JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Year:2007 | Volume:8 | Issue:2 (30)|Papers Count:11

One of the four real attributes of the Necessary Being is Divine Knowledge, which enjoys special significance. Reviewing various views in defining knowledge and giving the rational arguments as well as narrated proofs to establish divine knowledge, the present paper deals in detail with the objects and the how of divine knowledge. Among different things that are the objects of divine knowledge, that which is most controversial are material creatures and their ontological states. The how of divine knowledge of His creatures is different before creation, after creation, and after annihilation? Most of objections are in relation to His knowledge of creatures and their ontological states prior to their appearance, which the paper’s discussion on it is comprehensive.

This paper discusses firstly the logical possibility of seeing God and secondly discusses the occurrence of that in this world. The reasons for and against the possibility and also the occurrence of this seeing are studied in details and criticized. The author finally proposed his arguments for rejecting the possibility and occurrence of seeing God.

The significance of Mulla Sadra’s philosophical viewpoint is that the material world, specifically materiality, is considered as man’s ground of creation and process of evolution towards pure spirituality. Since the entire world on the basis of substantial motion doctrine possesses a gradual movement from materiality to complete incorporeity, man’s soul too possesses such substantial motion. Thus the assumptions of the paper are as follows: Firstly, substantial motion is a gradual, perpetual motion permeating the entire cosmos with its substances and accidents. Secondly, man’s soul is corporeal in origination and spiritual in perpetuation, for according to Mulla Sadra’s doctrine man in the outset of creation is a corporeal existent and does not have a soul. The soul can go through the stages of perfection and achieve abstraction from materiality only in the case of living an earthly life. This paper seeks to elaborate whatness and nature of evolution in matter and body as well as its transformation into complete abstraction which is the objective of creation, and which encompasses man too.

Knowledge of existence is one of the significant issues in the domain of philosophy and mysticism, so that it is the pivot of these two disciplines. Both philosophers and mystics maintain that the subject of their discipline is ‘absolute existence’. This equivocation has caused some mistakes in the domain of mysticism and philosophy, especially the mistake of those who advocate Mulla Sadra’s philosophy; because when discussing the fundamentality of existence and its related issues, the Gnostics’ and the philosophers’ opinions are summoned by those advocates in favor of their own viewpoints, whereas there is no common characteristic between Sadraic ontology and Gnostic ontology. The reason is that within the realm of possible existence is Mulla Sadra’s principality of existence, which means the objective reality is the unmediated instance of the concept of existence, rather than the whitish concept, though as the philosophers have said: ‘Every contingent thing is composite duality, composed of quiddity and existence. However, what is in the Gnostics’ words meant by ‘absolute existence’ is Necessity Existence or God’s Existence. In this essay, the author attempts to make clear the differences of these two perspectives.

In cosmological discussions, it is argued that the cosmos consists of the invisible world and the visible world, and that every event happened in the visible word is inscribed in the supreme beginnings and immaterial intelligences. Hence, availability to the invisible world means connection and communication with human soul. This essay, in which an attempt is made to explain Ibn Sina’s viewpoint on the function of imagination in relation to the hidden, first presents the function of imagination in thinking and understanding the universals. Then it discusses the how of its function in receiving invisible things. And finally it deals with the epistemology of revelation and dream as two principal categories connected to the hidden.

One of questions related to the holy Koran is why the Koran was revealed in Arabic. It has been objected that the Koran as the sacred book of Islam claims to be a universal and perpetual Scripture, whereas the claim of its universality is inconsistent with revealing in the Arabic language. Why wasn’t the Koran revealed in Chinese, rather than Arabic, so that a vast majority of the world’s people can understand it? Isn’t it unreasonable that God sends down a heavenly book in Arabic and at the same time asks the non-Arabs to believe in it? Doesn’t the Arabic language make the possibility of understanding the inimitability (i`jaz) of the Koran more difficult? And the objections like these. The present paper replies to some of these objections concerning the Arabic language of the Koran.

Cosmological demonstrations are among the most important arguments which are used by both the philosophers and the Mutakallimun (speculative theologians) to establish the existence of God. From the philosophers’ viewpoint, the core of such an argument is contingency and necessity, whereas from Mutakallimin’s point of view, it is eternity (qidam) and creation (huduth).The present paper is going to clarify these two arguments and their foundations. Then it deals with the criterion of the need of an effect for a cause according to the philosophers’ and the Mutakallimin’s viewpoints. Finally, it criticizes the arguments, presenting Mulla Sadra’s opinions in this concern.

The holy religion of Islam regards God as the real legislator. Now the question is: Does the holy prophet Muhammad enjoys the right of legislation too? This is an issue of disagreement between the experts. The consequence of the viewpoint of those who recognize the above-mentioned right for the Prophet and the Imams is to hold that the religion is imperfect; that the theory of expansion of Shari’ah is true; and that the authorities of legislation are manifold. In this essay, the author carefully reviews the reasons for such a viewpoint and rejects the right of legislation for the other-than-God.

This word is paid attention to throughy general and specific reasons, and so the this article is to investigate the Justice Principle, which is a rule of figh (canonical law) with many effects, and to prove it via legal reasons. At first, the article considers the importance of justice according to the nobles, statements; then, in the main body of the article, the meaning of generality of this principle is proved. In another part of the article, legal examples of this principle are mentioned, and the relationship between this principle and the lost-drawing principle is cited; it is also proved that the former is prior to the latter. And finally, the consequence of this principle is explained; it is also concluded that an Islamic jurist has to regard this principle in his decree (fitwa), and some examples are also mentioned in this regard.

Incarnation, which concerns the cyclical return of a soul to live another life in a new body, is among the beliefs of great antiquity; it is most characteristic of some Eastern philosophical thoughts as well as religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The idea of transmigration has also been adopted by some Western figures and groups. The doctrine of incarnation has also been part of the mystical thought of Sufism, which is considered as the mystical branch of Islam. In the meantime, the transmigration of souls was discussed and criticized by some great thinkers, among whom Muslim thinkers are outstanding. Explaining the age-old idea, the author attempts to show its refutation on the basis of the Islamic thinkers’ opinions and to discuss its incompatibility with the Koranic doctrines.