Shams Tabrīzī and His Esoteric Interpretation of Prophetic Hadīth

Shams al-din Mohammad Tabrīzī is one of the greatest theosophists of the seventh century AH. He brought a fundamental transformation to the life and thoughts of Maulānā Jalāl al-din Muhammad. Arguably, the only work remained of Shams is Maghālāt-e Shams Tabrīzī which is a collection of his discussions with Maulānā or his disciples written down by their students. However, Maulānā’s Divan-e Shams is a dedication and allusion to Sham’s mysteries. Prophetic Hadīth was of paramount importance for Shams. He believed that only the possessors of gnosis and those who are united with God can decipher the in depth meaning of Hadīth. He revealed novel mysteries in prophetic Hadīth which are not mentioned in Qur’an and were not noticed by his preceding Gnostics. In this paper, Sham’s approach to Hadith interpretation is discussed, and his hermeneutic methods toward it is analyzed.