The Hermeneutics of Silence in the Ghazals of Shams

In order to understand the meaning of existence, Heidegger analyzes the existential possibilities of the German word for existence, i.e. Dasein, and among these possibilities, he pays special attention to the relationship between language and existence. In addition to speaking, he considers silence as one of the linguistic possibilities. According to Heidegger, linguistic silence has the potential to reveal existence much more broadly than just speaking. This revelation of existence and hearing the voice of existence in silence gives it an interpretive quality, which Heidegger calls hermeneutics. Since in our mystical heritage, Mawlana Jalaluddin Muḥammad (Rumi) speaks of silence and reticence in most of his ghazals, the authors of this article believe that in the light of Heidegger's conception of silence, new horizons of this concept can be opened up in the ghazals of Shams in order to show its interpretive and hermeneutic features in the following propositions: “from the unworldliness of Dasein to the annihilation of the truth-seeker in the general sense and its connection with silence”, “from Dasein's transition from the linguistic position to the linguistic annihilation of the truth-seeker in the specific sense and its connection with silence”, “the hermeneutics of silence and the reception of genuine speech from Dasein to the truth-seeker”, and “Rumi's hermeneutic silence and the reception of genuine speech” as proof of this claim. By proposing genuine silence, Rumi provides a ground for the soul and the world of existence to speak up and to display the shortcomings and inadequacies of language and to reveal the secrets of the universe. Attention to the hermeneutic aspect of silence in the ghazals of Shams distinguishes the present article from the existing research and a new achievement in the field of Rumi research will emerge.