A TYPOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF MANAQIBS ABOUT UNNAMED SAINTS IN JALALUDDIN RUMI’S “MASNAWI-YI MANAWI”
This article provides a scholarly analysis of the anonymous saints mentioned in Jalal al-Din Rumi’s “Masnawi-yi Manawi.” The
purpose of the study is to demonstrate how Rumi constructs these anonymous figures not as individual historical persons, but as
universal spiritual types. In many stories, anonymous saints appear not as biographically identifiable individuals, but rather as
symbolic embodiments of spiritual perfection. Within the narrative structure of the Masnawi, anonymity serves as a narrative and
mystical device through which Rumi shifts the reader’s attention from “who the saint is” to “what spiritual state the saint
represents.” The poetic and conceptual mechanisms behind such typification are explained through typological, comparative and
semantic analyses, along with a content analysis of relevant manāqib literature. The findings indicate that Rumi replaces biography
with spiritual experience as the primary marker of sanctity; therefore, hagiographic anonymity is not a lack of information, but a
constructed universality. Within the metaphysical logic of the Masnawi, the omission of names reflects the Sufi principle of fanā’
(self-annihilation) and the erasure of ego. Consequently, this study substantiates that in Rumi’s poetic universe, anonymous saints
serve as key symbolic tools for creating a universal spiritual persona model that transcends historical identity.
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