تأویلِ باطن و تاویلِ لفظ: قرآن فہمی میں فارسی صوفیانہ روایت کا کردار

Inner Hermeneutics and the Semantics of Exegesis: The Role of the Persian Sufi Tradition in Qur’anic Understanding

Abstract

This study explores the distinctive hermeneutical role of the Persian Sufi tradition in shaping approaches to Qur’anic understanding, focusing particularly on the dynamic interplay between taʾwīl al-bāṭin (esoteric interpretation) and taʾwīl al-lafẓ (semantic and lexical interpretation). While classical Islamic scholarship has long maintained a balance between exoteric and esoteric readings, the Persian Sufi intellectual and poetic corpus provides a unique synthesis in which linguistic nuance, symbolic imagination, and spiritual ontology converge to form a multilayered exegetical model.  Drawing on seminal Persian Sufi texts—such as those by Rūmī, ʿAṭṭār, Najm al-Dīn Kubrā, Ismāʿīl Ḥaqqī Bursawī, and the School of Khurasān—the study examines how esoteric insight interacts with lexical precision to create interpretations that transcend literal boundaries without detaching from the Qur’anic linguistic structure. The research highlights how Persian Sufi authors employed metaphor, symbolic inversion, rhythmic diction, and semantic layering to reveal spiritual depths encoded within Quranic vocabulary. In this tradition, language becomes both veil and unveiling, enabling the reader to transition from the textual surface to inner realities. The paper argues that Persian Sufi hermeneutics does not negate the outward meanings but reconfigures them as portals toward spiritual cognition. By integrating linguistic sensitivity with experiential spirituality, this tradition advances a holistic mode of Qur’anic comprehension that unites word, meaning, and metaphysical vision.