The Characteristics of Sufism in Yahya al-Qaisi’s Novel, the Forbidden Paradise

Abstract

This study examines the characteristics of Sufism in Yahya Al-Qaisi's novel Al-Firdaws Al-Muharram (The Forbidden Paradise) through analysing the language of Sufism in the text and its relationship to the fantastical and magical elements in the novel. It aims to reveal how the novel employs the mystical experience to reproduce religious and spiritual symbols, thereby presenting a metaphysical vision of man's journey in his quest for higher knowledge and spiritual absolutes.

The study employed a critical-analytical methodology grounded in semiotics and narrative theory. It decoded the symbolic system underlying the mystical discourse and examines how the interplay between Sufi tradition and contemporary narrative imagination generates multiple layers of meaning.

The findings indicate that the Sufi figures, such as Yusuf al-Majdhūb, Shaykh Nūr al-Dīn al-Ḥalabī, and Shaykh al-Muḥibbfunction as semiotic constructs representing spiritual awareness and metaphysical revelation, while the female characters, such as Amal and Patty, signify divine love, existential liberation, and cross-cultural spirituality. Furthermore, the incorporation of fantastic, marvelous, scientific, and surrealistic elements expands the novel’s metaphysical horizon beyond material reality, inviting a deeper philosophical and spiritual contemplation.