Equivalents for the Term “Spirituality” in Persian language

Previous Wim’s post  and Sam Harris’s opinion about the roots of the term spirituality persuaded me to write about some equivalents for spirituality in my language. It helps us to find out if the equivalents are really  equal in meaning with spirituality in western culture or not. I hope that this post can start a dialogue on the cultural differences in understanding spirituality.

However, there are two equivalents for the term spirituality in today’s Persian language. The first is Roohaniyat (Persian: روحانیت ) which comes from the term Rooh (Persian/Arabic: روح ) which is itself equivalent for Spirit or Soul. Like the term Spirituality, Roohaniyat has religious background and literary means having heavenly mood or manner. The close relation of the term with religion is clearer when we find that clergies called Roohani (spirituals) in today Iranian society.

The second Persian equivalent for spirituality is Ma’naviyat (Persian: مَعنَویّت ). It is closer to the modern sense of spirituality and widely used as a standard translation of it. Ma’naviyat has an Arabic root which is Ma’na (Persian/Arabic: مَعنی ) which literary means Meaning. Ma’na or inner meaning stands against outer form based on the dichotomy of every object to form and meaning in Islamic/Persian mysticism. In Persian mysticism, outer form of objects indicates a holy meaning which can be understood by believed persons only. Every object is a symbol of a holy meaning which is an attribute of God. In other words, Natural objects are the revelation of God’s attributes. For discovering this divine secret a type of knowledge (not in modern sense of knowledge) is needed. This knowledge is Irfan ( Persian/Arabic: عِرفان ).  Irfan is the literary equivalent word for mysticism in Persian or Arabic but it has a different sense from what mysticism brings to mind in western culture. Irfan has roots in Arabic verb Arafa (Arabic: عَرَفَ) which means to know or to find out. Obviously, it is different from the term mysticism which has roots in the term mystic which first of all brings to mind a sense of mysteriousness or obscurity or a relation to the world of supernatural beings..

The contrast between form and meaning is not limited to natural objects and all human acts or behaviors can be considered through this belief. For instance, from this viewpoint religion has an outer form which is Sharia –(Arabic/Persian: شَریعَة) which contains all religious orders such as praying or fasting, but this outer form has a holy meaning which can be understood only by believed persons (Sufis). The holy meaning of every terrestrial form connects this world to a holy metaphysical/angelic world. A world which every human act will receive a divine form (or body) in it and lives there with our divine being (Comparable with platonic philosophy). Therefore, Ma’naviyat means to be connected with the world of meanings by interpreting outer forms..

Another example for mentioned contrast is the Rumi’s masterpiece, Masnavi. The complete title of Rumi’s work is Masnavi Ma’navi which means “Spiritual Masnavi”. (Masnavi is a type of Persian poetry) Rumi’s Masnavi is a collection of stories about the everyday life of ordinary men and their behaviors. Rumi begins almost every part of his book with narrating a story as the outer form and continue with interpreting it for achieving the inner meaning. To me, this meaning is different from what I have explained before. Beside the metaphysical side of the term meaning, here the meaning is something more related to human behaviors and morality. In simple words, the moral meaning of our life has been focused here. Now, it seems that Rumi’s intention behind the use of the word Ma’naviyat must be more understandable for modern man than the supernatural understanding of spirituality. And maybe because of that reason nowadays, rumi’s poems are very popular.

I need your opinion, specially Wim’s opinion, to know that if secular/atheistic spirituality have a close meaning with Persian term Ma’naviyat or not?.