Significance of Literary Taste in Sufi Terminologies Perception

AlFaky, Anas

doi:10.21608/mjoms.2025.400516

Significance of Literary Taste in Sufi Terminologies Perception

Author

Anas AlFaky

Professor in Arabic Department, Misr University for Science and Technology

10.21608/mjoms.2025.400516

Abstract

Islamic Sufism adherents have produced unique terminologies to picturesque their spiritual vibes, states, and trials encountered on their path to God (Allah) worship. Sufism is a purificatory spiritual path that begins with asceticism, and renunciation of materialistic desires, followed by sincere worship, fine morals, and God's love. and then ends with culminating in the manifestation or realization of God (Allah). In this state of manifestation, the Sufi may utter symbolic or metaphorical terminologies that may be misjudged by those unfamiliar with the spiritual nature of such language. It is salient that many scholars of Islamic Shari'ah have been quick to condemn Sufi poets who express themselves through the language of emotions, not intellect. on the other hand, great Islamic scholars and religious jurists have demonstrated a deep understanding and taste for the delight and yearning terminologies for god's love in Sufi poets. because Poetry particularly possesses a unique symbolic language recognized by those who have studied literature in any language worldwide. This paper demonstrates various Sufi terminologies, both poetic and prose, and illustrates their implicit intellectual intentions through the right literary taste. By considering the speaker's state and the semantic potential of words and phrases, the paper concludes that there is no inherent contradiction between the normative texts of Islamic Shari'ah and the spiritual states expressed through literary means.

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