Critical Discourse Analysis of Tamhidat by Ayn al-Quzat Hamadani (Through Norman Fairclough’s Approach)

Tamhidat is the most important work of Ayn al-Quzat Hamadani, a free-thinking mystic of the Seljuk era, and one of the most famous works of Islamic mysticism, which has been examined in the present research through Norman Fairclough’s “critical discourse analysis” approach. The purpose of this research is to answer several questions: How has the discourse order of Iran’s Seljuk era been reproduced in Tamhidat? Which of the social acts do the discourse acts of Tamhidat reflect? And what was Ayn al-Quzat’s solution to dispose of the discourse of dominance and prejudice in the Seljuk period? The findings of the research show that the social order of the Seljuk era which was based on the authority of political rulers over the people, religious scholars over the followers, and Sufi sheikhs over the disciples, representing various types of social classification, has been reflected in Tamhidat via “naming” the participants. By using two pre-existing genres, “Qur'an exegesis” and “Sermon”, which were considered two distinct cultural and social acts, Ayn al-Quzat, while instilling his beliefs in the audience, created a counter-discourse in opposition to the existing discourses; and even from the position of a social critic and thinker proposed the novel idea of knowledge and “love” in order to dispose of the discourse of domination, violence and radical religiosity of his time. The use of affirmative sentences and special imperative and interrogative patterns in Tamhidat shows that in this discoursal confrontation, the stance of Ayn al-Quzat is an authoritative one; epistemic authority against the authority of domination and the authority of love against the authority of prejudice and violence. These features move Tamhidat beyond the didactic and interpretive position and even consider a social mission for it.