The Sun Shining in a Mirror: Poetic Knowing in ʿIrāqī’s Lamaʿāt – Ilma Qureshi

This article argues that the form of a text matters as much as, if not more than, its content. Using Fakhr al-Din ‘Irāqī’s Lamaʿāt (Divine Flashes) as a case study, this article explores the significance of the poetic form and the role of the reader/listener in interpreting and experiencing the poem. The article argues that a close analysis of ʿIrāqī’s work reveals a careful deployment of literary devices and rhetorical strategies to induce an affective experience in the reader, which facilitates a distinct form of “knowing.” I argue that by shifting our focus from what a poetic work says to what it does, we can glimpse hitherto unappreciated varieties and textures of Islamic philosophy, broadly construed. This approach allows us to glean not only the meaning of the text but also how it moves the reader, drawing upon the reader’s full range of senses, imagination, and intellect.

The current special issue emphasizes that forms such as poetry and storytelling deserve significant consideration as vehicles for philosophical expression. While acknowledging that such forms were not the dominant mode of philosophical expres- sion in Islam, it remains the case that they were “an indispensable component of the tradition’s complex and variegated development in the classical and post-classical contexts” (Ben Hammed & Sartell, 2024, p. 170). This issue, therefore, aims to give due recognition to such forms of philosophical thinking.