Sophia Perennis
Year:2009 | Volume:6 | Issue:4|Papers Count:11

Did philosophy and culture begin with Thales and Greek philosophy or did it have a more ancient source in the east? Although the prevalent opinion is that civilization and culture began with Thales and the Hellenic tradition, we are in agreement with Suhrawardi, the Master of Illumination, who considers the origin of philosophy (or more literally, wisdom, eikmah) to be found in prophecy, and more precisely in Hermes. 'Hermes' in the Greek tradition, 'Tat' in Egypt, 'Enoch' in the Bible, 'Hishang' in Iranian texts, and the prophet Idris in Islamic texts correspond to one another and the character of which each speaks has an analogous identity. Hermes is one of the descendants of Seth, son of Adam, and was the first person after them to attain the status of prophecy. He was the founder of many branches of knowledge such as calligraphy, medicine, alchemy, astrology/ astronomy, the science of government and philosophy. For this reason he was named Trismegistos in Greece, and al-muthallath bi'l-eikmah (the threefold in philosophy) in Islamic sources.

William Chittick, currently Professor of Religious Studies at the State University of New York (Stony Brook), is an internationally renowned expert on Islamic thought. His contributions to the fields of Sufism and Islamic philosophy have helped paint a clearer picture of the intellectual and spiritual landscape of Islamic civilization from the 7th/13th century onwards. Yet Chittick is not simply concerned with discussions in Islamic thought as artifacts of premodern intellectual history. His vast knowledge of the Islamic intellectual tradition serves as the platform from which he seeks to address a broad range of contemporary issues. In this short essay, I will outline Chittick’s writings on the self within the context of his treatment of cosmology. Rather than being outdated ways of looking at the universe and our relationship to it, Chittick argues that traditional Islamic cosmological teachings are just as pertinent to the question of the self today as they were yesterday.

 Mulla Sadra's (1571/2-1640) theory of knowledge is unique because, contrary to modern epistemology which is separate from ontology, it is a part of his ontological system and cannot be discussed in isolation. Rather than pure epistemology or ontology, Sadra has an „onto-epistemology', according to which truth and being are two sides of the same coin. For this reason, this paper starts by explaining two of Sadra's ontological doctrines: „the primacy of being' and „the gradation of being', both dealing with being', which is the cornerstone of Sadra's system. After that, Sadra's ontological definition of knowledge is explored. According to this definition, knowledge is a mode of (immaterial) being and is identical with presence. Then Sadra's account of the real known objects will be explained. According to him, mental existences', which are created by the soul when confronted with external objects, are the real known objects. In the next step, the relationship between the known objects and the knower will be discussed, which according to Sadra is identity. The role of knowledge, which is a factor in changing the substance of the soul, is the next issue discussed. This role will be explained by means of „substantial motion‟, which is an important ontological doctrine in Sadra's system. Finally, two points in Sadra's epistemology will be considered critically: the issue of correspondence and his theory of truth. It will be argued that Sadra is not clear about the issue of correspondence and therefore his theory of knowledge cannot cover experimental knowledge.

The Revival of the Religious Sciences, written in the fifth century A.H., is (Abu Hamid Muhammad) Ghazali's most important work. In this book Ghazali, as a renewer of trou knowledge of religion, seeks to revive the science of religion and, in the style of scholars of hermeneutics, reminds his readers of the original meanings of religious terms which had by his time either been distorted or restricted to only one specific aspect of their meaning. In Islamic intellectual history the title of this book became both a model and a religious project, and each time one of the subsequent great Islamic thinkers, from Mawlana Rumi to Mulla Sadra, sought to revive religion, they had this book in mind. In our times, in which the renewal and revival of true knowledge of religion has become more necessary than it has ever been, and taking into account the many false claims of revival of religion, consideration of Ghazali's revival of the science of religion takes on a greater importance than it has had at any other time.

The idea of causal efficacy, which can be found in Aristotle’s works, has proved to be a very controversial character in the history of philosophy. This paper is a consideration of Ghazali’s (1058-1111) views about the causal efficacy theory and his epistemological concern regarding this issue, arguing that the widely held view that Ghazali rejects causality can be modified through a careful re-examination of Tahafut al-Falasifah and his other works. The paper begins with a consideration of Ghazali's presentation and critique of Avicenna's view of causality in the Tahafut al-Falasifah. In particular, Ghazali's distinction between 'event causation' and 'agent causation' is given close attention. During this presentation Ghazali's views are contrasted with traditional Ash'arite beliefs on the issue. The paper then considers Ghazali's views on causation as presented in his other works. Finally, the author tries to resolve the apparent contradictions between these views by explaining Ghazali's theory of the best of all possible worlds.

The history and the main sources of Alevi-Bektashi beliefs is a subject that has always interested specialist researchers. Despite all the research done on this subject, the still remain many points which are unclear. One of the main reasons for this obscurity is the lack of systematic research on the basic texts of the Alevi-Bektashi community, which should be considered the main source of such research. Consultation of these texts can help us to get a clearer idea on this subject. The aim of this paper is to present these texts, which despite their importance remain unknown to Iranian scholars.

K. al-Raema de Jabir fait figure de traite doctrinal d'une valeur sans pareille pour toute l'alchimie musulmane. L'ouvrage qui abonde en paroles courtes et enigmatiques a passionne des generations d'alchimistes qui lui ont consacre d'innombrables commentaires. Hughrai (m. en 515/1121), ason tour, a redige des commentaires sur ce livre, auxquels nous nous sommes consacres dans cet article. A la base de l'un des plus surs commentaires de Hughrai, son Mafatìe al-eikma li-Hughrai, share kitab al-raema li-Jabir ibn Eayyan, nous avons extrait certains thèmes essentiels tels que transmission ecrite, qiyas, origine de la matiere, parallelisme avec l'entite humaine, allegorie de l'oeuf, or des sages et celui du public vulgaire, reincarnation chez Jabir et elaboration des ames. L'oeuvre de Hughrai etant restee quasiment inedite, nous nous sommes basee, dans cet article, sur les manuscrits de ses ouvrages.

The present article is an in depth examination of the role of Khidr and the Mahdi in the Islamic tradition, focusing on their significance as spiritual guides, transmitters of sacred knowledge and on their importance in the preparation for the end of time. The author uses the concept of the 'Eliatic function' presented by Leo Schaya as a guiding principle for this study, and begins the article with an explanation of this concept. On the basis of this, he then discusses the traditional Islamic understanding firstly of Khidr and then of the Mahdi. Throughout the analysis the author presents quotations from the Qur'an and Hadith along with the interpretations of classical and contemporary commentators, focusing in particular on Shi'ism and Sufism.