Journal of Religious Studies
Year:2015 | Volume:9 | Issue:17|Papers Count:7

Ibn ‘Aṭa’ Allah Iskandarani is the first Shadhli mystic who compiled and wrote the teaching of Shadhli order. These teachings are entirely based on the concept of Rejection of Disposition (isqaṭ tadbir). For Ibn ‘Aṭa’ the novice, in the early stage of his spiritual journey, should reject to make any disposition because God’s will is all-inclusive, so man’s disposition is a hindrance in the path to God. There are nine stations in this path: penance, asceticism, patience, gratitude, fear, hope, cheerful submission, trust in God, compassion. In the seventh station the Rejection of Disposition is more evident than the others. Moreover there are five states: affability, compression, dilation, annihilation, abiding. For Ibn ‘Aṭa’ good deed is the fruit of good state and good state is the fruit of good station. The final phase of spiritual journey is the knowledge of God, which is the fruit of good station, good state and good deed.

The texts of Ahl-e Haq, especially Name-ye Sarandjam, use a symbolic language to express the esoteric teachings of the sect. In these texts visible elements, such as colors, natural phenomena and other objects have a symbolic function. By surveying and deciphering these symbols, the beliefs and practices of Ahl-e Haq would be recognized properly. In fact, their symbols, as we can see in other esoteric tradition, try to connect the objective world to the subjective realm and are means of expressing their mystical experiences. There are certain elements of ancient Iranian culture and Sufi teachings in their works, so the sect has a syncretic nature.

The ancient Mesopotamians, like other ancient people, were thinking about death and the hereafter; but, what attract the scholars’ attention are their deep fear of death, therfore they describe a horrible fate for the deceased in their myth. As a consequence, the Mesopotamian myths were shadowed by a deep despair and hopelessness. This article tries to survey the concept of death according to Mesopotamian mythology and analyzes their feeling about life, death and hereafter.

Despite being ill-furnished with primary sources of information about the Elamite religion, some valuable information can be gleaned from the archaeological findings and also from Elamite and Mesopotamian texts. A large group of Elamite texts were composed at the time of Silhak-Insusinak (1150-1120 BCE), a middle-Elamite king and the third sovereign of the Šutrukid dynasty. Different deities and temples are mentioned in his inscriptions. Most of the temples mentioned by him had been built by his predecessor and as they were in a state of dilapidation, he restored them. What is specifically studied here is the Elamite temples based on the inscriptions of Silhak-Insusinak.

Tamat al-Kubra or “great catastrophe” is a kind of mystical experience in which the mystic connects with the Active Intellect, the tenth of Aristotelian Intelligences or Gabriel in religious traditions. Souhrawadi’s order is based on contemplation, invocation and asceticism in which the novice should observe the religious injunctions and follow the commands of a mystical master so he/she could be able to have a mystical experience. At the final stage of his/her mystical journey the mystic experiences the state of absorption (fana’), at the very moment he/she visits the Active Intellect. The ascension of the Prophet of Islam is an example of the transcendence of human soul and is a proof of the accessibility of it for other human beings. Even they could go beyond and could be completely absorbed in Divine Essence.

Due to archaeological and linguistic evidence there are two sources for the ancient Indian civilization: Harappan-Dravidian and Indo-Aryan. Most of these archaeological findings are related to the mature phase of the Harappan Civilization (2600-1900 BCE), but as long as their script remains undeciphered talking of Harappan thoughts is a matter of mere speculation. The Dravidian is one of the main language families in India and the Dravidians are native speakers of any of the Dravidian languages. These languages were popular before Aryans arrived in the subcontinent. From about 1700 BCE groups of Indo-Aryan people migrated to the north of India and gradually spread their culture there, so it combined with pre-Aryan culture hence the Vedic period emerged.

The ultimate goal of religiosity and mystical discipleship in Buddhism is rescue from suffering and the circle of rebirth. Nirvana is the main common teaching among Buddhist schools and explains that goal. There are different approaches to interpret the meaning of Nirvana. The most important approaches are the positive, negative and paradoxical ones. Although this doctrine is accepted in both Hinayana and Mahayana, each of them has its own specific interpretations about the doctrine. It can be said that the meaning of the concept of Nirvana in Mahayana has been widely expanded than its meaning in Hinayana.