Spektrum Iran

Rumi’s Conceptions of Meaning in Life: Reading the Seven Sermons (Majāles-e Sabʿa) Toward Wisdom Pedagogy in Adult Education

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Author

Rasool Akbari

Department of Comparative Religions and Mysticism, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22034/spektrum.2025.523971.1035
Abstract
This article explores the pedagogical significance of Rumi’s Majāles-e Sabʿa (Seven Sermons) as a religious framework for meaning-making in adult education. The study positions religion as a meaning system and highlights the underutilized pedagogical potential of wisdom literature in promoting existential orientation, especially among Muslim adults in diasporic contexts. Utilizing Baumeister and Vohs’s four-fold framework of meaning, including purpose, values, efficacy, and self-worth, the article offers a hermeneutical-phenomenological analysis of Rumi’s First Sermon to understand his notions of meaning in life. Through a textual analysis of supplicatory monologues, moral parables, and theological reflections, the study examines how Rumi constructs a theocentric model of existential transformation grounded in longing, repentance, and divine mercy. Purpose is rendered as an eschatological and teleological orientation toward the return to God; values are framed through repentance, humility, and moral sincerity; efficacy is redefined as spiritual agency through remembrance and trust; and self-worth is shaped by sincerity and divine recognition rather than merely meritocratic or moralistic frameworks. Methodologically, the article integrates grounded theory and hermeneutical phenomenology to offer a contextual, layered reading of Rumi’s homiletic discourse, viewing it as a performative site of meaning rather than a static text. In its pedagogical implications, the study proposes to approach Rumi’s Sermons as a “wisdom pedagogy” that draws on Rumi’s thought to support identity formation, moral resilience, and existential literacy among Muslim adult learners. It is argued that Rumi’s model offers a powerful educational framework for dealing with plural, disorienting modern lifeworlds, while also raising critical questions about normativity and inclusivity in such pedagogies.

Keywords

Meaning in Life
Wisdom Pedagogy
Adult Religious Education
Hermeneutical Phenomenology

Subjects

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Spektrum Iran
Volume 38, Issue 1
July 2025
Pages 1-29

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