Journal of Religious Studies
Year:2017 | Volume:11 | Issue:21|Papers Count:8

According to the Middle Persian textsMarg-arzān is a sin that is punished by death. In the list of the degrees of the sins, Marg-arzān is the heaviest one. Several Middle Persian texts speak about the sin and its punishment, some of them have allotted a whole chapter to the subject and other speak about it sporadically. In this article, capital offences and their trial procedures has been surveyed according to Pahlavi texts. Capital offences are divided into the "offenses /sins regarding opposite party (=hamēmālān) " and the "offenses which endanger the soul of the criminal (=ruwānīg) ". Some of the sins such as killing, stealing and perjury have been placed in the group of " hamēmālān " because they harm an opposite party. Other sins, such as converting to another religion, deceiving and burying the dead, have been placed in the group of " ruwānīg " because they harm one own soul. This paper also surveys the legal and religious procedures for punishing the sinners.

Over two thousand years ago, Buddhist embryology made it very clear that a separate, independent human life begins at the moment of conception. In contrast to the situation in western countries, there has been relatively little serious discussion of abortion as a religious and ethical issue in Buddhist countries. Leaders of the Buddhistsangha have said very little indeed on the issue. The Buddhist teachings have made it clear that unskillful acts, like abortion, always have negative consequences for the agent. As we have seen, Buddhists understand the fetus to be a human being; therefore, abortion obviously should be covered under the first precept, namely "to abstain from taking life". But some contemporary Buddhist thinkers and scholars of Buddhism in the West and a much smaller number in the East are beginning to address bioethical issues according to modern embryological research. They argue that although all abortions are condemned by Buddhists as the taking of human life, as the pregnancy progresses, there is some controversy about whether or not, from the Buddhist Point of view, a late term abortion is a more unskillful act than one performed early on in the pregnancy. Finally, Buddhists, unlike feminists, understand the fetus to be a person.

Although Zoroaster and some of his teachings have been familiar to the Western people from the ancient time, the academic study of the history and the culture of Zoroastrianism has begun since the beginning of the 18th century. From that time, especially after the great development of the philological study in the 19th century, Zoroastrian texts have been studied in an academic and critical way. However as Zoroastrianism is an ancient religion belongs to the distant past and its limited sources it has been almost impossible to portray a clear image of the history of the religion. Actually Zoroastrian sources belong to different ages, from the late second millennium B.C.E to the early Islamic period (7th C.E.). Naturally Zoroastrianism has been developed through this vast amount of time. The Western scholars has interpreted this development from the different viewpoints: some of them believe these different texts did not belong to a single tradition so we should speak of ancient Iranian religions (instead of a religion). However some scholars have tried to find a single tradition through these various texts and the other hold that there was a single tradition which had different manifestations in the different ages and areas.

Religious Experience simply means to encounter with the Holy or with a transcendent being. Manifested within individuals, this aspect of religion (s) related to the specific rituals of a certain religion. This kind of experience helps man release from suffering and difficulties and enables him to resist unwilling situations. One’s cognitive system, thus, may survive inside a secure shelter. William James is the first scholar to use the term, while Yung furthered the inherited concept in the 20th century. According to Yung, religion is based on the sacred experience or Numinous and means surrender to a higher power. Rooted in the collective unconscious which in turn contains archetypes, religious beliefs and dogmas are believed to be the outer manifestation of the inner part of our psyche, derived from within the experience of any certain religion.

In Buddhist Tantrism mahāsukha means immortal pleasure and Supreme Bliss. This state is the highest realm of Buddhist perfection, beyond the realm of being and changing world, freed from rational thinking and the social customs and rituals. According to Buddhist Tantrism, it is possible to reach mahāsukha, through ritual ceremonies and yoga practices, both physical and sexual, so in this world all human beings, whether good or bad, superior or inferior, worthy or unworthy could attain this perfection. It seems that, the religious conception of immortal pleasure and infinite happiness in Tantric tradition roots in the fact that in Tantrism it is human beings not God that is the subject of speculation. Moreover, the body is not assumed to be degrading and humiliating but it is the sacred temple through which man can easily achieve happiness and Supreme Bliss, if he knows how to use it. Furthermore in tantric Buddhism, mahāsukha or immortal enjoyment is achieved through participating in the Enlightenment of Inherent Buddha, Dharma-kāya or Vajra-sattva, and the union of prajnā and upāya. So Buddhist Tantrism is one of the earliest esoteric traditions that tries to explain the ancient idea of eternal pleasure, a system in which the female and the male counterparts play a significant role through yogic exercises to achieve eternal bliss.

The emergence of Alevi-Bektashi order of dervishes was the result of political, social, economic and cultural developments that occurred widely in Anatolia under Seljuk dynasty. There are many factors involved in the formation of Alevi-Bektashi order of dervishes such as ancient religions of Turks which were brought from Transoxiana, the presence of the great Mystic Sheikhs in Anatolia, the presence of Christianity and Greek culture throughout the region and the cultural policies of the Seljuks kings. In this paper, the impact of Shiite doctrine on Alevi-Bektashi order in their early history will be considered. Concerning to many Shi‘a slogan in Alevi Bekatashi ritual ceremonies, the assumption is that the Shi‘a was associated with Alevi -Bektashis in 7th C.E. In this paper, firstly, we have a look at the political situation of Anatolia in 7th C.E., then, looking for the effects of shi’a doctorine on their early sources such as Maqalat by Haj Bektash Veli, Al-Fava’id, Manaqib al-qudsiyah fi Manasib al-Ensiyah, the collection of Bektashis Nafas and so on. Finally, the main Shiite beliefs such as Ghadir event, fourteen innocence and etc. will be compared with the beliefs of the Alevi –Bektashis.

This article tries to look at the path toward God in Islamic mysticism with the emphasis on Devine Names. In other words, through Devine Names we try to recognize and define the states of mystical path. For this purpose, we collect different views about the mystical journey from Sufi works, then we extract the common Devine Names parallel to each state of the journey. Since, as Sufis mentioned, Devine Names have an effect on each other, especially the Seven Names of God are the bases for Divine manifestation, so they are the principal elements for the God realization and assuming the Divine character. Therefore, as the mystics say, the Devine Names are the keys for the locked gates of the mystical path.