Sufism and Mysticism
Saloomeh Sayyad Rajebi; Mohammad Ebrahimpur Namin; Khosro Jalili Kohnehshahri
Abstract
Anecdotes of Elders in Persian Sufi Poems Sufi literature in its two forms, prose and verse, especially between the 6th and 9th centuries A.H., is a large and important part of Persian literature with various types and subtypes such as edicts and didactic works of prose and verse, as well as works ...
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Anecdotes of Elders in Persian Sufi Poems Sufi literature in its two forms, prose and verse, especially between the 6th and 9th centuries A.H., is a large and important part of Persian literature with various types and subtypes such as edicts and didactic works of prose and verse, as well as works that report moments of passion and Sufi illumination is in a lyrical or symbolic language. One of the main and common materials among almost all these different types, although with different levels and frequency among the types, is the narration of "stories" and "sayings" of Sufi Sheikhs. This research is an attempt to present a detailed and documented picture of the quality and quantity of the reflection of the "stories" (and not the sayings) of the Sufi sheikhs in the most important Persian Sufi educational systems, including Hadiqat al-Haqiqa Sanâ'i, Attâr's poems including Elâhinâma, Asrârnâmeh, and Manteq al-Tayr and Mosibat-nâme, the six books of Mowlânâ's Masnaviye Maʾnavi, and Jâmi's Haft-orang. The results of this research show that out of the total of 300 stories narrated in these works, apart from the stories attributed to the unknown elders (47 stories), which constitute the highest amount of stories, the most stories are related to Bâ Yazid (with 24 cases), Abu Saʾid Abul Xair (with 21 cases) and Šebli (with 20 anecdotes). Also, about a quarter of all the stories are "Karâmat stories" and the theme of the rest of the stories is the teaching of Sufi knowledge and concepts. It is worth mentioning that in a historical and comparative perspective, it is clear to see the increase in attention to the narration of Karâmat stories between Sanâʾi and Rumi; As in Hadiqat al-Haqiqat, there are no honorable stories, but among the 26 stories narrated in the six books of Mowlânâ's Masnavi, 15 stories (that is, about 60 percent of the stories) are about honor. Finally, it is possible to consider the totality of Persian Sufi poems as having less attention to stories of virtues compared to types such as Tazkirats and hagiographies as well as some ancient Arabic short books.
