تمثیل اور جمالیاتی اسلوب کے ذریعے اخلاقِ نبوی ﷺ کی تشکیل: آثارِ عطار نیشاپوری کا تحقیقی و تجزیاتی مطالعہ

The Formation of Prophetic Ethics through Allegory and Aesthetic Style: A Research and Analytical Study of the Works of ʿAṭṭār Nīshāpūrī

Abstract

Allegory offers Persian Sufi literature a way to connect ethical instruction with imaginative experience. This article examines the relationship between allegorical representation, aesthetic expression, and Prophetic ethics in the works of Farid al-Din Attar of Nishapur. It considers how stories, symbolic characters, poetic images, and narrative situations present moral principles through literary form. The discussion is organized around four connected concerns: the literary conception of allegory, the allegorical representation of Prophetic character, the aesthetic qualities of expression, and the ethical and intellectual implications of interpretation. Using a qualitative literary and interpretive approach, the article reads the passages and accompanying explanations in relation to patience, trust in God, mercy, justice, humility, and practical responsibility. Particular attention is given to the movement from an outward narrative to an inward ethical significance. Characters and situations are considered as invitations to reflection rather than as substitutes for the religious sources underlying moral judgment. The analysis also explores how clarity of expression, verbal delicacy, and semantic depth contribute to the presentation of spiritual instruction. It argues that, within this interpretive framework, literary beauty and moral purpose are closely connected: a narrative can make an abstract principle accessible while leaving room for further contemplation. References to other Persian poets provide a comparative setting for the discussion of Attar’s pedagogical method. The article concludes that allegory can be read as a mediating form between religious ethical ideals and the reader’s imaginative engagement. Its account of reader response remains a literary interpretation of the text, rather than a measurement of actual changes in readers’ conduct or spiritual experience.