A Comparative Study of Mystical Experience in Bunyan s Pilgrim s Progress & Attar s Seven Valleys of Love in Hermeneutic Framework

Two major works of literature, John Bunyan s Pilgrim s Progress and Attar s Seven Valleys of Love, display a number of strikingly similarities, in addition to a number of prominent differences. This paper tries to shed light on similarities and differences of mystical experience between these two works; therefore , the subject matter of both works are compared. This paper discusses about the origin of the mystical experience, their similarities with Neo-Platonic s mysticism and based non Hermeneutic point of view. The result shows that both authors used journey as an figurative element that it s a mean for self-recognition. In these two books characters quest a spiritual journey that in this pilgrim they leave worldly delights and try to reach the Truth, and charecters present as true human personalities through their names and appearances; Meanwhile the ideas which each author attampts to convey to his readers differ from each other. Bunyan s Pilgrim s Progress shows the Christian and Puritan influences in English literature, while Attar s Seven Valleys of Love is influenced by Islamic and Sufism values and principles of his period

Keywords:

journey , mysticism , Sufism , Christian , Seven Valleys of Love , Hermeneutic