Horses changing riders: the prehistory of two allegories of mystical union in Šihāb al-Dīn Yaḥyā Suhrawardī and Ǧalāl al-Dīn Rūmī

The description of the mystical union, whether in Islam or other religions, has often been construed as defying expression by means of language. The reason given is that language, by its very nature, is represen- tational and conceptual, whereas mystical union by its very nature is a hu- man status eluding both representation and conceptualization. On the other hand, given that mystical union is considered the ultimate goal of humanity, dealing with it in religious literature also becomes inevitable, which in turn is reliant on the help of language.One way out of this seeming dilemma seems to be the use of allegorical speech.It is the meaning and the history of two allegorical expressions in Islamic philosophical and mystical literature, Arabic and Persian alike, that we will discuss in this article.