COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE IMAGE OF WOLAND IN THE NOVEL “THE MASTER AND MARGARITA” BY M. BULGAKOV AND THE ISLAMIC GNOSTIC APPROACH TO THE CONCEPT OF “DEVIL”

The problem of evil and the devil as a representative of evil has long existed in the religion and culture of different nations. This article attempts to find similarities on this issue in the novel “The Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940) and in the approach of some Islamic Sufis, such as Mansur al-Hallaj (858-922) and Ain al-Kuzat Hamadani (1098-1131), etc. What is common in the image of the devil in the pages of the novel of a Russian writer of the twentieth century, a native of the Orthodox environment, and in the texts of medieval Islamic mystics? Common to representatives of these different cultures and eras is the desire to comprehend the problem of the existence of evil in the world and its embodiment in the form of the devil. The similarity is in the fact that the problem of evil and its bearer is posed by Bulgakov and Sufis both in a purely religious context, and in philosophical, Gnostic. In both Islam and Christianity, the devil (“Satan”, “Shaitan”) is the main opponent of the heavenly forces, which is the highest personification of evil and pushes a person on the path of spiritual death. In addition to the religious context, the devil is seen as the result of a Gnostic and mystical approach by different thinkers in the form of an artistic image.