A Discourse Representation Model in Intellectual Wayfaring: A Semiotic Analysis of the Allegorical Spaces of Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān and Its Connection to Avi

Introduction
Ibn Sīnā’s Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān is a foundational symbolic-philosophical treatise where natural spaces (the seven climes, springs, Mount Qāf, light, and darkness) function as a system of signs representing a mystical-philosophical discourse. The study addresses how the referential structure transforms natural spaces into an epistemic-wayfaring domain. The main objective is to provide an operational model-combining Discourse Representation Theory (DRT) with Islamic rhetorical concepts of majāz (tropology) and mathal (parable)-to analyze intra-discursive reference and extra-linguistic symbolic layers. The hypothesis posits that the referential system rests on three pillars: discursive referent fluidity via domain updating, epistemic-ethical accessibility tied to spiritual purity, and the dual interaction of majāz and mathal.
Literature Review
While scholars like Ghulām-Ḥusayn Ibrāhīmī Dīnānī and Shahrām Pāzūkī have extensively analyzed the content and mystical themes of Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān (such as the soul’s ascent), their approaches focus primarily on allegorical content rather than the referential structure and meaning production within a discursive context. Furthermore, while cognitive linguistic and semantic studies exist for Western allegories, applying formal frameworks like DRT to Islamic philosophical texts remains largely unexplored (with minor exceptions like Akbarī-Chihra-Burqī, 2018). This research addresses the gap by combining DRT with majāz and mathal, offering an operational model applicable to Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān and similar Islamic philosophical-allegorical texts.
Research Method
This research employs a semiotic-discursive method combining Discourse Representation Theory (DRT) with the Islamic rhetorical concepts of majāz (tropology) and mathal (parable). To overcome standard DRT’s limitations in analyzing allegorical texts (such as overlooking extra-linguistic references and metaphor), majāz and mathal serve as discursive operators that transform natural referents into an epistemic-mystical domain. The proposed model is systematically applied to analyze three spatial categories: climatic, water, and boundary spaces.
Research Findings
The analysis of symbolic spaces in Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān shows three fundamental features in its referential system:
A) Fluidity of discursive referents: Natural spaces transform from spatial referents into philosophical-mystical domains through gradual domain updating and epistemic conditions, aligned with the five Avicennian stages of perception from darkness to the Active Intellect.
B) Epistemic-ethical accessibility: Standard DRT’s syntactic accessibility is insufficient; access to central referents like Mount Qāf requires epistemic and ethical conditions (soul purification, divine assistance, and knowledge), intertwining cognitive ascent with spiritual purity.
C) Dual interaction of majāz and mathal: Each natural space in this treatise performs two simultaneous rhetorical functions: it acts as majāz, where terms like “clime” or “light” refer to epistemic concepts rather than literal ones, and as mathal, representing imperceptible truths (e.g., connection to the Active Intellect) through perceptible forms (e.g., mountain or water). This interaction extends beyond individual words to the entire narrative, where the wayfarer’s journey itself becomes a majāz for intellectual progress and a mathal for spiritual wayfaring. Within the DRT framework, majāz and mathal function as discursive operators that transform natural referents into an epistemic-mystical domain.
Conclusion
The present research, with the aim of presenting an operational model for analyzing the referential structure of symbolic spaces in Ibn Sīnā's Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān, has employed the combination of Discourse Representation Theory (DRT) with two key concepts of Islamic rhetoric, namely majāz and mathal. The findings show that the referential system in this treatise is based on three fundamental features: fluidity of discursive referents, epistemic-ethical accessibility, and the dual interaction of majāz and mathal.
The answer to the main research question of how symbolic spaces in this treatise undergo transformation from natural referents into a mystical-philosophical discursive domain is that this transformation occurs through the gradual updating of the discourse domain and the addition of mystical-philosophical conditions to natural referents. In other words, each place initially enters the domain with natural conditions, i.e., geographical spatial conditions with physical characteristics, but as the narrative progresses, new conditions—namely epistemic and wayfaring conditions—are added to it, transforming it into a referent for transcendental concepts. This process at the rhetorical level can be explained by the interaction of majāz, i.e., passage from the outward to the inward, and mathal, i.e., representation of imperceptible truth in perceptible form, and at the philosophical level is consistent with key concepts of Avicennian philosophy such as the stages of knowledge, the Active Intellect, intuition, connection, and intellectual wayfaring. These findings, in addition to clarifying the epistemic structure of Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān, have important theoretical implications for Discourse Representation Theory and Islamic philosophy studies. First, they show that DRT, despite its formal power in analyzing intra-discursive references, needs revision and completion for analyzing texts in which an extra-linguistic symbolic system such as majāz and mathal is also active. In particular, the concept of accessibility in this theory must be extended from the syntactic-discursive domain to the epistemic-ethical domain in order to analyze texts in which access to referents is contingent upon spiritual and ethical conditions. Second, this research showed that DRT, if completed with the rhetorical concepts of the Islamic tradition, can become an interdisciplinary framework for analyzing allegorical and mystical texts in which the discursive boundaries between nature and transcendental truth collapse and every natural space becomes a referential domain for transcendental concepts. Third, the approach presented in this research opens new horizons for comparative studies between cognitive linguistics and Islamic philosophy and provides the possibility of a more precise analysis of the linguistic-epistemic mechanisms of philosophical-mystical texts.