Ayeneh Ma‘refat
Year:2007 | Volume:- | Issue:10|Papers Count:8

In this paper we will first have a short review of the background of the issue of resurrection, and then we will cast a glance at the views of a number of early and contemporary prominent thinkers of the world of Islam in this regard.Given the fact that corporeal resurrection is inferred from Quranic verses and hadiths, the great figures of the world of Islamhave accepted it either out of devotion or based on rationalisation. Nevertheless,the question is whether corporeal resurrection is Ideal or elemental. Mulla Sadra and some of his followers and, before them, Suhrawardi and Ghazzali approved of ideal resurrection. However, there is some evidence that Mulla Sadra made a distinction between the realm of faith and the realm of the intellect and, based on his religious beliefs and like Ibn Sina, believed in elemental resurrection and maintained that the body of resurrection is the same worldly and elemental body.Based on a critique of the theories of Ibn Sina and Mulla Sadra and considering the trans-substantial motion of the body, the continuity of the soul-body relation, and that the elemental resurrection of the very worldly body is one of the necessary issues in Islam, as well as by paying attention to psychological proofs, Qadi Sa'id Qumi has tried to demonstrate the elemental bodily resurrection.

In the history of human thought, several issues and problems have been propounded by thinkers. Some of them have played a fundamental role in solving the philosophical or social problems of people and determining their path of life. However, some of them have been merely abstract ones with no clear relation to human aspects and modes. The principality of quiddity and existence and the gradation of being are among the issues in Islamic philosophy that have attracted the attention of Islamic philosophers and thinkers. Although not explicitly mentioned in Peripatetic Philosophy, they have been of great significance in Ishraqi wisdom (Illuminationist Philosophy) and the Transcendent Philosophy. Based on the mentality dominating the principiality of existence and gradation of being, one might ask what epistemological effects result from this issue.The writer of this paper, employing a library method of research, has tried to explain some of the philosophical and theological effects and consequences of these issues. From among all of them, we can refer to a correct explanation of oneness (tawhid), whether in essence, attributes, or acts, the causality of God, the commensurability and conformity between the cause and effect, and individuation, the justification of the existence of copula, the quality of attaining knowledge, and the relation between the world of nature and the world of intellects (the emanation of pluralities), and the clarification of predication in propositions.

Some of the researchers who have studied Ibn Arabi' s works have said that the term "unity of being" has not been used in them, and that he himself did not believe in this theory, either. They have also added that this term has been used by the commentators and interpreters of Ibn Arabi.In this paper, the writer has criticized this view and demonstrated that not only has he used the term "unity of being" in his works, but also he was a gnostic, believing in this theory by referring to three different pieces of evidence. They include the following:1. Stipulations of Ibn Arabi: He has directly referred to the "unity of being" in two of his books, namely, Risalah fil tasawwuf and Kitab al- marifat. In some of his works, instead of the unity of being, he has used the term "ontological oneness" (tawhid wujudi).2. Stipulations of Ibn Arabi' s opponents: Some of his opponents, such as Ibn Taymiyyah Hanbali and Ala al- Dawlah Simnani have, introduced him as an advocate of the unity of being and, thus, excommunicated him. 3. The meaning of the unity of being in Ibn Arabi' s works: There are several propositions in his works from which his commentators and even opponents inferred the concept of the unity of being. In this paper the propositions referring to the unity of being in his Fusus al -Hikam have been demonstrated through the following ways:a) assimilation and illustration;b) ontological propositions;c) anthropological propositions;d) cosmological propositions;e) propositions entailing the theory of manifestation and epiphany

The fate of Islamic philosophy and wisdom in Iran and its comparison with that in other lands is one of the topics that orientalists have dealt with since long ago. The most dominant theory in this regard in formal orientology circles states that Islamic philosophy came to an end with Ibn Rushd. In contrast, Henry Corbin, the distinguished French philosopher, Islamist, and oriental’s, maintains that this is not the case; rather philosophy has always been alive in the world of Islam, particularly in Iran, which is the cradle of Shiism and Shii thought.He also believes that after Ibn Sina, unlike what happened in the West with the replacement of Ibn Rushd, Islamic philosophy and wisdom continued their life with Suhrawardi and Ibn Arabi, and in the light of the religious teachings of Shiite Imams. They pursued their transcending process of development still further, until in the Safawid period they were gloriously revived by Mulla Sadra and some of his predecessors and successors. Presently, they are experiencing their period of expansion, perfection and flourishing.In the present paper, it has been tried to analyze and explain the above theory, to present the proofs and arguments underlying it, and to compare it with the theory common among orientologists through a study of Corbin's works and clarifying the strong relationship and profound unity between Islamic Wisdom and shii beliefs, disseminated either by the descendants of Imam Ali(a) or legal guardians and based on the esoteric approach of Shii teachings.

The history of the interest in religious knowledge is as long as that of religion itself; however, the scientific and methodological study of it has appeared in the contemporary period.Allamah Mohammed Hussein Tabataba'i is one of the few contemporary philosophers of the world of Islam who has studied religion following a scientific method. He has inquired into various fields of religious knowledge and presented some innovative definitions for religion, as well as a number of novel theories concerning its necessary place and role in man's life. Through using the method of "interpreting the Quran by the Quran" and by resorting to some rational and logical reasons and arguments, he presents some analyses the truth of which has been demonstrated by further systematic inquiries into various approaches to religious studies. Allamah Tabataba’i believes that the concepts of God and religion are related to man's rational and logical nature and essential and fitri (related to his primordial nature) tendencies and are needless of a search for their particular psychological or social reasons. While considering the divine revelation as the origin of religion and man's intellect and primordial nature as the origin of religiousness and man's attention to God, he believes that society plays a necessary and significant role in the appearance of religion.

Islamic philosophers intend to devise a rational argument in which created beings do not function as intermediaries in the demonstration of Almighty Truth. Ibn Sina was the first to have adopted such a method and innovated an argument based on the above idea. He called his famous argument which is based on the division of existents in to necessary and possible ones, the possibles need a determinant in existence, and the impossibility of the infinite regression of causes, the "argument of devotees" and claimed that this argument is superior to all others propounded in the same regard. After Ibn Sina, some other Muslim philosophers such as Shaykh Shahab aI-Din Suhrawardi, Mulla Sadra, Hajj Mulla Hadi Sabziwari, and AIlamah Tabataba' I tried to formulate their arguments based on fewer premises. Hence, various interpretations of the argument of devotees have been offered in Islamic philosophy. The argument of devotees in the Transcendent Philosophy is other than that in Peripatetic Philosophy. Accordingly, Mulla Sadra believes that the later does not deserve to be called the argument of devotees. However the one propouned in Ishraqi philosophy, although incomplete in comparison to the one given in the Transcendent Philosophy, is closer to it. This argument became more complete after Mulla Sadra in that its premises were reduced in number; its purpose became clearer; and the way to attain it became shorter.The most complete and accurate interpretation of the argument of believers, after Mulla Sadra, has been offered by Ailamah Tabataba'i.

In the present article, the writer has tried to study the analysis and epistemological justification of religious belief from the viewpoint of John Hick, the contemporary philosopher of religion.Concerning the analysis of religious belief, he firstly propounds the presuppositions and historical contexts of Hick's view in brief and the explains in detail that, according to him, religious belief enjoys an interpretive nature.Moreover, concerning the epistemological justification of religious belief, the writer examines Hick's view of the similarity between religious and sense experiences with respect to the justification of the beliefs that are based on them.