JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Year:2011 | Volume:12 | Issue:1-2 (45-46)|Papers Count:15

Ibn Arabi believes that the human soul is a reality which has levels, and its movement towards perfection ends at the Reality of Realities, which is God, the Most Exalted. In Ibn Arabi’s view the relationship between God and the human soul is the relationship between the Nondelimited (absolute) and delimited (muqayyad), and the soul is the manifestation of the Nondelimited Reality (al-ḥaqiqah al-iṭlaqiyyah) and its entification (ta‘ ayyun). Ibn ‘Arabi believes that there is only one path to reaching the inner levels of the soul, which is the self-disclosure (tajalli) of the Truth and His self-manifestations (ẓuhur) upon the heart of the wayfarer. In the shadow of spiritual struggle and watchfulness the soul of the wayfarer becomes ready to receive the self-disclosures of the Names and Attributes of God, and in this way delimitation and entification are removed from the soul and it reaches the Nondelimited Source which is God. In this paper we have attempted to explain the concept of “knowledge of the self” (ma‘rifah al-nafs) in the view of Ibn Arabi in the light of the foundations of his mystical thought, such as the unity of existence (waḥdah al-wujud), self-disclosure (tajalli) and the abstraction of the soul (tajarrud al-nafs).

Terence Irwin argues that Aquinas answered a question that Aristotle had raised but had not answered. The question is if there is any relation between intellectual virtues and moral virtues. The answer is yes, moral virtues direct intellectual virtues to attain the final end. Moral virtues show in what areas one should think, how much other things should be attended to, and how much one should spend time for intellectual issues. Aquinas believes in infused virtues in addition to moral virtues and those especially charity have central place in aforementioned directing role. We argue firstly that Aristotle also had answered the question. Secondly, there is no essential difference between intellectual virtues and moral virtues. Thirdly, there is one single virtue that functions in both intellectual and moral matters. And fourthly, the root of difficulties is in ethical naturalism of Aquinas following Aristotle.

On the basis of substantial motion the whole material world and nature are under constant change. The question might be raised, accordingly, whether one can obtain knowledge of any material being. That is to say, if the very substance of any given material thing and in consequence its accidents are entirely in constant motion, nothing of them can be the object of knowledge, since as soon as an external thing is perceived by perceiver's faculty of knowledge, it will, strictly speaking, disappear and something new will come into being. As a result, nothing, from animals to minerals whatsoever, remains the same so as to make it possible to become object of knowledge. Of any given object of our perception, indeed, we can speak of not one fact but many indivisible facts. Knowledge itself is thus not one and the same but something changeable, discontinuous and instable.In response to this crucial question, it is obvious that one should consider other positions taken by Mulla Sadra, agreat Muslim philosopher, regarding motion, substantial motion, reality of knowledge, as well as his understanding of existence in general so that he can receive consistent answers to the question raised.

The present paper consists of three sections. In the first section, among other issues of the brief introduction, there is reference to Mathnasvi and the Bhagavad Gita, demonstrating several debates and concepts, one of which is the meaning of Action and doing religious duties. It is of highest significance to compare and contrast the two central concepts- Karma and religious duties- in the two suggested texts. Here in this section, it is stated that Karma is essentially as a means and a cause to attain to God and that it is Karma not its abandonment as the true status of human beings in this world.In the second section, the paper focuses on the nature, the true origin of Karma, and its various types. It is claimed that based on the given reports in Mathnasvi and the Bhagavad Gita, human beings' Karma  may differ from a person to a person because of their different intentions. Some people obtain Karma out of fear, of habit, of love, and of faith. But, it is concluded that the fundamental reality of Karma is to heed the Karma per se.The third section turns to the subject of Karma abandonment. Here, it is interpreted that pure non-Karma (non-action), abandonment of worldly belongings and non-attachments to everything are reportedly related to the ramifications of Karma. Thus, it is suggested that Karma in these texts means abandoning worldly belonging that is derived from Karma. Namely, it is the position that the Mystic attains beyond the valid intentions of this materialistic world.This paper aims at analyzing the subject of Karma in Mathnasvi and the Bhagavad Gita, relying on the inter-textual approach. Afterwards, it turns to the necessity, the nature, and the true origin of Karma and its abandonment in the two mentioned texts.

West and other relevant concepts such as liberalism, modernity, democracy, capitalism, secularism, technology, development, and etc are subjects that are problematic for non-western countries. Some people named the liberalism as the “west modern civilization theory” in recent period. This idea (liberalism) and other western concepts came to the other countries like Iran really or unreal. Some followed its thoughts and accepted it and others did not .These rejected, dismissed and criticized. Accompanying the modernity was accepting the law and its derivatives like constitution, parliament, equality, the right of vote, the limitation of king power. Others are against human law, absolute liberty, equality among Muslims and non-Muslims, secularism, widespread speech freedom, religious freedom and human legislation, liberty, equality, human in western discourse. Fardid is one of the persons that opposed the west and liberalism aspects with anti-west perspective and casual approach, presented some opinion. In this essay these ideas were studied for the sake of understanding the level of fardid’s criticism.

Scientific realism is the view that our best scientific theories give approximately true descriptions of both observable and unobservable aspects of a mind-independent world. Debates on this view between realists and their critics are at the very heart of the philosophy of science. In this essay, we examine the core principles of the realist position, and indicate some reasons in the conflict with its rivals.

