Rumi’s Ontology: The Being and the World

Abstract

The present article aims to explore Rumi’s ontological approach to Being and World which is deeply impressed by mystical doctrines and practices of Islamic Sufism and the writings of his contemporary Islamic philosopher Ibn 'Arabi. Rumi finds all the components of creation as a manifestation of the unique manifestations of God, in which God has manifested as much as the talents of the creators. In Rumi's view, existence is a mirror in which God is constantly manifesting. Rumi finds all the components of the universe full of meaning and considers meaning as God. He calls on people in this field to read the meanings of different and diverse manifestations of existence with the foresight of the mind and inner purity. Although the question of Being was basically addressed in Heidegger’s seminal Being and Time, many questions and paradoxes were left unanswered and unresolved for him and his successors regarding the subject of Being. Despite Heidegger’s harsh onslaught on the pillars of western metaphysics, his Being and Time was more concerned with posing questions regarding the subject of Being rather than offering answers. The present paper by delineating Rumi’s ontological approach aims to broaden our horizons in the field of existential philosophy and offer a new and advanced perspective on dealing with the question of Being.