Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Fatemeh Forouzani ¹
• Yadollah Shokri ²
• Seyed Hassan abatabai ³

¹ PhD Student in Persian Language and Literature, Semnan University

² Associate Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Semnan University

³ Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Semnan University

Abstract

Imagination and related topics are among the subjects that attract attention in various sciences, including mysticism, philosophy, and literature. Rumi, as the greatest mystic poet of Iran, has addressed this topic in his invaluable Masnavi. This article aims to clarify the nature and quality of imagination and the place of the imaginal world in Rumi's thought by examining the faculty of imagination and the imaginal world in Masnavi. In this study, after mentioning the concept of imagination according to philosophers and mystics, the conceptual analysis of the imaginal world and the faculty of imagination in Masnavi was conducted. The results indicate that, like the philosophers, Rumi uses the term imagination in two meanings: connected imagination and separate imagination. In many of his theories about the imaginal world, he shares views with Ibn Arabi and Suhrawardi and believes in the immateriality of the imaginal world and its role in understanding and perceiving the truth.