Rumi's Treating Linguistic and Non-linguistic Phenomena in Aflaki Managhebol al-Arefeen

Abstract

Sufi interpretations of non-sacred affairs could be categorized as linguistic and non-linguistic phenomena. In this article, the part of Rumi’s interpretation, which is reported in Managhebol al-Arefeen, is examined. Like many mystics, Rumi deploys the interpretations of non-sacred affairs to expand his spiritual experiences. According to Gadamer's Hermeneutic views, such interpretations have been made through the process of reader’s dialogue with the text. The interpreter, while facing the representations and in dialogue with in, based on his mental configurations and concepts existing in his mind, makes an interpretation of them which is consistent with his biases, prejudices and lived experiences. In such kinds of interpretations, every heavenly representation is reflective of an inner image in the mind of the mystic. Such associations are formed on the basis of similarity, proximity and contradiction and in the mystic language they appear in rhetorical forms such as alliteration, uslub al-hakim, similes, personifications, symbols, metonymy and paradoxes.

Keywords

• text interpretation
• gadamer
• mystical interpretation
• rumi
• managhebol al-arefeen