Journal of Religious Studies
Year:2010 | Volume:4 | Issue:7|Papers Count:7

Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi (1153-1191 CE), known as Shaykh Ishraq, is the Iranian philosopher, Sufi, martyr and the founder of Ishraqi theosophy. He could be considered as the restorer of the theosophy of Fahlawiyun or the Khusrawani theosophy of ancient Iran. By using the Zoroastrian sources and focusing on Greek philosophy, Suhrawardi combines these two eastern and western currents of philosophy in Islamic mysticism. He interprets these teachings not only in his important Arabic works such as Hikmat al-ishraq (Theosophy of Illumination), but also in his Persian works which are mostly symbolic-mystical treatises. In these Persian treaties, he presents the principals of Khusrawani theosophy by using the symbolic functions of mythical characters of ancient Iran, such as Firiydun, Kaykhusru, Simurgh, Zal, Rustam and Isfandiyar. His narrations of these mythical characters are based on the previous works such as Shahnamah. However, in some points there are great differences between his narrations and the previous ones, so much so that we can mention him as the creator of these new narrations. The climax of this innovation is in the story of the struggle between Rustam and Isfandiyar. This change helps Suhrawardi to express his ideas through the symbolic functions of these characters, and these symbols are only understandable to those who are acquainted with Ishraqi theosophy and mysticism. This article deals with these symbols and interprets their roles in Persian treatises of Shaykh-i Ishraq such as Aql-i surkh, Alwah-I’Imadi, Lughat-i Muran and Safir-i Simurgh.

Love has a significant place in the mysticism of Ruzbahan Baqli-the prominent mystic of the 12th century. Dealing with the concept of love is the continuation of a tradition that dates back to the early generations of Sufis. This tradition noticeably has been reflected in Ruzbahan’s works, especially in his Abhar al-‘Ashiqin. In fact, he constructed his mystical path on the basis of love. He believed that love has flowed down into the whole chain of beings, from the highest level to the lowest one.From his point of view, love is one of the God’s attributes. Since God’s attributes are inseparable from His essence, and the essence of God is ineffable, so love is ineffable too. Therefore, only love could describe itself. Love has no limitations; so, only love can transform the relationship between the Creator and the creature into a relationship between the lover and the Beloved. Ruzbahan considers human being as a manifestation of God’s beauty. He admires physical beauty and goodness as an essential element for falling in love and so he believes in an eternal relation between goodness and love. He considers earthy love as a motivating factor for attaining the divine love. By presenting different categories of love, he shows the way to go through this path.

The study of the influence of religions on each other has been always an interesting subject among scholars. In this context, some scholars and historians have seen Iranian teachings as the source of many religious doctrines. According to a well-known theory, Zoroastrianism is the most influential religion in the history of the East and its influence on Judaism and through it, on Christianity and Islam is easily traceable. Though this theory is strongly supported by many scholars, there are others who are not convinced with such a theory and try to find other sources for Jewish and Christian doctrines.Apocalyptic literature is an important religious genre which appeared in Jewish literature after the Second Temple period. It includes many interesting and new teachings, a number of which could be considered as the continuation of the Old Testament and Jewish-Christian traditions. There are also some new concepts and even transformed versions of the old concepts in these works. For example periodization of history, messianism, eschatology, the final triumph of the Good upon the Evil, the Judgment and resurrection, angelology, the vision of God and dualism are some of these new teachings. Since this variety of concepts appeared in Jewish literature just after the close contact of Jewish nation with Iranian culture, their origin could be traced back to the similar notions in Mazdaism and other Iranian religions. This article tries to deal with this theory through analyzing apocalyptic literature.

Scholars who have been studying religion since 19th century attach great importance to the study of "primitive religions". In search of the essence and the origin of religion, "primitive religions" were thence force mostly studied under a subject called "anthropology" and then "anthropology of religion". But later, in the second half of 20th century the discipline underwent a sea change and studied religion through symbols. The main concern of this article is to introduce this branch of research and the way it defines and looks at religion. Geertz is one of the most competent figures in this field and in this article his opinion about religious symbols and rituals in Indonesia and Morocco is going to be introduced. By hermeneutical approach he states that the great task of an anthropologist of religion is thick description of symbols which are being practiced in religious rituals.

The meaning of life has been perpetually the subject of human contemplaion and due to current spiritual crisis, recently has been psychologically, philosophically and theologically analyzed. "The value of life" is one of the three concepts which could be extracted from this subject, and as the other two concepts, it could be philosophically analyzed either from naturalistic or supernaturalistic points of view. In a theocentric viewpoint, which is considered as supernaturalistic, the relation between the value of human life and God could be studied from different angles including the Divine Love. The present article firstly attempts to study the relation between God and the value of human life by focusing on Divine love and following this issue in mystical works of Ibn Arabi, and secondly tries to compare the viewpoints of this well-known mystic on the value of human life with that of western scholars. Ibn Arabi, who believes that the creation of human being has been indebted to God’s love, defines the amorous relation of God and humans in two levels: a general level and a specific level. The first level proves the life value and the second level strengthens the sense of meaningfulness of life by using value-based interpretation. Through this analysis it will be understood that love has different aspects and God is the only origin of them. Each of these aspects could play a significant role in making the life meaningful.

Sacrifice, as one of the most important religious rituals, is widespread among different nations and cultures of the world. This rite which has been the subject of scholarly research for a long time involves various aspects and a variety of subjects, objects and methods. During the last two centuries scholars have dealt with this issue through different approaches such as sociological, psychological, mythological and phenomenological and thus have put forward various theories. The present article tries to give a brief survey of the theories of three scholars, namely Edward Burnett Tylor, Herbert Spencer and James G. Frazer, concerning the origin, object and meaning of the sacrifice.

In this article the concept of "heart", a central doctrine in Orthodox Christian mysticism, will be studied. Heart is the center of human existence, in which all practical, intellectual and voluntary abilities are rooted. The entire spiritual life, and even physical life, is based on the heart. Therefore, on the one hand, in the body heart is the center of physical life, and on the other, it is the center of spiritual life which is interpreted as "the way" or "path". So according to the Orthodox mysticism, the spiritual endeavor is a journey to deep heart stage, which is the place of the presence of Trinity. The aim of this journey is to realize the Kingdom of Heavens in the depths of the heart, and to experience the vision of God and Divine similitude (theosis or deification).