Character strengths in some Masnavi stories in the context of positive psychology

This thesis is a study examining how character strengths, which occupy a central place in positive psychology literature, are represented in the context of Mevlana's work titled Masnavi. The main objective of the research is to provide a comparative evaluation of Mevlana's teachings with the contemporary character strengths approach and thus identify the contributions that Islamic thought can offer to positive psychology. In this regard, the study is based on the theoretical framework of the six cardinal virtues defined in positive psychology (wisdom and knowledge, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence) and the twenty-four character strengths under these virtues. The study followed different methods under the heading of qualitative research methods. These methods are document analysis and content analysis, respectively. The document analysis method was used to identify and read the sources of the study, while the content analysis method was used to interpret the sources read. The Masnavi constitutes the main data source of the study. The Masnavi text was coded through content analysis and evaluated within the framework of character strengths. The findings of the study show that the Masnavi contains stories and narratives that correspond to all of the character strengths defined by positive psychology. However, it was also determined that Mevlana deepened these character strengths by incorporating religious thought, particularly Sufi thought, and in this respect, he partially diverged from modern positive psychology. In conclusion, the study reveals that Mevlâna's Manavi has significant potential to contribute to the positive psychology literature in both theoretical and practical terms.