The Noetic Effects of Sin in Masnavi-ye-Maʿnavi

Abstract

The influence of non-cognitive factors, including sin, on human knowledge has become a matter of question in epistemology in recent decades. Religious and mystical texts of different cultures throughout history have emphasized that humans' existential realms are deeply interconnected. Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi is an important text that discusses the influence of sin on human knowledge. In Rumi's view, sin affects the hereafter and also our existence and rational faculties in this world. Rumi's emphasis is on the daily sins, not the original sin. According to him, sins affect knowledge by causing a person to lose mental concentration due to the sense of guilt he or she experiences after sinning. In addition, he believes that the damage done to moral virtues after sinning affects intellectual virtues and, therefore, human knowledge. While Mawlana holds that sin is effective on all types of human knowledge, both our knowledge of Divine and non-Divine realms, his emphasis is on the effect of sin on our knowledge of God and self-knowledge.

Keywords

• masnavi-ye-maʿnavi
• mawlana jalāl ad-dīn mohammad balkhī
• the noetic effects of sin
• epistemology