Anwar-e Ma`rifat

This article aims to elucidate how rhetorical questions in Imam Khomeini's ghazals are transformed into discursive elements within the framework of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe's discourse theory. The research methodology is a combination of qualitative content analysis and critical discourse analysis. The statistical population comprises all the ghazals in Imam Khomeini's dīwān, and sampling was conducted purposively. The criterion for identifying rhetorical questions was consideration of the interrogative grammatical structure in the text as well as its rhetorical function therein. In this research, the key concepts of Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory-including the nodal point (dāl-i markazī), nodal articulation, hegemony, chains of equivalence, and chains of difference-are first defined operationally, and the manner of their application to the analysis of mystical poetry is then explicated. By emphasizing the methodological distinction between the levels of the poet, the text, and discourse, the study endeavors to avoid both over-interpretation and reductionism in the analysis. In the data analysis section, the prominent rhetorical questions in the ghazals of Imam Khomeini are analyzed using the Laclau and Mouffe framework, demonstrating how these questions, through the creation of chains of equivalence and difference, contribute to the shaping of dominant discourses. The findings of this research indicate that rhetorical questions in Imam Khomeini's ghazals are not merely linguistic devices for posing questions and eliciting answers; rather, they function as semantic nodal points and, in the process of semantic substitution and replacement, serve to create and consolidate the theological and mystical discourses of Imam Khomeini.