فصلنامه ادبیات عرفانی و اسطوره شناختی
سال شانزدهم شماره 60 (پاییز 1399)

Sufism, as a social institution, has great importance in the history of Iran. Its principles, rules and teachings refer to special rituals that Sufis have to obey them. Along with political and social changes, Sufism has had its ups and downs, and many tendencies and branches have been formed in it. But for all its breadth, it can be considered as a Foucauldian discourse. By employing analytical-comparative method, the present study seeks to assess the function and structure of power in Sufism based on Foucault's theory of power discourse. The results of the study show that Sufism has a dual function. On the one hand, it creates a kind of public discipline, affects the individual freedom, and its teachings reinforce and establish the propositions of power. On the other hand, it can sometimes expand the scope of general knowledge, challenges, as a rival discourse, the other discourses including the sovereign power discourse. In this way, Sufism can reduce, albeit slightly, the despotism of parallel institutions, especially the sovereign one, by distributing power and wealth.

The God introduced by the Muslim mystics has an individual existence and unity. Kashf al-asrār (The Unveiling of Secrets) by Ruzbehan Baqli is about his mystical experiences of the Truth, the manifestations of God and ways of guiding the holy travelers (sālek) towards Him. The purpose of this study is to answer these questions: To what extent does Ruzbehan follow the Muslim mystics about the individual God? To what extent is his epistemological background and his familiarity with Quranic verses and the Tradition (hadith), effective in shaping his mystical experiences about the individual God? How can the idea of individual God in Kashf al-asrār be analyzed from an epistemological point of view? By using analytical-descriptive method, the present article examines the views of Ruzbehan Baqli about the manifestation of God and how He is present in the world. God appears in the form of an individual One and manifests Himself in the shape of sage, shaykh, shepherd, musician, beautiful Turkish man, dancer, cupbearer, muezzin, butcher, lion, red rose, light, valuable and expensive stones, for directing and attracting Ruzbehan toward Himself. The findings reveal that on the subject of individual God, Ruzbehan follows the tradition of the Muslim mystics; he expresses this individuation in different ways; the Holy Quran, the Tradition (hadith) and the ideas of the mystics of the past have influence in shaping his thoughts; and finally, his ideas are justifiable from an epistemological point of view.

Nazarbāzi is one of the most frequent themes in Persian romantic and mystical literature, which is reflected in the works of many great Persian writers. According to some mystics, nazarbāzi refers to a kind of mystical experience in which the mystic reaches a state where he looks at everything, sees God and His manifestations and loves them. Among these mystics are Khwaju Kermani and Shah Nimatullah Wali that in their poems, nazarbāzi can be divided into spiritual and worldly. The purpose of this study is to compare and explain the similarities and differences between the concept of nazarbāziin the poems of these two mystics. The research is done by using descriptive-analytical method. The results of the research show that Shah Nematullah Wali, by watching beautiful faces, looks at the image of God's beauty and his opinion does not refer to physical beauty. But according to Khwaju Kermani, the reason for man to enjoy the blessing of sight is to look at his beloved, and for this reason, most of his poems, related to nazarbāzi, are addressed to the earthly beloved.

In a general sense, Risālāt al-Tayr (treatises on birds) are often considered short and brief narrative texts. Proponents of this view argue that minimum use of the factors of suspense and maximum use of the anti-suspense factors are the reasons for this shortness and brevity. In this article, by using Genette’s narrative theory and on the basis of the narration time, we aim to prove that not only the suspense and anti-suspense factors play a role in these treatises, but also, the suspense factors are used more than anti-suspense ones.  We also aim to investigate the reason of using the suspense and anti-suspense elements in these works. By using analytical-descriptive method, the research has reached the conclusion that in Risālāt al-Tayr (treatises on birds) the suspense elements with eleven frequencies have more application than the anti-suspense elements with three frequencies. In the elements of suspense, deferment through repetition and for emphasizing the mystical theme, have the highest, and in the anti-suspense elements, the removal of content due to insignificance, have the lowest frequency. This indicates that mystical-didactic topics and the modes of narrative audience play a major role in Risālāt al-Tayr. Whenever the narrator has to repeat a story for training, he/she uses the suspense elements, and whenever the circumstances of the narrative audiences require, he/she omit the training materials and resorts to the anti-suspense elements.

The comparative-mythological study of the cave, as an ancient symbol, can reveal some unknown aspects of the functions of this symbol, and also, it makes it possible to understand more precisely why this symbol is used. By using the analytical-comparative method and the mythological approach to cave and its functions in various texts, the authors of present article have tried to achieve a comprehensive classification of the cave images. Based on this classification, four functions have been defined for the symbol as follows: 1. the womb of the Land-Mother; 2. the inner world and unconscious; 3. the symbolic role of the initiation ritual; 4. the world. According to these definitions, the mythological representations of the cave in the poems of Manouchehr Atashi have been considered. The study of the symbol in Persian modernist poetry, including the poems of Atashi, on the one hand shows the extent of the influence of mythological thinking in the mind of modern man, and on the other hand, it can reveal the most frequent functions of the symbol in the poetry of this modern Persian poet. An examination of Manouchehr Atashi's poetry shows that the symbolic functions of the cave, which are related to ‘the inner world and unconscious’ as well as ‘renaissance and modernity’, can be seen in his poems with greater frequency.

