Divine Beauty and Majesty Reflected in Persian Discourse: A Metalinguistic Interpretation جمال و جلالِ الٰہی در آینۂ سخنِ فارسی: ایک مابعداللغوی تعبیر

Abstract

This study examines how the dual dimensions of Divine Beauty (jamāl) and Divine Majesty (jalāl) are articulated, symbolized, and linguistically mediated within the vast tradition of Persian literary discourse. Moving beyond conventional thematic or stylistic readings, the research proposes a metalinguistic approach—one that considers not only what Persian texts say about the Divine, but how the very structures of language, rhetoric, and poetic form participate in representing transcendence. Drawing from classical Persian poetry—particularly the works of Rūmī, Ḥāfiẓ, ʿAṭṭār, Jāmī, and others—the study explores how linguistic binaries, aesthetic patterns, phonetic textures, and rhetorical oppositions function as mirrors for expressing the asymmetrical yet complementary realities of Divine Beauty and Majesty. The research further investigates how lexical choices, metaphorical architectures, and semantic tensions convert abstract theological concepts into sensorial and affective experiences. Within this framework, the paper argues that Persian literature is not merely a passive container for metaphysical ideas but an active site where language becomes a dynamic locus for negotiating the balance between tenderness and awe, nearness and transcendence, intimacy and grandeur.  The metalinguistic analysis highlights that the aesthetic strategies of Persian discourse—such as paradox, semantic layering, rhythmic variation, and symbolic duality—serve as linguistic embodiments of the Divine attributes they describe. Ultimately, the study demonstrates that Persian literary tradition offers a unique hermeneutical space where the metaphysics of the Divine is inseparable from the poetics of expression.