Cognitive Governance of Rhetorical Devices in Mystical Language: A Case Study of Oslūb al-Ḥakīm

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran

2 Associate Professor of Persian language and literature, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran

10.29252/kavosh.2026.23548.3745

Abstract

Mystical language in the Islamic tradition has long been at the intersection of ineffable experience and spiritual pedagogy, making it a central problem in linguistic and hermeneutic studies. Focusing on the rhetorical device of Oslūb al-Ḥakīm and employing Sperber and Wilson’s Relevance Theory, this study investigates how Sufi discourse reshapes cognitive environments and redirects interpretation through indirect and expectation-defying responses. The research is based on a qualitative analysis of forty instances of Oslūb al-Ḥakīm drawn from classical Persian mystical texts. The analysis was conducted at the two interrelated levels of a) the inferential and cognitive mechanisms underlying this rhetorical strategy and b) its pedagogical and epistemic functions within Sufi discourse. The findings reveal five principal functions including subverting surface expectations to redirect perception from outward forms to inward meanings, transforming conflictual situations into ethical instruction, reversing epistemic hierarchies by attributing authority to marginal figures, redefining concepts through the collapse of conventional significations, and challenging juridical hegemony and Sharia-centered discourse. The study demonstrates that mystical language serves not merely as a means of expression but as an epistemic and transformative act that generates profound cognitive effects through purposeful increases in processing efforts.

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References

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Journal of Kavoshnameh in Persian Language and Literature
Volume 27, Issue 68
June 2026
Pages 38-72

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