The Epistemology of Emotions in the Mystical Corpus of Bahā walad and Rumi

Human feelings have mostly been considered as a controversial and problematic matter in many mystical works of poem. Regarding this subject, mystical traditions, though generally taking these feelings seriously to such an extent that speak of the ‘reasons of heart’ as the foundations of knowledge, but have failed to present a clear systematic scheme of the process of acquiring knowledge through feelings in the framework of their mystical geometry. In the present paper an attempt has been made to examine this process as reflected in the mystical corpus of Bahā walad and Rumi. By focusing on such concepts as 'taste' and 'scent' in their literature and bringing to light such factors as ‘inner preparedness’ and ‘friendly view to the world’ in their thought, the author hopes to clarify, with direct reference to the explicit expressions of Bahā walad, the obscurities present in Rumi's poetry concerning the role of feelings in obtaining of gnosis. To this end, by resenting numerous evidences from Bahā walad's Maārif and Rumi's Mathnawi, it has been illustrated that from their standpoint, human feelings have a cognitive trait and so should be counted among reliable sources of acquiring knowledge and insight. It is clear that feelings in this sense do not stand in apposition to rationality. In addition the epistemic credit of emotions and inner impressions in their opinion led both not to emphasize on the religious experience as a unique and excellent one and not to regard detaching from human feelings as a necessary condition towards acquiring gnosis. This idea explicitly expressed in Bahā walad's writings and the author tries to follow its trace in Rumi's poetical works.