MYSTICAL SYMBOLISM: Shabistari’s Interpretation vs. Iqbal’s Reformation
Abstract
Gulshan-i Raz (Rose Garden of Mystery) is a masterpiece of Islamic mystical philosophy, written by Shaikh Mahmoud Shabistari (1228-1340) influenced by wujudi (existential) teachings of Ibn Al-Arabi (1165-1240). Beside answering basic doctrinal questions in this book, Shabistari ellaborates a set of oft-used mystical symbols of the Sufis. Almost six centuries later, Allamah Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) of Lahore, along his philosophical contemplation on ‘reconstruction of religious thoughts in Islam’ and particularly, in pursuit of reformulating theorical Sufism, answered the same set of doctrinal questions in Gulshan-i Raz-i Jadid (New Rose Garden of Mystery), but left the questions on symbolism unanswered. Therefore, this comparative study explores the use and denotations of Shabistari’s set of symbolic terms in poetry books of Iqbal, to verify if his usage of the same symbolic terms are in accordance with poetry of traditional mystics. For further clarification, some couplets from Ibn Arabi, Hafiz Shirazi, Fakhruddin Iraqi and Ayatollah Khomeini are contrasted with Iqbal’s verse lines. The research finds that Iqbal abstained from using popular mystical symbols such as female beauty and modified the wine related set of symbols. He also reformed the conventional wujudi allegories and finally, introduced a new set of symbols more applicable to his khudi (self) doctrine.
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References
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