Abstract
Sufi ideas exerted a great influence on nearly every aspect of traditional Malay literature of the late 16th to the 17th century. Not only Malay literary practice of that age owed much to the Sufi inspiration, equally important is the fact that Sufism brought to life a pre-modern Malay literary theory including, inter alia, fundamental concepts of literary aesthetics. On the basis of a poem by Hamzah Fansuri and Sufi allegories Hikayat Inderaputera and Hikayat Si Burung Pingai the article investigates the Sufi doctrine of imagination as a particular world all of its own, the “aesthetics of light” expressed through specific illumination of portrayed events and “lighting effects”, and the “aesthetics of ecstasy” communicated through acoustic and olfactory images. By embodying these aesthetics in the “flesh and blood” of literary works, their creators not only managed to reveal Sufi doctrines with more clarity and beauty, but also let their audience experience them both intellectually and emotionally. Keyword : Sufism, Hamzah Fansuri, literary aesthetic, Hikayat Metaphysics.
Highlights
It is difficult to overestimate the impact of the Sufi world-outlook on traditional Malay culture and literature in general, and Malay literature of the 17th century, which is often aptly called “the age of Sufis” in particular
Sufism brought forth both the genre of systematic treatises in Malay, which substantially influenced the intellectual life of the Malay society, and the genre of belletristic Sufi allegories, which, inter alia, greatly contributed to Malay ideas of the beautiful
Together with new ideas of God, man, world and their inter-relations, these genres brought into Malay literature fundamental concepts of Islamic poetics and literary aesthetics in their Sufi form
Summary
It is difficult to overestimate the impact of the Sufi world-outlook on traditional Malay culture and literature in general, and Malay literature of the 17th century, which is often aptly called “the age of Sufis” in particular. We should turn to the concept of the world of imagination with which Sufism enriched Malay culture and which became one of the foundations of the Malay teaching of the creative process According to both Sufi texts and introductions to a number of literary works, the general content or meaning of the piece of literature constitutes the sum total of images of individual things, which are visible by the inner sight. These images abide – or rather shine – in the world of imagination (alam misal, alam hayal). This world occupies an intermediary position between the world of bodies and the world of spirits and exists in both the macrocosm, that is the Universe, and the microcosm, that is the soul of a human being
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