Law & Literature Conference: Rereading the Shahnameh & Iran’s Literary Heritage from a New Perspective

Mohammad Rasouli, a literary researcher, legal scholar, and secretary of the major Law and Literature Conference, announced that the event would be held on Wednesday, Aban 6 (October 28). He stated that the conference would bring together a group of researchers, legal scholars, and literature enthusiasts. Examining legal concepts in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, Saadi’s Golestan, and other classical Persian works will be among the main themes of the event.

Rasouli noted that literature and legal scholarship are closely interconnected. He added that this relationship can be observed both in the concepts and subjects reflected in literary works and in the need for legal scholarship to employ language that is precise, clear, and rigorous.

Rasouli stated that Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh cannot be regarded merely as an epic. Alongside its heroic narratives, the work offers considerable potential for examining concepts such as justice, fairness, ethical conduct, and social responsibility. Attention to these aspects could provide an opportunity to revisit Iran’s literary heritage from a perspective that has received less scholarly attention.

The conference secretary also emphasized the potential of works such as Saadi’s Golestan and Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk’s Siyasatnama (Book of Government) for the study of social and legal concepts. He explained that examining these works could contribute to a better understanding of the connections between literature, culture, and legal thought in Iran’s intellectual tradition.

He added that the history of law in literary texts, legal terminology in Persian poetry, and the examination of legal concepts in classical works would be among the subjects discussed at the conference. He expressed hope that the event would mark the beginning of expanded interdisciplinary research and the establishment of a specialized working group on law and literature.

The conference secretary further announced that the speeches, papers, and perspectives presented at the event would be compiled and published in book form, thereby providing a basis for the continuation of research in this field.