The History of the Ideas of “Absence” and “Presence” in the Khafīfīyya Order in Shiraz

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Tehran Institute of Human Sciences

2 Master of islamic history, Alzahra University, Tehran

Abstract

The Khafīfīyya Order is attributed to Ibn Khafīf, Sūfī of the fourth century AH (882/982) who lived and died in Shiraz. Absence (ghaybah) and Presence (ḥoḍūr) are basic ideas in the Ibn Khafīf's school and there is nothing left but brief statement of this attribution to Ibn Khafīf, the founder of the Khafīfīyya Order which has been briefly mentioned in the sources. Since no independent research has been done on Ibn Khafīf's social approaches, the main concern of this article is to examine the reason for the importance of the mentioned ideas in Ibn Khafīf's thought and how its meaning is inferred in this way. In this research, using Chandler's semiotic approach, the ideas of "absence/ presence" upon this method will be investigated. The results of this study show that IbThe Khafīfīyya Order is attributed to Ibn Khafīf, Sūfī of the fourth century AH (882/982) who lived in Shiraz. The concepts of Absence (ghaybah) and Presence (ḥoḍūr) are central ideas in Ibn Khafīf's school. However, the existing literature provides only a brief mention of this attribution to Ibn Khafīf, the founder of the Khafīfīyya Order. Given the lack of in-depth study on Ibn Khafīf's social approaches, this article seeks to elucidate the significance of mentioned ideas within Ibn Khafīf's intellectual framework and expound on the interpretation of their meanings. This research adopts Chandler's semiotic approach to delve into the ideas of "absence and presence" within context. The findings of this study reveal that Ibn Khafīf endeavored to show isolation and seclusion as different and sometimes even contradictory acts of abstinent (tark) from worldly matters.n Khafīf tried to show isolation and seclusion as different and even contradictory acts of abstinent (tark) from the world.

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