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Symbolism in Ibn Sina's Work: Interpretation of Initiation Stories
Vitásková, Magdaléna ; Kropáček, Luboš (advisor) ; Ostřanský, Bronislav (referee) ; Pirický, Gabriel (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to interpretate the stories The Living, son of the Vigilant, The Bird and Salaman and Absal, written by one of the greatest scholars of medieval Islamic East, Ibn Sina (980-1037). Unlike his philosophical and medical writings these stories have a different character and create a coherent narrative cycle. Based on their themes, narrative methods and symbolism they should be in my opinion called initiation stories. The main aim of this dissertation is thus to verify this hypothesis by means of the hermeneutic interpretation. These stories, read as a coherent cycle, show typical features of initiation genre: the hero can't find his way, his existential condition makes him desperate, he is consumed by strong desire for reaching a higher ontological degree, meets an initiator, goes through initiation rites of passage, crosses the border between the uninitiated and initiated space, reaches the final initiation through symbolic death. The interpretation of each of Ibn Sina's three writings reveals an inner coherence of the stories: The Living, son of the Vigilant focuses on the motive of an initiator-guide and the description of the stages on the initiation way leading upwards, The Bird tells in an emotional way about the state preceding the initiation and then concentrates on...
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Egyptian Mawlids in the Context of Contemporary Sufi Spirituality
Ostřanský, Bronislav
Mawlids – as many-sided religious and social phenomenon – have a long and uninterrupted tradition within Islam. Since uncertain beginnings which can be traced back to the 13th or 14th centuries until the present times their participants have been put together by the identical common motive – the will to express their respect, devoutness and loyalty to a certain saint (walī). Using the popular Muslim parable describing the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj), we might to state that ways and manners of wandering are different, but the Aim is just one. On the example of these religious celebrations we can clearly illustrate to what a degree Islamic mysticism and Muslim folk religiosity are closely interwoven until it is quite impossible study both of them separately (!). In general, celebrations of mawlids connect both religious and profane aspects and up to the present day belong to the most significant sources for our study of the contemporary popular Muslim (not only Egyptian) religiosity.
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