The Whats and Whys of the Method of ‘Query and Response’ According to Rumi

The present article begins with an articulation of the significance and relation of ‘query and response’ with both dialogue and its semantic perimeters and discloses the sources of Rumi’s thinking about this issue. After this taking a comparative stance, this article briefly explores the background and the significance of query and response, dialogue and dialectic as they relate to both ontological and epistemological domains in the view of Greek philosophers, contemporary intellectuals and in particular, the worldview of Rumi and then using the analytic method it deals with the criticism and analysis of the method of query and response with three different approaches: 1) origin, essence and necessity of query and response 2) motivation of query and response 3) compatibility and coherence in the course of query and response from the viewpoint of Rumi with the consideration of appended themes and findings: consideration of thought(or the process of thinking) as a source of query and response; allusion to meanings with the consideration that its variation exists at different levels; examination of Rumi’s refutations of the ‘theoretical reason’(rati?) in spite of his emphasis on the necessity and usefulness of reasoning and logical enquiries; demonstration of the difficulty of traversing the philosopher’s way; criticism of the true dialogue as far as its ultimacy is concerned; aims and motivations of the questioner/asker; and in the end, the need for coherence and proportionality in the process of query and response in various domains and for a variety of relations.