Ankara Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi (Nov 2019)
Life through Death in Rumi’s Story of the Boatman and the Grammarian: A Thematic and Symbolic Analysis
Abstract
The following study examines the story/parable of the Grammarian and the Boatman within the Mathnavī of Rumi. We have striven to provide an account of the allegorical aspect of the story and the messages that Rumi attempted to convey. We demonstrated that the primary objective of the story is to signify the Sufi concept of maḥv (self-effacement/annihilation) and prioritize it in the life of the Sufi disciple. We examined and analyzed how the theme of maḥv is presented through an earthly experience, and explored the symbols Rumi, and the Sufis for that matter, utilized in conveying their teachings. We have also drawn parallels with Qur’anic verses, prophetic teachings, and the teachings of earlier Sufi masters. The Sufi epistemological approach, the experiential knowledge, has been the primary examination of our research, and we drew attention to how the Sufi masters imparted knowledge to their audience. Other poetic formulations of Rumi in various parts of Mathnavī have been enlisted to elucidate the author’s mindset on the theory of knowledge. Similar attestations of other Sufi mystics have also been utilized in this survey and the mutual objectives of other Sufis have been analyzed. We have striven to maintain an analytical approach and provided an expository formulation of the Sufis on the nature of epistemology.
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