THE SUFI-IRFANIC INTERPRETATION AND ARTISTIC-PHILOSOPHICAL FUNCTIONALITY OF ANIMAL IMAGERY IN THE STORIES OF MASNAVI-YI MA’NAVI

Abstract

Jalal al-Din Rumi’s Masnavi-yi Ma’navi is not only a pinnacle of the artistic and aesthetic achievements of classical Eastern literature but also an encyclopedic legacy of profound artistic reflection on Sufi philosophy. The poetic system of the work is constructed through symbolic and metaphorical imagery, among which animal figures occupy a particularly significant place. While animal characters in classical literature have predominantly served didactic and allegorical purposes, often being limited to symbolizing specific human traits, in Rumi’s poetics they become multilayered semiotic signs that express the complex system of Sufi ontology.

This paper examines the Sufi-irfanic interpretation of animal imagery in the stories of Masnavi-yi Ma’navi, its artistic and philosophical functionality, and its typological relationship with the traditions of classical Eastern literature. The scholarly significance of this study lies in its systematic examination of animal imagery in Rumi’s poetics as an independent object of research, clarifying its semantic multilayeredness and polyphonic nature.

The study was conducted through an integrated application of comparative-historical, hermeneutic, and comparative-typological methods of analysis. The methodology of layered reading made it possible to reveal the polysemy of Sufi texts and the relationship between their exoteric and esoteric dimensions. In addition, semiotic analysis was employed to identify the function of animal imagery as a system of signs.