Journal of Islamic Mysticism

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The belief in the exile of the soul from the spiritual origin to the lower world, and the belief in the need for the soul to return to its original homeland, is a common theme in the Gnostic and Sufism teachings. In this paper, the authors have adapted the various aspects of the issue of the exile of the soul to the esoteric thought of these two schools. In order to achieve this, explained the general framework of the Sufism and Gnostic views on exile of the soul firstly. Then, by analyzing the structure and theme of the two allegorical tales of "Hymn of the Pearl "and" the tale of the Western Exile" from the esoteric stories of the Gnostic and Islamic Sufism were identified the similarities and their differences. The result shows that the general understanding of the soul displacement and its exile from the spiritual world is a common ground in Gnostic and Sufi thought and is rooted in the intrinsic tendencies of the two schools. Therefore, it is better to look at these commonalities from overlap two teachings. However, according to the historical primacy of Gnostic thought over Sufism and the pivotal aspect of the discussion of the exile of the soul in the Gnostic works can be said, "Western Exile" and "Hayy Ibn Yaqdhan" of Avicenna or Masnavi‌'s Rumi in preamble have been relatively influenced by Gnostic teachings. Moreover, they have Gnostic structure some kind.

Keywords: Exile of the soul, Gnosticism, Sufism, Hymn of the Pearl, Western Exile

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