Nonverbal Communication in the Ghazals of Attar of Nishapur

Abstract

Persian mystical literature constitutes a profound medium for reflecting inner states and intuitive perceptions that conventional and everyday language is often constrained and inadequate in conveying fully. Attar of Nishapur is one of the most prominent pioneers of Persian mystical poetry, whose ghazals are replete with emotional manifestations and experiences of inward spiritual wayfaring. The present study aims to identify, classify, and conduct a semiotic analysis of the components of nonverbal communication in the ghazals of Attar of Nishapur. This fundamental research employs a descriptive-analytical method based on library research and documentary analysis. The theoretical framework of the study is grounded in an integration of layered semiotics, drawing on Barthes and Peirce, with theories of nonverbal acts, including visual communication, kinesics, vocal-paralinguistic signs, and silence. The findings indicate that nonverbal signs in Attar’s ghazals are not merely decorative elements or simple poetic images; rather, within the signifying system of his poetry, they function as indexical and symbolic signs. Through the deployment of body language—such as tears, the bending of the body, changes in facial complexion, the casting down of the head, and dance—nonverbal vocal signs such as sighing and lamentation, and acts of silence and closing the eyes, Attar realizes three fundamental functions: representing the inadequacy of verbal language in articulating the sacred, negating the wayfarer’s egohood, and expressing intuitive disclosure and mystical bewilderment. The results demonstrate that nonverbal communication in Attar’s ghazals operates as a semiotic mechanism through which the body of the mystical wayfarer becomes a text signifying the transcendent meanings of the mystical path.