From Myth to Mysticism

One of the characteristics of the language of mysticism, like that of poetry and art, is its imagery and analogy. Evidently there is also al close relationship between mysticism and myth. It is on the basis of these two facts that the writer of this article following a brief report on the allegorical language of mysticism examines the relationship between mysticism and myth by investigating the poet-mystic's use of one of the mythological stories, that is, the story of Zāl and Roodabeh, especially when the latter let her long plaits fall down like a rope so that Zāl who was kept outside of the castle behind closed gates could climb up to her chamber. By giving some other examples the researcher has attempted to show that the poet-mystics have used the story of the plait as a symbol of the mercy and grace of God Who always comes to the aid of His servants and also an emblem of all the ways and methods, such as attraction and love, religion and dogma, and repentance, which God out of His compassion and kindness shows to all or some of His servants. At the end of this paper the writer makes a comparative study of three other tales, namely the Persian story of the Daughter of Naranj and Turanj, the story of Rapunzel and finally the Arabic story of Cutting the plait of Rabiiah.