Il simbolismo sufi degli scacchi: la Risāla-yi Šaṭranǧiyya di ʿAlāʾ al-Dawla Simnānī

The paper examines the Persian work Risāla-yi Šaṭranǧiyya, an allegorical text by the Sufi master ʿAlāʾ al-Dawla Simnānī (1261–1336). The work employs the game of chess as a metaphor for the Sufi initiatory path, with each piece representing a spiritual teaching and a behavior to be adopted in order to progress along the mystical way. The study explores the symbolism of the pieces’ movements, the structure of the chessboard, and their spiritual significance, linking them to Sufi doctrines.
The contribution includes a full Italian translation of the Risāla and provides a philological and stylistic analysis of the text, highlighting its oral genesis and the variants present in the manuscripts. Different versions of the text are compared, suggesting the existence of both a short and a long recension, and the symbolic and doctrinal implications of the work are discussed. The central role of the King is emphasized, associated with the supreme spiritual function in Sufism, and the significance of slow, measured movement is highlighted as a symbol of wisdom and spiritual realization. The paper concludes with reflections on the visual and geometric dimensions of the Sufi chess symbolism.