Hermeneutic Analysis of Sharia in the Works of Muslim Philosophers and Persian-Language Poets

Abstract

This study aimed to provide a hermeneutic analysis of the concept of Sharia in the works of Muslim philosophers and Persian-language poets. The central issue of the study is that Sharia in the Islamic intellectual tradition has not been understood merely as a collection of legal rulings and external obligations, but has also been associated with reason, ethics, knowledge, love, and spiritual experience at deeper levels. The research adopted a descriptive-analytical method, and the data were collected through the study and analysis of philosophical, mystical, and literary texts. The findings showed that Muslim philosophers interpreted Sharia in relation to reason, prophecy, felicity, and human perfection, regarding it as the practical and social form of truth. The results also demonstrated that Persian-language poets reinterpreted Sharia through the concepts of love, sincerity, self-purification, and the critique of externalism, revealing its inner dimensions through symbolic and mystical language. Comparative analysis indicated that both the philosophical and poetic traditions, despite their differences in language and method, emphasized the necessity of connecting the outward and inward dimensions of Sharia and viewed it as a path toward existential transformation. The study concludes that the Islamic tradition possesses extensive hermeneutic capacities for understanding the multilayered nature of Sharia, and these capacities can contribute to rethinking the relationship between religion, meaning, ethics, and human experience in the contemporary world.