A Hermeneutic Comparative Analysis of Sufi Verse Narrativities: Contriving Meaning through Metaphorization and Personification in the Ghazals of Abadi and Niaz

Abstract

This study interprets Sufi narratives and perceptions of the participants to evaluate how metaphors and personifications are applied to add meaning to the text. The ghazals by Shad Azeem Abadi (Trans. Abadi, 2008) and Hazrat Shah Niaz (Trans. Sag-e-dar-Niaz, 2009), were selected to hold a dialogue between what was said and what was understood. For this purpose, the three tenets of the Hermeneutic approach i.e. hermeneutic situation, hermeneutic circle, and fusion of horizons, proposed by Gadamer (1994) were taken as a theoretical framework. The hermeneutic study explored the use of metaphors and personifications to unveil the hidden meaning of Sufi Kalaams. Twenty perceptions, ten for each ghazal, were selected for hermeneutic analysis of the ‘fusion of horizons’ to trail the influence of metaphors and personifications upon listeners apart from the musical form of these ghazals. Nevertheless, the poetic text has aroused personal stories and novel perspectives for some listeners as hermeneutics provides expediency to others’ perspectives, and whenever a text is interpreted something personally important emerges out of the text whenever the reader interprets it.