Document Type : Research article
Authors
1 Corresponding author, Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages, Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran.
2 Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages, Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran.
3 Ph.D Conditon, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages, Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran.
Abstract
Highlights
Review and analysis of Suhrawardi's treatise “Fi Haqiqat el-eshq” (Munesol oshshaq) based on Roland Barthes' Five Codes
Introduction
The treatise “Fi Haqiqat al-Ishq” also known as “Munes al-Ushaq”, is one of the most delicate allegorical mystical stories written by Suhrawardi (549–587 AH). In this work, Suhrawardi, drawing on Quranic verses and exquisite poetry, depicts love and its various stages through the narratives of the creation of Adam and the story of Yusuf. Since Suhrawardi's mind and language in *Fi Haqiqat al-Ishq* are interwoven with symbolic references and a coded language, this aspect made it an apt choice for analysis and examination based on Roland Barthes' theory of the five codes. Barthes, in his division of texts into two types “readerly” and “writerly” leaves the distinction between these two types to the reader. He refers to a type of text where the reader plays a passive role as “readerly” text, while the opposite, in which the reader is no longer passive, is known as “writerly” text.
Barthes views the text as a product of five codes: hermeneutic, proairetic, semantic, cultural, and symbolic. He believes that no text has a definitive beginning or end; one must seek boundaries within boundlessness and reconcile the relationships between texts. Barthes emphasizes the dynamism and fluidity of the text and seeks the pleasure of the text in its fertility and semantic multiplicity. According to Barthes, these five codes organize the comprehension of the text. The proairetic and hermeneutic codes drive the progression of the text, moving it from one point to another, thereby forming the narrative, while the other three codes—semantic, cultural, and symbolic—provide the essential information and implicit meanings necessary for the reader's complete understanding of the text.
The authors of this article, aware that a dedicated study and analysis of mystical texts such as Suhrawardi's “Munes al-Ushaq” based on Roland Barthes' five codes had not been previously undertaken, embarked on a reading of the text through this lens.
Discussion
The treatise “Fi Haqiqat al-Ishq” also known as “Munes al-Ushaq”,is one of Suhrawardi's allegorical works, containing twelve short chapters that can be divided into two distinct sections. The first section depicts the archetypal and otherworldly nature of the essences of beauty, love, and sorrow, while the second section portrays the worldly manifestation of these three celestial essences. In the hermeneutic code, what stands out in this reading is that Suhrawardi, by presenting puzzles and delaying the answers to questions, continues the story in an allegorical manner, prolonging the narrative with unresolved ambiguities and suspense.
In the proairetic code, which deals with the sequence of events recorded during the reading and named according to the information provided by the narrative, sequential actions are observed in the two stories of the creation of Adam and Yusuf, with the active agents being beauty, love, and sorrow, showing how they follow one another. In the first section, the main action revolves around the creation of the heavens, the earth, and Adam, where the archangels are summoned to prostrate before the divine vicegerent. The narrative then focuses on the main agents, who originate from the intellect.
The most significant semantic code in “Munes al-Ushaq” centers around beauty, love, and sorrow. Suhrawardi presents beauty as the first offspring of intellect, born from the attribute of recognizing the Truth, serving as the source of the spiritual realm, from whose smile the archangels are created. This luminous reality, while maintaining its celestial identity, steps into the physical world, reflecting the beauties of the heavenly and otherworldly realms, ultimately manifesting in the human being. However, in this treatise, love is portrayed as a fundamental and primal force in the cosmos, playing a crucial role in explaining concepts such as existence, knowledge, and happiness. The image of love depicted here is initially transcendent, an eternal truth that originates from the same source as beauty and sorrow, the singular fountain of truth. Sorrow, in *Munes al-Ushaq*, also issues from the singular source—the intellect—and is the younger sibling of beauty and love. Suhrawardi attributes the creation of the heavens and the earth to the interplay of love and sorrow, and mystics view it as a result of the fear experienced by the spiritual seeker.
The cultural code serves as a conduit for the text's reference to the external world, encompassing general knowledge (art, medicine, politics, literature, etc.). The cultural code belongs to the domain of mythology and ideology. This treatise is replete with cultural references to the world outside the text, including references to Quranic verses and hadiths, mystical terminology, and myths. These references, independent of the text, represent a vast and valuable treasure of human knowledge and truth, reflecting Suhrawardi's extensive scholarly mastery of various subjects, which he has employed in his intellectual pursuits.
The symbolic code, which encompasses patterns of oppositions and contrasts, leads to the formation of a new reading of the text. What can be discerned in *Fi Haqiqat al-Ishq* through the lens of the symbolic code is the confrontation of the soul with the body, the sacred realm with the material world, the origin and destination of existence, as well as the separation and union of love and beauty in the archetypal world, and the separation and union of Zuleikha and Yusuf in the material and tangible world, which are parallel and corresponding to each other. Beyond these, one can point to the distinct heavenly and earthly interpretations of a single concept, a clear opposition that is evident in this treatise.
Conclusion
What became evident in this reading and analysis based on Roland Barthes' five codes was that the hermeneutic code illuminated the ambiguous aspects of Suhrawardi's narrative in *Fi Haqiqat al-Ishq*, addressing the reason behind the treatise's title and the roles of beauty, love, and sorrow as agents in the journey of spiritual seekers. The proairetic code, by detailing a sequence of actions, played a significant role in manifesting and concretizing the abstract and conceptual relationships between beauty, love, and sorrow, and in contributing to the dynamism and movement of the text. The semantic code, moving beyond the primary meaning of the symbolic expressions and mystical terms, reached a secondary level that depicted the mysteries of love and its requisites, which in the celestial realm involve the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the tangible realm relate to the spiritual journey of beauty, love, and sorrow.
At the level of the cultural code, the treatise reflects Khusrawani, Magian, and Islamic thought, with Suhrawardi, inspired by Quranic verses and using mystical terminology, emphasizing the deep connection between philosophical-mystical discussions and religious narratives and texts. The symbolic code revealed the contrast between Suhrawardi's Illuminationist thought between intellect and intuition—and the contrast between the unseen world and the visible world, the realm of lights and the realm of bodies, separation and union, and beyond that, the heavenly and earthly events that encompass the arc of descent and the arc of ascent. Consequently, the reading of the text through Barthes' five codes, each dominating different aspects of the text, revealed a fluid, multifaceted, and “writerly” (open) text.
Resources
- Holy Quran
- Allen, Graham. (1397). “Intertextuality”, Translated by Payam Yazdanjou, Tehran: Markaz.
- Allen, Graham. (1385). “Rolan Bart”, Translated by Payam Yazdanjou, Tehran: Markaz.
- Abu Sa'id Abu'l-Khayr. (1388). “Roba'iyat-e Abu Sa'id Abu'l-Khayr”, Edited by Manouchehr
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