Behind the Veil of Language
The poetic legacy of Jalal-ud-din Rumi, as reflected in his magnum opus Mathnavi, is a literary monument to Sūfism‘s enduring power which allows it to transcend cultural and historical boundaries. Engaging with the past and anticipating future challenges, Rūmi enters into conversation with all poss...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Management and Technology
2018-10-01
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| Series: | Journal of Islamic Thought and Civilization |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.umt.edu.pk/index.php/JITC/article/view/105 |
| _version_ | 1818482896253485056 |
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| author | Bokhtar Bakozoda |
| author_facet | Bokhtar Bakozoda |
| author_sort | Bokhtar Bakozoda |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
The poetic legacy of Jalal-ud-din Rumi, as reflected in his magnum opus Mathnavi, is a literary monument to Sūfism‘s enduring power which allows it to transcend cultural and historical boundaries. Engaging with the past and anticipating future challenges, Rūmi enters into conversation with all possible strands of thought through poetic and metaphoric language. His coverage of the relationship between language and meaning predates, and in some instances, corresponds with all linguistic themes that would formthe core of European philosophy in twentieth century, subsequently labeled as the linguistic turn‖ in Social Sciences. Saussere‘s relational theory of language, Wittgenstein‘s ‗language games,‘ Gadamerian hermeneutics, French postmodernism, all these themes have been raised in one way or another within the overall scope of Mathnavi. Rūmi‘s ruminations on language are scattered throughout and interspersed with terse but deep poetic expressions within the manifold stories of Mathnavi. In the current paper, I intend to critically compare Rūmi and major representatives of European linguistic philosophy and highlight the commonalities and differences between them. This comparison is undertaken not to formulate Rūmi‘s notion of language per se in relation to European philosophy of language. References to language in Rūmi‘s poetry cannot be understood separately from his overall worldview defined by sūfism‘s main idea of the unity of being (vaḥ dat al-vujūd). Language is viewed through this idea as a powerful tool for tracing transcendental presence in a phenomenal world of ‗color and scent‘. The paper demonstrates Rumi‘s employment of the limitless capacity of language to ‗track‘ invisible traces of transcendental unity of being including the unity of religions.
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| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T11:52:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ae4f7d0e8af442fd9c63868ef92a242f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-0943 2520-0313 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T11:52:46Z |
| publishDate | 2018-10-01 |
| publisher | University of Management and Technology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Islamic Thought and Civilization |
| spelling | doaj.art-ae4f7d0e8af442fd9c63868ef92a242f2022-12-22T01:49:52ZengUniversity of Management and TechnologyJournal of Islamic Thought and Civilization2075-09432520-03132018-10-0182Behind the Veil of LanguageBokhtar Bakozoda 0School of Politics and International Relations, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China The poetic legacy of Jalal-ud-din Rumi, as reflected in his magnum opus Mathnavi, is a literary monument to Sūfism‘s enduring power which allows it to transcend cultural and historical boundaries. Engaging with the past and anticipating future challenges, Rūmi enters into conversation with all possible strands of thought through poetic and metaphoric language. His coverage of the relationship between language and meaning predates, and in some instances, corresponds with all linguistic themes that would formthe core of European philosophy in twentieth century, subsequently labeled as the linguistic turn‖ in Social Sciences. Saussere‘s relational theory of language, Wittgenstein‘s ‗language games,‘ Gadamerian hermeneutics, French postmodernism, all these themes have been raised in one way or another within the overall scope of Mathnavi. Rūmi‘s ruminations on language are scattered throughout and interspersed with terse but deep poetic expressions within the manifold stories of Mathnavi. In the current paper, I intend to critically compare Rūmi and major representatives of European linguistic philosophy and highlight the commonalities and differences between them. This comparison is undertaken not to formulate Rūmi‘s notion of language per se in relation to European philosophy of language. References to language in Rūmi‘s poetry cannot be understood separately from his overall worldview defined by sūfism‘s main idea of the unity of being (vaḥ dat al-vujūd). Language is viewed through this idea as a powerful tool for tracing transcendental presence in a phenomenal world of ‗color and scent‘. The paper demonstrates Rumi‘s employment of the limitless capacity of language to ‗track‘ invisible traces of transcendental unity of being including the unity of religions. https://journals.umt.edu.pk/index.php/JITC/article/view/105Rūmisūfismpoetrylanguagemeaningtranscendence |
| spellingShingle | Bokhtar Bakozoda Behind the Veil of Language Journal of Islamic Thought and Civilization Rūmi sūfism poetry language meaning transcendence |
| title | Behind the Veil of Language |
| title_full | Behind the Veil of Language |
| title_fullStr | Behind the Veil of Language |
| title_full_unstemmed | Behind the Veil of Language |
| title_short | Behind the Veil of Language |
| title_sort | behind the veil of language |
| topic | Rūmi sūfism poetry language meaning transcendence |
| url | https://journals.umt.edu.pk/index.php/JITC/article/view/105 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bokhtarbakozoda behindtheveiloflanguage |