MYSTICAL AND ARTISTIC INTERPRETATION OF THE NUMBERS 40, 10 AND 7 IN RELIGIOUS-SUFI SOURCES (ON THE EXAMPLE OF KHOREZM DASTANS)
Abstract
The article examines the mystical and artistic interpretation of the numbers 40, 10 and 7 in religious-Sufi sources and Khorezm epic dastans. The object of the study is the epic dastans of Khorezm — such as the “Go‘ro‘g‘li” cycle, “Oshiq G‘arib va Shohsanam”, “Yusuf va Ahmad” and “Sayyod va Hamro” — together with the religious-Sufi sources that form their artistic foundation (the Qur’an, Hadith, and the teachings of the Kubrawiyya, Yasawiyya and Naqshbandiyya orders). In classical Eastern artistic thought, numbers are treated not merely as quantitative markers but as semantic units that encapsulate the structure of the cosmos, the stages of the soul’s perfection, and the symbolic expression of divine order. The theoretical basis of the study combines the Pythagorean–Neoplatonic tradition, the science of abjad and jafr (letter–number correspondence), and the sources of Qur’anic revelation. The central thesis is that 40, 10 and 7 should be interpreted not in isolation but as three facets of a single spiritual system, representing, respectively, the temporal measure (trial and purification), the ethical-semantic completeness (the closure of the circle of perfection), and the spatial-hierarchical structure (the order of stations). This unity is substantiated through the Qur’anic verses of Surah al-A‘raf, where 30 and 10 are interpreted together as 40, and Surah al-Baqara, where 3 and 7 symbolically constitute the complete ten. The paper reveals the contribution of three Khorezmian Sufi orders: Kubrawiyya (ten principles, seven lights, chilla), Yasawiyya (chilla, chiltan, sixty-three) and Naqshbandiyya (wuquf-i adadi, numerical discipline in dhikr) to the development of numerical symbolism in Sufi thought. It is demonstrated that the numerical symbols in the dastans are not accidental but a systematic phenomenon nourished by living Sufi practice. The study draws on the methodological approaches of orientalists such as Annemarie Schimmel and Henry Corbin.
Full text article
References
Ahmad Yassaviy. (1992). *Devoni hikmat* [Divan of Wisdom]. Tashkent: Gafur Gulom Publishing.
Alisher Navoiy. (n.d.). *Mukammal asarlar to‘plami (Xamsa; Arba’in)* [Complete works]. Tashkent: Fan; Gafur Gulom Publishing.
Attar, F. al-Din. (1984). *The conference of the birds (Mantiq al-tayr)* (A. Darbandi & D. Davis, Trans.). London: Penguin.
Bashir, S. (2005). *Fazlallah Astarabadi and the Hurufis*. Oxford: Oneworld.
Böwering, G. (1994). *The mystical vision of existence in classical Islam and Central Asian Sufism*. Berlin & New York: De Gruyter.
Chittick, W. C. (1989). *The Sufi path of knowledge: Ibn al-‘Arabi’s metaphysics of imagination*. Albany: SUNY Press.
Corbin, H. (1994). *The man of light in Iranian Sufism*. New Lebanon: Omega Publications.
DeWeese, D. (1994). *Islamization and native religion in the Golden Horde: Baba Tükles and conversion to Islam in historical and epic tradition*. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
Djumaeva, S. (2024). *Meaning of the number and symbolism*. Tashkent. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10439365
Ikhwan al-Safa’. (2012). *On arithmetic and geometry (Rasa’il, I)* (N. El-Bizri, Ed. & Trans.). Oxford: Oxford University Press & Institute of Ismaili Studies.
Karomatov, H. (1993). *Qur’on va o‘zbek adabiyoti* [The Qur’an and Uzbek literature]. Tashkent: Fan.
Meier, F. (1957). *Die Fawa’ih al-gamal wa-fawatih al-galal des Nagm ad-din al-Kubra*. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner.
Mirzayev, T. (1979). *Xalq baxshilarining epik repertuari* [The epic repertoire of folk bakhshis]. Tashkent: Fan.
Nasr, S. H. (1993). *An introduction to Islamic cosmological doctrines*. Albany: SUNY Press.
Navoiy, A. (1996). *Mukammal asarlar to‘plami: 20 jildlik* [Complete works in 20 volumes] (Vol. 12). Fan.
Netton, I. R. (1982). *Muslim Neoplatonists: An introduction to the thought of the Brethren of Purity (Ikhwan al-Safa’)*. London: Allen & Unwin.
Nicholson, R. A. (Ed. & Trans.). (1925–1940). *The Mathnawi of Jalalu’ddin Rumi*. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Rašić, D. (2021). *The written world of God: The cosmic script and the art of Ibn ‘Arabi*. Oxford: Anqa Publishing.
Reichl, K. (1992). *Turkic oral epic poetry: Traditions, forms, poetic structure*. New York & London: Garland Publishing.
Ritter, H. (2003). *The ocean of the soul: Men, the world and God in the stories of Farid al-Din ‘Attar*. Leiden: Brill.
Schimmel, A. (1993a). *The mystery of numbers*. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schimmel, A. (1993b). *The triumphal sun: A study of the works of Jalaloddin Rumi*. Albany: SUNY Press.
Steigerwald, D. (2002). The multiple facets of Isma‘ilism. *Sacred Web, 9*, 77–87.
Trimingham, J. S. (1971). *The Sufi orders in Islam*. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Turdimov, Sh. (2020). Go‘ro‘g‘li dostonida initsiatsiya talqini [The interpretation of initiation in the Go‘ro‘g‘li doston]. *Oltin bitiglar (Golden Scripts), 3*, 27–37. (In Uzbek).
Zhirmunsky, V. M., & Zarifov, X. T. (1947). *Uzbekskiy narodnyy geroicheskiy epos* [The Uzbek folk heroic epic]. Moscow: OGIZ & Goslitizdat.
Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution International License
(CC BY 4.0).
Copyright © by author(s).