The Alchemy of Self-Transcendence: Feminine Embodiment and Mystical Union in Shah Hussain’s Poetics

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16855510

Abstract

This essay explores the gendered aspects of mystical subjectivity within the Sufi poetry of Shah Hussain (1538–1599), with particular emphasis on his continuous embrace of the feminine figure of Heer to express divine yearning. Close readings of specific kafis are used to investigate how Hussain subverts the conventional lover–Beloved relationship in Sufism by acting out the feminine seeker and casting the Divine as the masculine Beloved, Ranjha. This performative turn not only subverts the essentialized binaries of male and female in mystical discourse but also provides a spiritual praxis of surrender, vulnerability, and receptivity. Based on Sufi hermeneutics, feminist theory, and postcolonial insights, the paper places Hussain's work within wider debates on gender performativity and religious subjectivity. The analysis is such that Hussain's poetics perform simultaneously as devotional books and works of cultural resistance, broadening the horizons of interpretation of Punjabi Sufi tradition.