Document Type : scientific-research
Author
Assistant Professor of the Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Tehran
Abstract
This study employs an analytical-comparative approach to investigate the phenomenon of extensive intertextual appropriation between two key works of sixth-century Hijri Persian mystical prose: Rashīd al-Dīn Meybudī’s Kashf al-Asrār wa ʿUddat al-Abrār and Aḥmad Samʿānī’s Rawḥ al-Arwāḥ fī Sharḥ Asmāʾ al-Malik al-Fattāḥ. Despite their composition within the same decade (520–529 AH/1126–1135 CE), a substantial degree of textual correspondence—extending to verbatim repetition of phrases and sentences—is observed between the two texts. By compiling numerous pieces of evidence, the article categorizes and analyzes the various modes of appropriation evident in Rawḥ al-Arwāḥ from Kashf al-Asrār, including “verbatim,” “amplificatory,” “abbreviatory,” “transpositional,” and “composite” types. Taking into account criteria such as the historical precedence of Kashf al-Asrār, its significantly larger volume, the stylistic affinity of both works to the school of Khwājah ʿAbdullāh Anṣārī, and the unlikely possibility of scribal intervention accounting for these commonalities, the preliminary conclusion suggests a strong probability that Aḥmad Samʿānī extensively appropriated material from Meybudī’s work in composing his own. This research exemplifies the intricate nature of intertextual relations and the methodologies of textual re-creation within the tradition of Persian mystical prose.
This study employs an analytical-comparative approach to investigate the phenomenon of extensive intertextual appropriation between two key works of sixth-century Hijri Persian mystical prose: Rashīd al-Dīn Meybudī’s Kashf al-Asrār wa ʿUddat al-Abrār and Aḥmad Samʿānī’s Rawḥ al-Arwāḥ fī Sharḥ Asmāʾ al-Malik al-Fattāḥ. Despite their composition within the same decade (520–529 AH/1126–1135 CE), a substantial degree of textual correspondence—extending to verbatim repetition of phrases and sentences—is observed between the two texts. By compiling numerous pieces of evidence, the article categorizes and analyzes the various modes of appropriation evident in Rawḥ al-Arwāḥ from Kashf al-Asrār, including “verbatim,” “amplificatory,” “abbreviatory,” “transpositional,” and “composite” types. probability that Aḥmad Samʿānī extensively appropriated material from Meybudī’s work in composing his own. This research exemplifies the intricate nature of intertextual relations and the methodologies of textual re-creation within the tradition of Persian mystical prose.
Keywords
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