Abstract

This thesis argues that The Thousand and One Nights functions as more than mere populist entertainment; rather, it constitutes a literary corpus imbued with Sufi mystical epistemologies that reflect the spiritual quests and Sufi concepts evident in hagiographical traditions. Through discourse and intertextual analysis of two Nights stories, “The City of Brass” and “The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad,” alongside Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār’s Tadhkirat al-awliyāʾ, this study demonstrates how shared rhetorical strategies—specifically David Pinault’s Leitwörter analysis and L.A. Paul’s Transformative Experience concept—reveal a narrative and rhetorical emphasis on the metamorphosis of the self from worldly attachment toward divine proximity. In so doing, the Nights emerges as a fertile ground for tracing the imaginative contours of Islamic mysticism and its emphasis on spiritual transformation through storytelling.

School

School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department

Arab & Islamic Civilizations Department

Degree Name

MA in Arabic Studies

Graduation Date

Spring 2-15-2026

Submission Date

1-21-2026

First Advisor

Dr. Adam Talib

Committee Member 1

Dr. Ferial Ghazoul

Committee Member 2

Dr. Ahmed Khan

Extent

127 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Not necessary for this item

Disclosure of AI Use

Thesis editing and/or reviewing

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