Journal of the stylistic of Persian poem and prose
volume Number 18، number In Volume 7، October 2025 ، issue Number 113

The Emergence of the Sacred in the Ghazals and Tales of Divan Shams

Elnaz Ebrahimi (Author in Charge), Hossein Ali Ghobadi

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Molānā Jalāl al-Dīn Balkhī is a master of storytelling and allegorical literature, making use of narrative both in the Masnavi and in his ghazals. What requires our attention is the difference in purpose, method, and logic of storytelling in the Divan-e Shams ghazals compared to his other works. We cannot approach stories in ghazals and lyrical literature with the same perspective we bring to the Masnavi and didactic literature. The ultimate aim of composing a story in these two realms is entirely different. In the former, the story emerges with a pre-determined meaning held by the author; form serves meaning, and the narrative is a vessel for expressing a meaning already defined in advance.In contrast, in the ghazal—particularly the mystical ghazal, which is a domain for the manifestation of the deepest rebellious human emotions and mystical insights—meaning is fluid, undefined beforehand, and intertwined with imagination and ecstasy. Its audience, unlike that of other didactic works, is not the general public, and the text itself contains no explicit explanations of the hidden symbols and allusions it holds. In this research, we aim to discover the origins and motivations of this symbolism, the pathways through which these symbols are formed, and how they manifest in the ghazal.

METHODOLOGY: In this study, drawing upon contemporary theories of literary criticism, we examine the text of ghazal-narratives on two levels: deep structure and surface structure. Adopting a descriptive-analytical approach, we employ a combined framework that sets Heidegger’s and Gadamer’s theories side by side to grasp the work as a whole. Then, to understand each individual element, we make use of close reading, and to explain Mawlānā’s encounter with the sacred within ghazal-narratives, we turn to Rudolf Otto’s perspective.

FINDINGS: This interpretive and analytical method does not lead to a definitive, final, and absolute meaning of the text. However, as it considers understanding to be an accumulative phenomenon that develops and evolves over time, it fosters the emergence of a fresh and profound perspective—one that analyzes the text in multiple layers and identifies the sacred as the central factor in shaping the symbolic system of these ghazal-narratives.

CONCLUSION: In the narrative ghazals of the Divan-e Shams, particularly in the symbolic ghazal-narratives, Rumi is influenced by the transcendent, the supreme, or the sacred. The encounter with the sacred leaves traces and signs within the narrative, among them the shift in the mode of address and the transformation of various forms of “I” into one another. In a straightforward, linear narrative, such a sign would be a deviation from the natural progression of the story. But in a symbolic narrative composed under the influence of an encounter with what lies beyond, it is a mark of the narrator’s mystical unveiling and illumination—as if they have lost themselves in the process, passed beyond the self, and returned to the self in another mode. Identifying each of these elements leads us to realize that this kind of ghazal should not be reduced to an ordinary story or narrative, nor should we mechanically extract only conventional narrative elements such as character and plot. Rather, we must understand and classify its symbols from the perspective of an encounter with the sacred.

Keyword
Molavi , Narrative sonnet , symbol , Hermeneutics , Sacred

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