The Esthetics of Rhetorical Formation in the Sufi Treatise: An Analysis of Abū al-Ma`ālī Sadr al-Dīn al-Qūnawī’s “The Most Perfect Means of Commencing One’s Approach to the Truth Almighty”

Abstract

This treatise was chosen for aesthetic and rhetorical analysis due to the condensed, picturesque, rhetorical language it employs. Such language enables the reader to identify the treatise’s distinctive poetic features and to formulate a partial approach to the poetics of Sufi treatises in general. The study consists of two focal points: (1) an analysis of al-Qūnawī’s style of verbal representation, which is marked by personification and embodiment, metaphor and simile, particularly those of a spatial, directional nature, and (2) an analysis of examples of rhetorical styles (rhymed prose, plays on words, etc.) which aim to generate a structure of balances and rhythms between syllables, words, and sentences, the result being a lilting text that harmonizes with the progression and expansion of the semantic rhythm and contributes to the text’s cohesiveness and consistency. Care is taken in the study to demonstrate the organic link between the treatise’s content and form, and between its aesthetic and semantic features and significance.