The development of modern formal logic has introduced new methods of distinguishing the form of propositions from their content. This has disclosed some instances of syntax - semantics confusion in traditional logic. Some modern logicians hold that the rule of conversion is based on such confusion. Since this rule is basic in traditional logic, revision of its validity implies far-reaching logical consequences. Having closely examined the case, we see that some presuppositions, interpretations and rules in traditional logic different from those of modern logic emerge as the reason why a real difference exists between these two logical systems accounting for the validity of even conversion in the former. Neglecting these differences has led to the said criticism.

Resurrection was paid attention by the philosophers since the ancient times. They hoped to identify the physical resurrection many years ago until now. Avicenna recognized this matter only by religious law and he believed that reason cannot identify it. Whereas he recognized the spiritual resurrection. He believed that spiritual resurrection is identified by reason. In this article Avicenna’s point of view on the resurrection according to his different works is presented and his denial of physical resurrection is stated. We demonstrate with his acceptance these principles he cannot identify philosophically this matter and he accepts the physical resurrection for mere obedience. Finally, the Avicenna’s principles spiritual resurrection are studied i.e. what forced him to accept the existence of happiness and adversity for the essence without belonging it to the body.

The main questions of this article are as following: What is the share of Sharia (Divine Laws) in the Progression of the mystic? How much is commitment to Sharia necessary in this way? Proposing of such issues disambiguates the problem of commitment of mystics to Sharia. Due to this, first, the true meaning of Sharia is investigated and then its role in the Progression of mystics from beginning to the end is studied. As a result, it is found out that if the true meaning of Sharia is considered the most committed persons to it are true mystics that undertake it from the beginning of their Progression to the last stages of their Journey and, indeed, true mysticism and Progression are nothing but commitment to Sharia and complete obedience to it. The ones who have said other things either stated such things unconsciously or consciously and purposely to distort mysticism.

The process of religious science genesis could be realized in the way that the metaphysical support derived from the religious thoughts are applied in different stages of scientific practice, In other words, when the metaphysic subjects could reveal their effectiveness in stages such as the choice of problem, selection of concepts and patterns of understanding the problem, project outline, observation, prediction and interpretation, one could say that a particular process has been made the product of which are sciences proportionate to religious ideas.Therefore, the monotheistic thought of the researcher and his particular attitude toward the existence affect his ongoing research and its results. Definitely, a monotheist researcher regards the world as unitary one and considers the nature of the creatures as those that "came from Him" and "go toward Him". In such view, regarding the concepts of human and his material and worldly needs, the scientific orientation would be in line with the way in which the human being is going to achieve the perfection and the divine esteem. In religious texts and in Imams' character sketch, one could also observe the encouragement to do scientific investigations, in such texts, one could simply find appropriate research approaches, the ways of applying the obtained results to  reinforcement of monotheistic insights (faith increase), and rectifying life style and manner of treating the nature and creatures (good deeds). The Alchemy of Jaber bin Hayyan is an objective sample of religious knowledge which is formed in the history of Islamic civilization, scientific method, purpose, hypothesis making, and interpretation of such science were influenced by religious ideas.

Knowing Allah through Faskh Azaem (that man fails to do what he has seriously determined to do) is one way of proving the existence of Allah that can be understood from Imam Ali’s words. This argument is that failure in performing our serious decisions suggests the existence of Allah. Imam Ali’s this word may come in different analyses: these are the inter-contextual (based on the texts of the Qur’an and traditions), theological and philosophical analyses, all of which are based on the celebrated arguments for the existence of God. Existing analyses may help for a better explanation and connotation of this tradition, however, a close examination and more scrutiny into it may lead us to some novel and different account of it. Our means to analyze this tradition depend on some people’s holy experience of their failure to do what they have seriously decided to do, as the knowing subjects, they may encounter such experience. All holy experiences, major or minor and subjective or objective, reveal a sense of holiness acquiring their meanings from the concept of “being from Him”. Knowing Allah through Faskh Azaem can be a call to such an experience that may happen in the most accessible and day to day events. The outcome of such experience is secondary and capable of intensification achieved by the wayfarer at each phase of knowledge of his vertical journey.

The emergence of Sufism and theosophy, and the arrival of mystical experiences and mystical education to the realm of language leads to the promotion of a specific language called mystical language. This language is divided into two types of language of explication and the language of implication. A mystic through his evolution achieves the thoughts, truths and experiences that their expression in the form of words, because of the nature of these kinds of knowledge, is not simply possible. But mystics utilizing the whole language capacities have transferred their own mystical perceptions with others in the limited shape of word and speech. Ein-al-Qozat Hamedani, the great mystic of the sixth century, as one of the leaders of the Islamic theosophy expresses his new interpretations and mystical enthusiasm through the precious works in this field. In this study we have attempted to analyse the points of view of this great mystic on language and discourse and then linguistically examine his works. The findings of the analysis show that Qazi Hamedani has benefited all the language capacities-the language of explication and implication and ideas to express his mystical experiences.

In the course of philosophy, Plato's the first philosopher who brings up the matter of soul as a single substance and he is the starter of intellectual discussion for the duality of soul and body, and its survival and immortality plus types of soul and its power. Of these, his arguments for the immortality of the soul which are largely free from the myths and symbolic expression have been less noticed and criticized independently. The designing and analysis of these arguments, plus regular reconstructing of them and the evaluation of strengths and weaknesses of the main arguments are the main topic of this paper.

In this article, Imam's knowledge is being discussed from Shaikh Mofid’s viewpoint and in different respects. Involving: The origin of Imam’s knowledge, Imam’s knowledge of the unseen, the article also discusses the scope of Imam's knowledge and its samples and approval. It demonstrates that Imam's knowledge ability covers the whole genre, languages and words, messengers and prophets' cognition, and the whole revealed books, and awareness of people's nature.