زبانِ رمز و رمزِ زبان: تصوفِ اسلامی میں فارسی اظہار کی معنویت

SYMBOLIC LANGUAGE AND THE LANGUAGE OF SYMBOL: THE SEMANTICS OF PERSIAN EXPRESSION IN ISLAMIC SUFISM

Abstract

This study investigates the semantic richness and symbolic depth of Persian expression within the tradition of Islamic Sufism. Focusing on the intricate relationship between language and meaning, it examines how Persian Sufi discourse employs a multilayered symbolic vocabulary—often encoded in metaphor, allegory, and paradox—to articulate spiritual realities that transcend literal expression. Persian Sufi poets and thinkers such as Rumi, Attar, and Hafez developed a sophisticated symbolic lexicon in which everyday objects and natural phenomena become vessels for metaphysical insight. This symbolic mode of expression allows the ineffable dimensions of mystical experience to be communicated through aesthetically charged linguistic forms. The research adopts a linguistic–hermeneutic approach, analysing how key Sufi concepts—such as ishq (divine love), rah-e su’lūk (path of spiritual wayfaring), ḥaqīqat (ultimate reality), and fanaa’ (spiritual annihilation)—gain expanded semantic fields through Persian symbolic articulation. Simultaneously, the study explores the reciprocal dynamic between language and mystical cognition: while Sufism shapes the symbolic usage of Persian, the flexibility and poetic nature of the Persian language enable Sufism to construct subtle metaphysical narratives.  By situating Persian Sufi expression within broader Islamic intellectual history, the study argues that symbolic language functions not merely as stylistic ornamentation but as a hermeneutic bridge between the inner world of mystical experience and the outer realm of communicable meaning. Ultimately, this research demonstrates that the language of symbol is central to understanding the epistemology, spiritual psychology, and literary creativity of Islamic Sufism.