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" Seeing God with both eyes: Asceticism, ascension and poetry in the Makhzan al-asrar of Nizami Ganjavi (d. 1209) "
Matthew R. Hotham
Ernst, Carl W.
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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804321
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| Doc. No
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TL49147
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| Call number
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1855945458; 10245879
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| Main Entry
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Harris, Mariam
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| Title & Author
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Seeing God with both eyes: Asceticism, ascension and poetry in the Makhzan al-asrar of Nizami Ganjavi (d. 1209)\ Matthew R. HothamErnst, Carl W.
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| College
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The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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| Date
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2016
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| field of study
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Religious Studies
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| student score
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2016
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| Page No
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327
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| Note
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Committee members: Flatt, Emma; Hammer, Juliane; Losensky, Paul; Safi, Omid
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| Note
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Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-1-369-46747-5
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| Abstract
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This dissertation investigates the role of the body in medieval Sufism through an analysis of the portrayals of human, animal and prophetic bodies in the first of Nizami Ganjavi’s <i>Masnavi</i> poems, the <i> Makhzan al-asrar</i>. Though the nature of Nizami as poet, mystic, ethicist, and scientist has been a topic of debate for several decades, barely discussed in this ongoing conversation is the first poem in his <i>Quintet</i>, the <i>Treasury of Mysteries</i>. A mystico-ethical text, it was emulated in both meter and structure by a vast number of Persian poets after him. In spite of its immense popularity and importance, this poem, especially its long introductory sections, are often overlooked in contemporary scholarship. This is in part because they challenge long-held but problematic definitions of Sufism as an antinomian tendency within Islam that is primarily interested in human love as a metaphor for divine proximity. This dissertation argues that these texts can, as Scott Kugle and Shahzad Bashir have pointed out, become sources for learning about medieval Sufi habitus—as sedimented sources of religious mores, bodily comportments, social relations, history, science, and meaning. As such, this dissertation will challenge previous characterizations of medieval Sufism by investigating the importance of bodily practice in a significant medieval poem.
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| Subject
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Medieval literature; Religion; Islamic Studies; Ethics; Interpersonal relationships; Persian language; Poetry; Learning; Metaphor; Conversation
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| Descriptor
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Language, literature and linguistics;Philosophy, religion and theology;Social sciences;Ganjavi, Nizami;Makhzan al-asrar;Medieval Sufi habitus;Sufism;Treasury of Mysteries
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Ernst, Carl W.
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| Added Entry
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Religious StudiesThe University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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