The Structuralism of the Symbol in Ibn 'Arabi’s Mysticism and Husserl’s Phenomenology: The Dialectic of Rhetoric and Semantics

Symbolic Structuralism is a theory rooted in Saussurean structural linguistics, which posits that the relationship between the signifier and the signified, while arbitrary, is contained within an internal structure. In Ibn 'Arabi’s gnosis ('irfan), the symbol transcends its status as a mere linguistic sign, evolving into an “ontological structure” that bridges the microcosm and the macrocosm. The “dialectic of rhetoric and semantics” employed here is derived from I. A. Richards’ interactive rhetoric and Greimas’ structural semantics; in this framework, rhetoric is not a decorative element but a producer of meaning and a structurer of the symbol.The primary research questions are: 1. How do rhetorical devices in Ibn 'Arabi’s texts transform into symbolic signifiers that produce ontological significations transcending literal meaning? 2. How can “symbolic structuralism,” the “dialectic of rhetoric and semantics,” and “phenomenology” be synthesized into a unified analytical framework that reveals both the structure of existence and consciousness?The study aims to uncover the mechanism by which rhetorical devices transform into symbolic signifiers in three texts from the Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya (Meccan Illuminations), based on the hypothesis that the symbol is an ontological structure and rhetoric is a generator of meaning. Methodologically, the research adopts a descriptive-analytical approach based on the synthesis of the three aforementioned theories.