On the Status of Comparisons in Masnavi

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Associate Professor, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

10.29252/kavosh.2010.2501

Abstract

Comparison is highly employed in Masnavi, whether as a technique of simulating one thing to another or in its expressional sense as a device of lexical reasoning. However, disagreement with it is a major feature of Movlan's mystical teachings specifically on the issue of recognition. Comparison as used in Masnavi sometimes means rational reasoning, sometimes conjecture, and sometimes serves as an expression in logic. Whatever the case, it is invariably opposed to by moulana. As the major caves of human errors in recognition, it underlies many anecdotes of Masnavi so that, in the first chapter, the reader faces different usages of this erroneous technique which are often denounced.
The present article deals with Movlana's concern about comparison by bringing in its different meanings and looking at a number of anecdotes in Masnave. As a poet, Moulana is supposed to have dealt with similarities, however, as a mystic speculator, he has just focused on differences and privileges. This indicates his poetic skill combined with speculative capability as well as mystical commitment by virtue of which he views comparison wrong and as a source of error. This is particularly true when he speaks of metaphysical facts and experiences, entities that are solely at the disposal of a mystic. In spite of all this and quite interestingly, Moulana is found at time to give up to comparisons when explaining certain moral and mystical issues.   

Keywords

Journal of Kavoshnameh in Persian Language and Literature
Volume 10, Issue 19
March 2010
Pages 207-240

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