In animist cultures, the chosen animal represents an eternal power, which needs to be ritually sacrificed to blessing or as atonement for sins. In an altar, sometimes the chosen man and the chosen animal substitute one another. In the Abrahamic religions, the successor sacrifice is often a camel or a sheep. But taking a look at pre-Islamic Iranian beliefs reveals that for the ancient Iranians the chosen animal is cow which in its archetypal role, as the sacrifice, blesses the nature. The purpose of the present article is to explore the mythological roots in Gāv (The Cow), a screenplay by Gholām-Hossein Sā'edi, with a comparative mythological approach. The research has been done by using descriptive-analytical and developmental method and its qualitative data have been collected in a documentary manner. The result of the research reveals that the mythological actors of this narrative are as follows: the shaman (Mash Islam), the nuns (Naneh Khanom and Naneh Fatemeh), the devilish powers (the Porusi bandits), the sacrificial animal (the cow) and the sacrificial man (Mash Hasan). After the cow dies, Mash Hasan substitutes for it, and eventually he suffers the same death as the cow. In this way, the border between the sacrificial animal and the sacrificial man is abolished.

One of the postmodern features of Amelie Nothomb's novels is the use of myths, most notably the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in Mercure. Nothomb draws inspiration from the myth, makes major changes to it and rewrites it with her feminist perspective. Contrary to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, in Mercure, woman has priority over man and has the last word. In this research, by using analytical-comparative method, we describe these changes and the techniques used and show that the communication system that connects the novel to the myth is hypertextuality. We also try to explain in detail the main mythemes that make up the image of Eurydice, the duality of female characters, the duality of the structure of the novel, as well as the reversal of the roles. The characters of Adele and Azel take different paths and present two different images of Eurydice. In fact, these changes are due to the independence and ambiguity of the novel's female character through the process of duality in the image of Eurydice, and cause the author to present a new version of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, in which woman is superior to man.

The Negative Theology of “Waqfih” in Al-Niffari’s Al-Kitāb al-Mawāqif
 
 
Mystics' views on the critique of knowledge is a subject that has been less addressed so far. In essence, it seems that critique of knowledge by those who are mystics, that is, are known to have knowledge, to be a contradiction. But this contradiction leads us to reflect on the true nature and structure of knowledge in the eyes of mystics. Muhammad ibn Abd al-Jabbar ibn al-Hasan Al-Niffari in his book, Al-Kitāb al-Mawāqif (The Book of Standings) talks about seventy-seven ‘mawqif’ (standings/stayings) in the process of the mystic's spiritual journey. They do not have a definite order, but they follow a pattern of structure and content. Another term is ‘waqfih’ that refers to a period of contemplation in which the mystic becomes aware of his position. The structure of al-Kitāb al-Mawāqif is based on the negative theology; all of the book is about negation of the position of ‘waqfih’, and in the most positions, the author ends his speech with negative words. The aim of present article is to consider the role of ‘waqfih’ and the elements of the negative theology in the thoughts of Al-Niffari. The research is done from three perspective: existential, epistemological and linguistic by using an analytical-comparative method. The results indicate that Al-Niffari in his book, before Ibn Arabi, have ontologically provided the basis for attention to the Divine essence and the concept of non-existence. According to Al-Niffari, the reality of knowledge is “wise ignorance” and astonishment, and his mute and contradictory language refers to his negative speech.

The concept of sacrifice is one of the major themes in Biveh-koshi (Widow Killing) a novel by Yousef Alikhani. It contributes to the coherence of the narrative and the sequence of events in the story. Various mythologists have studied the subject of sacrifice in the culture of different ethnic groups, including Mircea Eliade, who equates sacrifice with the act of creation and the necessity of life. He believes that nothing can be created without sacrifice. Biveh-koshi is a contemporary example of the rite of sacrifice. In the novel, the successive sacrifices of the seven sons of Hazratgholi and the sacrificing a lamb instead of a virgin girl are reminiscent of mythological idea of the rite of sacrifice. In the present study, the authors, by using an analytical-comparative approach, have first interpreted the main theories of Mircea Eliade about concepts such as the myth of creation, sacrificing and the initial perfection. Then, they have analyzed the elements of the rite of sacrifice in Biveh-koshi in order to explain the views of Eliade and to evaluate their compatibility with the narrative of the story. The results of the study show that the narrative of Biveh-koshi is a manifestation of the conflict between the myths of creation and fertility.

The story of the Golden calf is one of the most important stories of the Holy Quran which is also mentioned several times in the Torah.  Along with many questions about the story, what is important is the reason for choosing the calf from a variety of totemic animals. Why does Samiri choose a calf among all animals? Why is the calf represented as masculine in the Holy Quran? Basically, what is the purpose of telling the story and alluding to a male calf in the verses of the Holy Quran? By exploring the cultural beliefs of Mesopotamian and Semitic people, in the present article, first, the attempt is made to examine the features of calf in terms of its ritual and symbolic importance. Then, the semantic context of the Qur'anic verse referring to the gender of the calf is examined. The article uses archetypal criticism and Jungian ideas with an analytical and comparative approach to the Holy Quran and The Holy Scripture. Findings of the study indicate that the masculinity of the calf is a theme with a special meaning and is used as a rejection of some customs of the Age of Ignorance about the sanctity of natural objects. Since attention to gender did not play much role in the Abrahamic religions, so in later periods it was not raised.