Comparison and content of common themes of the national epic and mystical epic

Sharifi Lorestani, Shahla (2017) Comparison and content of common themes of the national epic and mystical epic. Doctoral thesis, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili.

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Abstract

Epic and mysticism are two different literary genres, but the worth of epic depends on the mystical content and sanctity of mysticism because of having the essence of epic. Institutional studies acknowledge the affinity and blend of sacred epic and pure mysticism. To prove this claim, current study investigated the common themes of epic and mysticism in two precious works Shahnameh and Mathnavi. Based on institutional studies, Shahnameh, owing to having more sublime epical content, is comparable to the mystical texts because Islamic mysticism has two major features: sublime content and epical power, and Shahnameh possesses both characteristics perfectly. Mathnavi with the mighty essence of epic takes distances from the mystical texts (Sufi) and approaches Shahnameh, with the difference that Shahnameh is a successful example of external epic and Mathnavi is a perfect example of internal epic. Therefore, in the current study, viewpoints of Ferdowsi and Rumi is analyzed in two parts, including epic by selecting three topics: hero, enemy and holy sanctorum and mysticism with two basic concepts of monotheism and providence. In monotheism section, comparison of subjects such as “good and evil” and “mythological creatures” and in providence section, research about “chosen human of God” before and after appearance of Islam, regarding the Ibni Arabi viewpoint as the father of the theoretical Irfan are necessary. Ibni Arabi divides the providence into two parts of Absolute and Conditional with a beyond-time and beyond-space emphasis and makes it easier to research about providence in ancient and after-Islam Iran at introduction and basic content of Shahnameh. Undoubtedly, in fictional texts the statements uttered by the story characters are as important as those narrated by the narrator as advice during the story. From this perspective, there is no difference between Ferdowsi and Rumi. The narrator of pre-Islamic Iranian fictions such as Rumi does not narrate the story of previous nations from Quran, but skillfully incorporates a new form of the truth of monotheism in the form of old story and considers any saying but ‘monotheism’ as ‘Null’. The accomplishment of what is right and the word ‘monotheism’ always accompanied with the creation of epic and encouraging the culture of fighting with injustice in order to establish the justice. Therefore, every epic would be holy with the aim of giving information and establishing justice and fighting against ignorance. Shahnameh and Mathnavi also benefit from this feature of the holy epic, while Fedowsi tries to make human aware against internal and external tyranny but Mowlavi awares by creating a sense of revolution inside man, due to the fact that the epic occurs earlier than awareness, Mathnavi would be a masterpiece with the features of internal epic in which the concept of God’s desire and love leads to escaping from politics and having condolences with the enemy that just changes the nature of epic and has nothing to do with the truth of mystics. Current study used two resources of Shahnameh, the version of “Khaleghi Motlagh” and Masnavi, correctd by Nicholson and by using the library method tries to prove the mentioned claim and besides Mathnavi, benefited from “Fihemafih, writtings and “Shams Ghazaliyat”.

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