SÛFÎ HİKAYELERİNDE (MENKIBELERİNDE) KADIN TASAVVURU

Abstract

The sufi stories used by the sufis in public education have a considerable impact on society. The depiction of women in these stories is an important criterion for determining the perception of the sufis regarding women. At the same time, these stories shape the societies' perception of women in which they are told. The women mentioned in the sufi sagas can be historical figures whose identities are known, as well as anonymous story heroes. When the sagas are considered in general, it is seen that a positive language is used about female sufis. So much so that these ladies used very dominating statements in their dialogues with the prominent male sufis in the history of sufism and put forward their claims about taqwa and zuhd. Even, their superiority was admitted by male sufis themselves. However, in advice-oriented stories where imaginary heroines are mentioned, the woman is used as the symbol of the nafs, which represents the dark side of the human soul. Meaning is important in symbolism, and interpreting that the woman is humiliated in such stories results from the inability to grasp the logic of the symbolic language. In the Islamic sufism, the nafs is the trainable side of the person, and the evolution of the nafs is explained through heroines, as in the story of Joseph and Zuleika. In the story of Leylâ and Mecnun, the woman is depicted as a means of reaching the Divine for a person. Because the woman is also the reflection of the absolute beauty onto this realm. In addition, in line with the motto, "he who knows himself (nafs) knows his Creator", in knowing one's self, the woman must be the mediator for the man and vice versa.