Abstract
Reuven Snir's article is concerned with a relatively recent trend in Arabic poetry, viz., the use of sufi concepts, terms and images in the expression of diverse modern perceptions, individual and universal alike. The author analyses Salah 'Abd al-Sabur's poem 'The Little God' (published in al-Nas fi Biladi, Beirut 1951), which has as its main theme the mystical union with God. In order to demonstrate the affinity that exists between the poetic and the mystical experiences as these are percieved by a prominent representative of this trend, Snir gives a line-by-line interpretation of the poem. The mystical experience underlying the poem does not find expression through specifically Islamic terms and images but is reflected as a general, almost universal, human tendency. The second stanza describes the three stages of the sufi path: via purgativa, via illuminativa and via unitiva. The fifth and final stanza laments the eventual separation between the poet and God.
Translated title of the contribution | Mysticism without Tasawwuf: a new reading of 'Abd al-Sabur's poem 'The little god' |
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Original language | Arabic (Israel) |
Pages (from-to) | pp. 129-144 (Arabic section) |
Journal | الكرمل al-Karmil: Studies in Arabic language and literature |
Volume | 6 |
State | Published - 1985 |
IHP Publications
- ihp
- Arabic poetry -- 1801-
- God in literature
- Sufism
- ʻAbd al-Ṣabūr, Ṣalāḥ