Political Ethics in Sufi Poetry: Sanā’ī’s Ḥadīqat al-ḥaqīqah wa sharī‘at al-ṭarīqah as An Early Politico-Ethical Advice Manual

The role of Sufi poetry as a means of communicating political advice in medieval Iran—more specifically, during the Ilkhanid (1256-1335) and post-Ilkhanid period—has already been discussed by scholars. Little attention, however, has been paid to the political function of Sufi poetry in the pre-Ilkhanid period. The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate that Sanā’ī’s Ḥadīqat al-ḥaqīqah wa sharī‘at al-ṭarīqah, as the first significant mystical didactic mathnavī written in Persian in the court of the Ghaznavid ruler Bahrām Shāh (r.1117-1157), had the capacity to simultaneously convey esoteric knowledge as well as politico-ethical advice. Therefore, contrary to most treatments of Ḥadīqat al-ḥaqīqah, which consider the book to be a didactic mystical text, I will argue that the book should also be recognized as a manual of political advice. Giving a brief account of the narrative structure of the book, I will explain how Sanā’ī correlates the pre-Islamic idea of perfect kingship with the Sufi concept of Perfect Man. In my analysis, I will mainly focus on the way particular qualities and concepts that are essential to the Sufi doctrine are introduced in the first few chapters of Ḥadīqat al-ḥaqīqah and how they reappear amidst the anecdotal narratives cited in the later chapters—more specifically, the eighth chapter—of the work in which Sanā’ī praises Bahrām Shāh and other government officials. I will then demonstrate how the didactic anecdotes cited in the aforementioned chapter depict the perfect king and courtiers as figures who simultaneously encapsulate political resolve along with Sufi qualities. In my analysis of Bahrām Shāh’s depiction as a Sufi-king in Sanā’ī’s work, I will explain the similarities and differences between the idea of an archetypal Sufi-king—which appear in Sufi political texts, including Sanā’ī’s works—and the concept of the philosopher-king—which is reflected in a number of Persian historiographical sources and advice manuals for princes.