Journal of Religious Studies
Year:2014 | Volume:8 | Issue:15|Papers Count:8

The main characteristic of the prophets and saints is their innocence and purity. However, this innocence is not the same for all of them so it has different gradations and multiple levels. The highest degree of innocence is the noncompoundness or the purity and simplicity of existence which is the unique characteristic of the first Divine determination i.e. the Muhammadan Reality. The Divine Truth through its descending journey manifested itself in the forms of the Prophet and his household, therefore, all Divine attributes and perfections, such as inherent purity, genetic innocence and existential simplicity, exist in these manifestations. But in the natural world due to its restrictions, there is no room for these perfections. Therefore, the Prophet in his essence is an infinite and noncompound being, but, in the natural world and exoteric sense, is a man like other.

Gnosticism is in fact a mystical movement that includes different religions such as Manichaeism, Mandaeism and Christianity. Gnostics had a dualistic view and they considered the material world as the creation of an evil force. Their main doctrine is that the human soul is trapped in this world and the path of his salvation is passing through achievement of gnosis or the saving Knowledge, which brings to the mankind by divine messengers and holy saviors. This knowledge is acquired through the heart not the mind. Such an idea is considered as one of the most basic principles in Islamic mysticism, so there are remarkable similarities between gnostic and the Sufi epistemological standpoints. This becomes more obvious when we consider the meaning of the two words, gnosis and ‘rfan, both of which mean “knowledge”.

As sacred narratives, myths have reflected human worldview since the ancient times. One of the main preoccupations of human being was how and why men have been created. Egyptian and Mesopotamian mythology, which approximately are contemporaneous, have an important role in development of the myths of man’s creation. We can find a good deal of such accounts in inscriptions of Pyramids and coffins in Egypt and on clay tablets and other artistic relics in Mesopotamia. By surveying these accounts we are going to find their similarities and differences.

The Jews have an enduring presence in Iran. They invented Judeo-Persian language in order to have a kind of writing relationship with each other. Actually this is Persian language written in Hebrew alphabet. The oldest documents of this kind date back to the 8th century CE. There are numerous Judeo-Persian works including: interpretation of Old Testament, Hebrew grammar and lexicon, halakhah, midrash, poetry, stories and proverbs, magic, letters and legal documents. In these works we can not only trace some common terms of Islamic theology and jurisprudence, but also observe the remarkable influence of Sufi terms and teachings on Judeo-Persian language, especially the influence of mystic poets such as HafeZ, Saʻdi, ʻAttar, Nezami, Rumi and …. The present article, firstly introduces Judeo-Persian poets who have used Islamic mystical elements in their poems, then, studies these elements under six headings: mystical terms, Sufi approaches, Sufi symbols, anti-sufism, pro-sufism, stages of achieving the Reality (shariʻt, tariqat, haqiqat). Also, it intends to demonstrate the influence of Islamic Mysticism on the works of Jewish Persian poets.

In Islamic mysticism the term "entrusting" (tafwid) can be used in two ways: on the one hand, in ascending journey and at the level of spiritual practices when a mystic develops the virtue of trust (tawakkul) in himself the entrusting would be realized. On the other hand, in the descending journey entrusting means the complete surrender to the will of the grace intermediary. This kind of entrusting has two different types: "genetic entrusting" which refers to the dominance of grace intermediary over creation or genesis; and "entrusting in divine legislation" which means that the grace intermediary has permission from God to intervene in divine legislation, and to do whatever he thinks best for spiritual development of people.

Suffering is the undeniable and unavoidable fact of human life that its alleviation or reduction has always been a significant goal for religion and Science. As a new psychotherapeutic approach, logotherapy, has defined alleviation of suffering or making it bearable by finding a meaning for it. Christianity and Islam, as other religions, has accounted for suffering, explained its emergence and suggested certain attitudes towards it. Religious literary texts, by their capacity for conveying meaning to suffering can play a great role in giving a true meaning to our life. Since early 19th century, psychotherapist became aware of the book reading affectivity in psychotherapeutic process and now bibliotherapy has a half century of theoretical underpinnings. Religious literary text inspired by religious worldview and their effectiveness in influencing both emotional and cognitive components of their reader’s mind can be extremely useful in psychotherapy of believers. Paradise Lost and Mathnavi Ma’navi, respectively, are two very influencing and highly important text in Christian and Islamic cultures. So, inspired by their relative sacred texts can be highly effective in alleviating their reader’s suffering.  This essay illustrates that, in this context, Mathnavi Ma’navi is so much more effective than Paradise Lost.

Grace in Catholic theology is the free favour of God as manifested in the salvation of men. This teaching is related to important concepts such as faith, church, salvation, knowledge acquisition, and sacraments. On the other hand, the Principle of Lutf in Shi’a theology has a similar function, i.e. it is the Divine guidance realized by sending prophets and imams. The Omniscience God knows man's needs and by His wisdom directs whole creation, including man's life, from the beginning to the end. The Principle of Lutf is particularly mentioned in arguing about the prophethood, imamate and ijma (consensus between jurists). So the final goal of Grace and Lutf is similar: "guiding human beings" which leads to salvation. Both try to explain the relation of men and God from an epistemological point of view, therefore the comparative study of these teachings could be useful in the inter-religious dialogue between Islam and Christianity.