A Genealogical Analysis of the Concept of “Fanā” in Islamic Sufism from the Early Centuries to the Safavid Period

Abstract

The concept of fanā is one of the most fundamental and complex notions in the history of Islamic Sufism, undergoing significant semantic, epistemological, and institutional transformations across different historical periods. The purpose of this study is to provide a genealogical analysis of the concept of fanā from the early Islamic centuries to the Safavid era and to examine its evolution within ascetic, mystical, literary, and political contexts. The study employs a descriptive-analytical method based on classical Sufi texts, works of theoretical mysticism, Sufi hagiographies, and sources related to Safavid religious culture and politics. The findings demonstrate that in its earliest stages, fanā primarily referred to the negation of the ego, abandonment of selfishness, and detachment from worldly attachments; however, it gradually developed into a mystical experience characterized by the dissolution of self-consciousness in the presence of the Divine. During the classical period, the concept was systematically formulated in relation to baqā, divine unity, mystical knowledge, and sainthood, while in the school of Ibn ʿArabī it acquired an ontological dimension in which fanā signified the disappearance of the illusion of independent existence. Persian mystical literature, especially in the works of Rumi, ʿAttār, and Shabistarī, also played a major role in transforming fanā into a cultural, symbolic, and love-centered concept. In the Safavid period, fanā was further reinterpreted in relation to Sufi institutions, Shiʿi religiosity, sainthood, and political authority. The study concludes that fanā is not a fixed or singular concept; rather, it is a multilayered historical construct shaped through the interaction of mystical experience, literary language, intellectual systems, and socio-political transformations.