Taşın Ruhu: Divriği Ulu Camii ve Darüşşifası’nın Tasavvufi Semiyotiği
The Spirit of Stone: The Sufi Semiotics of Divriği Ulu Mosque and Hospital

Summary/Abstract: The Divriği Great Mosque and Hospital, one of the most exceptional monuments in the history of world art and architecture, functions as a unique sanctuary with its inimitable patterns, engravings, motifs, and ornamentations that have remained unsurpassed since its construction. The structure not only reflects the artistic accumulation of its period but also exhibits a distinctive originality through the astonishing details of its decorations. The fact that such a magnificent work was constructed under the patronage of a small principality (the Mengujekids) within limited means has not yet been established on a convincing theoretical foundation in terms of art and civilization history. To date, the elements constituting the abstract identity and the idea of civilization behind the work have generally been examined within the context of the general Islamic perception of art and concrete architectural forms. However, this structure has not yet been analyzed through a comprehensive lens of Sufism, which seeks to understand the relationship between God, the universe, and humanity by centering His names, attributes, and actions. In its broadest sense, art is a manifestation of God's attribute as-Sâni‘ (The Artful Creator). The soul and the heart, which are the sources of Sufi experience, constitute the metaphysical ground where Sufism and art converge as the spiritual wellsprings that give birth to artistic creation. Sufi thought, which permeated every segment of Islamic society throughout the Middle Ages, enveloped the artisan's mental world like a pigment; this situation directly influenced the patterns, motifs, and thematic approaches of the works. For these reasons, seeking mystical, spiritual, and semiotic interpretations in a masterpiece like the Divriği Great Mosque and Hospital presents an inevitable necessity. The primary objective of this article is to identify the elements of Sufi semiotics in the philosophy of construction, architectural proportions, and numerical preferences of the Divriği Great Mosque; to determine the signs of tawhid (unity) and manifestation; to analyze the play of light and shadow within the context of the theories of nur-zıll (light-shadow) and khalq al-jadid (continuous creation); and to re-read the architecture through a spiritual perspective. Since a detailed examination of the thousands of ornaments exceeds the scope of this article, the study focuses on providing a Sufi framework through specific examples, analyzing selected symbols, and exploring the link between the architect's consciousness of itqan (perfecting one's work) and the station of rida (contentment). Utilizing methods of artistic observation, stylistic analysis, and textual critique, the article aims to pioneer similar research. The fundamental output of the study is the fact that the Divriği Great Mosque and Hospital is not merely a feat of stonemasonry, but a Quran (al-mushaf al-kawnî) that carves Sufism's theory of existence and the ideal of the perfect human (al-insan al-kamil) into stone, while its architectural elements serve as vehicles expressing the spiritual state and Sufi joy of the artisan.

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