AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF RUMI WITH REGARD TO THE DOCTRINES OF PANTHEISM AND PANENTHEISM

Abstract

Reading Rumi’s oeuvre, one could see many trends the gist of which could be absolutely perplexing. Many have argued that his work shows a doctrine which considers God and all his creation as a whole intricate entity, namely they could be formed into one whole which is named the doctrine of pantheism by most scholars of Rumi. His works have been analyzed as the work of someone who considers universe and the surrounding world as totally in and of itself. This paper tries to further analyze this view and argues that this issue can be studied in some different terms, meaning the doctrine of panentheism. This doctrine, on one hand points out that all universe and its beings have been created by God, and on the other hand they all form one entity. Therefore, universe is part of God and at the same time apart from it. Lastly, through this viewpoint, one could thrive to reach the grace of God and pass over this mundane world by setting some steps to reach at the everlasting reality