Scapegoating is a religious mythical religion that has been common among different ethnicities and nations for various purposes for a long time. Many mythical and ancient traditions have recommended different methods of scapegoating for avoiding disasters or eliminating them. Scapegoating is a religion that is as old as human history in the geographical area of human civilization and is one of the religions that is seen in ceremonies and celebrations and among various tribes and civilizations. The religion of scapegoating has such a root and antiquity that even its traces can be clearly found in the classical literature of Iran and in Molana’s and Attar’s mystical poetry.

 The findings indicate that two prominent poets of Iranian mystical literature, Molana and Attar, are well acquainted with the mythological aspects of the religion of scapegoating and have been able to use it in their poems in the most artistic way possible. In the meantime, Molana pays more attention to the belief of scapegoating and his examples are more than Attar.