Religions and Mysticism
Year:2018 | Volume:51 | Issue:1 |Papers Count:7

Prayer is a special order of Islam and a measure of acceptance of deeds. The esoteric cult, "Dhikriya", which has been formed in Balochistan since about five centuries ago, claims that what is order in Islam is "Dhik", and the translation of the "Salat" to prayer, which begins with Takbir and finishes with Salam, and contains some special actions and recitation, is a corruption has been committed by Iranians. Therefore, the prayer with its agreed shape and practical method, is abrogated and atheistic. This view is against Qur'anic verses: "When you have established the prayer, remember Allah standing, sitting, and on your sides" and "establish the prayer of My remembrance", which differentiate between Dhikr and prayer; and also with the repeated narrations like "one, who leaves the prayer intentionally, is disbeliever". The study of history and behaviors of the "Dhikriya" shows that their beliefs and behaviors are far from the Qura'n and narrations, and has been originated from Indian esotericism.

Religious iconography is a branch of the sacred art and has a high instructional, propagandist, ritualistic and empirical value to religious traditions. This artistic tendency has a high place and impotence in Buddhism and has been manifested perfectly in Bodhisattvas’ miniatures. The present article, using the documentary method wants to show a short account of Holiness’ manifestation in Buddhist art. The results show that the traditional Buddhism, because the lack of mythological and metaphysical codification, was devoid of iconolatry, but later Buddhism, under effects of Greek art of Qandahara and Matura, Iranian religiosity, and inner theological developments, such as, the formulation of Tri-kaya doctrine and by the necessity of appeasing the thirst spirit of Buddhist disciples, approached to iconography. In the present essay, as an example, codification, symbolism and iconography of the Bodhisattva, called Avaloktishvara, has briefly been studied. its findings show that, apparently in Avaloktishvara’ s iconography, beads, triple spear, sword, varada-mudra, monarchy diamond stick, and lotus have been prevalent and each of them shows a dimension of his responsibilities.

Karl Barth, the Christian New Orthodox theologian, is one of the most influential Christian scholars of the twentieth century. Barth's theological approach is one of the three theological traditions of the new Christian theology and is a criterion for Christian theology. His theology lies between John Hick's pluralist tradition and Karl Runner's inclusivism, and is considered exclusivist in Christianity. In the discussion of salvation, of course, Barth can be regarded as exclusivist. The present article, using a content analysis methodology, examines Barthes's view of salvation, and has shown that he, although emphasizing Christ as a way of salvation, can be exclusivist, but he decisively believes in the salvation of all human beings; and, in the soteriology, has an inclusive view. He believes that all human beings, based on their possibility of being and based on the existence of Jesus Christ, are subject to divine mercy and salvation.

As a religious minority, Jews used to live in the Middle East for a long time. During the Sassanid era, some of them lived in the territory of Iran and some others in the Byzantine territory. The reign of Khosrow Parvī z is one of the most important parts of the Sasanid history during which the rebellion of Bahrā m-i Chū bī n took place. This period also observed twenty five years of war between Iran and The Byzantine Empire; and there are reports of the situation of the Jews during these events. At that time, Jews in the Byzantine territory were under the great religious pressure of the Christian Empire of their time, and they rebelled to liberate themselves from that situation and joined the Iranian armies. They played an important role in conquering Jerusalem. Khosrow Parvī z also contributed them in the administration of some parts of Palestine. Many scholars believe that after several years and seeing the importance of the Christians in the region, Khosrow Parvī z changed his policy towards the Jews and suppressed them. This article re-examines the sources of that era, and has come to a different conclusion; that is, the Jews kept their authority until the end of Khosrow's era, and were in good shape.

This paper attempts to study the degrees of spirits in the viewpoint of Nasafi and Najm al-Din Razi. Nasafi and Najm al-Din Razi. The results of the study show that although both of this mystics wre influenced by the view of philosophers, but had some innovations about it. There is common ground in their views. Regardless of formal similarities, there are also similarities in terms of content between their views, including: 1. The degrees of spirits are conferred and there is no change in them; 2. The perfection of man is in the attachment of the spirit to the body, because the body is the place of dimness and darkness, and the background of seeking the perfection; 3-By planning the degrees of spirits, both mystics explain the arc of descent in the universe. Paying attention to the steady flow and return to the origin also, they depicts the arc of ascension in the circle of the universe. These similarities can be considered as a reason for the Nasafi's influence of Najmuddin Razi.

“ Good and Evil” , and their relation to the origin of being, as well as their being issued from the single principle, or dual and multiple principles, are the most critical topics in the teachings of mystical schools. Sufism and Kabbalah also have particular views about Good and Evil, their relationship with each other, the source of their authenticity, or their relativity in the world. This paper attempts to explain these views using a comparative study. Sufism and Kabbalah consider God as an absolute Good, but at the same time, they can not deny the existence of evil in this world. Meanwhile, Sufism has solved the paradox of attributing evil to absolute Goodness by grabbing the concept of relativity. But most of the Kabbalists ignored this contradiction and attributed the evil directly to God. The great figures in Sufism consider the good as innate and the evil as accidental. But some Kabbalists regard certain evil as intrinsic, and others, like Sufis, regard evil as accidental.

Emphasizing on narrative mode and criticizing global standards of enlightenment, narrative theology made its identity in 1970s Christian thought of United States. However, the emphasis on narratives of a group or community’ s culture or tradition, led to a seclusion in our multicultural world, and furthermore, being far from praxis. On the other hand, Johann Baptist Metz’ s political theology, by stressing on notions that narrative is their pivot, introduces some facilities to narrative theology. Metz’ s theology aims to praxis as well as interest in multicultural dialogue. So, Metz’ s political theology can endow some facilities to narrative theology for solving their problems, although it is not counted as a narrative theology in proper word.