Multimedia, agency, and subjectivity: Rumi, ‘Aṭṭār, and Hegel’s Orientalist sublime

At the climax of Persian mysticism if not the entire Muslim world, Rumi (1207–1273) is also the most widely read Persian poet across the globe. Rumi was deeply influenced by his predecessor in mystical Persian poetry, ʿAṭṭār (1145–1221). The current article studies the significance of Rumi’s lyrical subject in terms of subjectivity, individuality, and agency in the path of sulūk, the journey of self-development, as formulated by ʿAṭṭār and in Persian mysticism more widely. The aim is to provide an explanation for the Romantics’ Orientalist reception of the Persian mystic subject and for the interpretation of G. W. F. Hegel (1770–1831) in particular, who connected Rumi’s lyrical subject to the sublime through the total renunciation of individuality in annihilation. The article analyzes why Hegel’s claims bear Orientalist and colonialist significance and how such Orientalist readings had a lasting effect on the understanding of Persian mystic poetry. In addition to studies of Orientalism, the present work contributes to the current scholarly discourses on subjectivity in Persian mysticism in Rumi and ʿAṭṭār’s poetry.