A comparative study of the interpretation model of Hafez Divan's sonnets from the verses of the Holy Quran with Schleiermacher's hermeneutics

Academic thesis for obtaining a master's degree

Field: Persian language and literature

Abstract

Hermeneutics is a knowledge that deals with the understanding of a work and tries to provide a way to better understand the work by criticizing the methodological understanding. Schleiermacher, the father of modern Protestant theology, established a new form of intuitive experiential interpretation of the covenants in the West. Due to the depth of thought, the breadth of the lofty mystical themes of Diwan Hafez and its great influence from the verses of the Holy Quran, and with the aim of finding the common points of these two Christian and Muslim thinkers - in the West and the East - we have conducted a comparative study of the verses of Diwan Hafez, most of which are influenced and taken from the verses of the Holy Quran, using a research-analytical method. In this research, it has been shown that there is a common point between the views of Hafez and Schleiermacher, because both thinkers have paid attention to the heavenly book, the Testaments, and the Qur'an through hermeneutic inference, and Hafez has paid attention to the major topics of philosophical hermeneutics in his poems and has actually engaged in interpretation. Hermeneutics has introduced the West into the holy books. :

There is no doubt that any kind of knowledge and mental stock of a poet is reflected in his poetry, whether he likes it or not, because in fact, what shapes his spiritual personality is the same knowledge, experiences and learnings that he acquires over time and throughout his life. Poetry, in addition to expressing emotions and feelings, is a translation of the knowledge and learnings of the poet, especially when these knowledges and learnings are connected with firm religious beliefs and issues that the poet has connected from the heart, accepted and became a believer in them, in which case his poetry will also be a clear image of his religious opinions and beliefs.

A large part of rich and fertile literature. Ancient Persian is of this type, and we can boldly say: If someone is alien to religious topics, news, religious hadiths, and interpretations of the Qur'an, he will not be able to fully benefit from the wide and blessed reading of Persian literature and benefit from its bounty. Because without standing and knowing about such issues and topics, it becomes impossible to understand many songs and poems of great poets.  This ruling does not only apply to Persian literature. Many works of European poets were also influenced by religious issues and issues, and the reader of these works cannot escape, except to be aware of and focus on specific religious issues and issues that the poet or writer was influenced by. Dante's Divine Comedy and John Milton's Paradise Lost are of this type, and the reader of these two works is without full knowledge of the contents of the Bible, especially the issues and issues that are contained in this book about creation and resurrection. It cannot reach the author's intention.            But this issue is more visible in Persian poetry and literature. Divan of our great orators such as Khaqani and Nizami, Nasir Khosrow, Saadi and others are a true witness to the correctness of their speech, because the reflection of Quranic verses and prophetic news and hadiths is clearly evident in them. Mawlavi and Hafez have a brighter face in this respect. Mawlavi is strongly influenced by Hafez's religious news and hadiths in composing his famous Masnavi. He is a master teacher in extracting and adapting the verses of the Quran. He has a special affinity with this heavenly holy book, and as he himself mentioned in Ghazal No. 94, he has memorized it with fourteen narrations:

"Your love reaches the cry of your own heart, read the Quran with fourteen narrations"

What has been collected is an effort and research. About the presentation of manifestations of the Qur'an and Hadith in the poems of Divan Hafez and its comparative comparison with hermeneutic concepts, especially Schleiermacher's hermeneutic, the choice of this topic expresses the most important principle in our lives, namely the Qur'an and Hadith, which learning is very useful for solving the problems of Muslims.

1-2 statement of the problem:

One ??of the concerns of contemporary literary researchers is to draw the intellectual model of mystics and poets of Iranian literature, the study of the works of two great thinkers of the world, Hafez Shirazi (727-792 AH) and German Schleiermacher (1768-1834 AD) showed similarities in their work methods. It led us to research in the present field, and that is the affinity that can be seen between Hafez's interpretations and Schleiermacher's hermeneutics.

Hermeneutics is a science that deals with the "process of understanding a work" and examines how to receive meaning from various phenomena of existence, including speech, behavior, written texts, and works of art. By criticizing methodology, hermeneutics tries to provide a way to "better understand" phenomena; Although a group of hermeneutics theorists are against the creation and explanation of "method" in the path of understanding and consider "understanding" to be an event that cannot be measured and methodized. In simpler words, the science of hermeneutics seeks to find an answer to the question of whether there is a method and a solution so that the readers of a text or the viewers of a work of art, by applying that method, achieve a fixed and specific meaning of that work or text; Or that the understanding of each audience is specific to him and is different from another. In front of the word hermeneutic, the word "interpretation" or "taweel" is mostly used, although these two words are not suitable translations for the word hermeneutic.

Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (1768-1834) was a German Protestant philosopher and theologian. He is considered the pioneer of modern hermeneutics. Due to his positive influence on later Christian thought, he is considered the father of modern Protestant theology. Schleiermacher was one of the founders of Berlin University (1808-1810) along with Humboldt. He taught at this university until the end of his life.

Friedrich Schleiermacher, the father of hermeneutics, raises serious doubts about the objectivity of the biblical text. But the responsibility of completing this task fell to Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), the main thinker of postmodernism, and he started with the theory that language does not have the ability to convey the ultimate truth. He put forth the idea that all that is left for us is merely interpretation.

Schleiermacher's works include "Christian Faith" which is considered as his new understanding of Christianity, as well as "Religion" - which includes speeches addressed to intellectual deniers - in which he tries to find a place for religion among educated German intellectuals, most of whom had turned away from the official faith. 

     Schleiermacher has a point of view in interpreting the Bible, which is our main topic in this thesis. He believes in a form of intuitive interpretation that is based on the visual experience of the interpreters. An intuitive model based on religious experience can be seen in the mystical interpretations, especially the interpretations that Hafez presents of the Qur'anic verses in his works. Q. is one of the famous speakers of the world. Most of his poems are ghazals, which are known as Hafez's ghazals. He is known as one of the most important influences on poets after him. In the 18th and 19th centuries, his poems were translated into European languages ??and his name somehow made its way to the literary circles of the Western world.

    Hafez's divan, which consists of about 500 ghazals, an ode, two masnavis, several pieces and a number of quatrains, has been published more than four hundred times in different forms and methods, in Persian and other languages ??of the world.