Romancing the Sufi: Persian Sufi Poetry under the Western Gaze

Iftikhar Shafi

Iftikhar Shafi Department of Philosophy University of Karachi, Pakistan

Keywords: Persian Sufi poetry, romanticism, Western gaze, Islamic Tradition, Rumi, Keats

Abstract

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The paper presents an argument against the problematic comparison of the Sufi poetry with Romanticism that is found among some of the most noted comparatists. It emphasizes the need to put both discourses within their corresponding traditional provenances for comparative purposes. The paper is divided into three sections. The first section traces some major milestones in the history of Western reception of the Persian Sufi poetry while questioning the hypothetical subsuming of the Sufi literary tradition, along with the Romantic, under the Platonic and the Neo-Platonic discourses. The second section deals with the religious provenance of Romanticism and its relationship with the Islamic tradition. The study maintains that it is the Islamic tradition that provides the theoretical framework for the Sufi literary practice. Finally, based upon the theoretical
discussion in the first two sections, the last section of the paper elaborates the underlying divergences between some apparently similar notions in Tasawwuf and Romanticism through closer reading of selected passages from Rumi, Keats, and Wordsworth.

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