PAZHUHISHNAMIH IRFAN
Year:2017 | Volume:- | Issue:16|Papers Count:12

In this paper we have tried to take a historical-analytical glance at the works of the founder of the School of Illumination, Shahab al-Din Yahya ibn Habash Suhrawardi, and some related texts in order to rediscover his spiritual genealogy he himself has pictured in his Kitab al-Mashari' wa'l-Motarahat. A brief and clear-cut explanation of his genealogy and his mystical-theosophical style primarily depends upon accurate understanding of illuminationist theosophy, devout theosophy and its representatives. Suhrawardi himself has carefully and masterly explained and clarified the whys and wherefores for including persons and signs and symbols in the genealogy of the School of Illumination in two Oriental (Iranian) and Western (Greek) branches. In this paper, we will study the similarities and differences between the two Ancient Iranian and Pythagorean philosophies in view of the founder of this school of philosophy.

Interpretation is among the important branches of science in understanding the esoteric meaning of the Holy Quran verses and traditions. Jami is one of the mystics who has paid a special attention to this. Jami’s interpretations on the verses of the Holy Quran and the traditions attributed to the Prophet are worthy of serious attention. He has applied deepest concepts in theoretical mysticism in explanation of the esoteric meaning of the verses and narrations. The solid examples in his Quranic interpretations include: interpretation of the Paradise to the nature, earth to the truth of concrete entities, firmaments to the attributes and qualities and stars to the rays reflecting the Mohammedan truth. The abundance of the terms of theoretical mysticism shows mastership of Jami in this deep and complicated science.In interpretation of the traditions attributed to the Prophet (PBUH) of Islam, Jami has manifested unique ingenuity and innovation. In this paper, Jami’s entire prose and poetry have been studied. Upon careful extraction and precise evaluation of his mystical interpretations – with a special approach toward the theoretical mysticism – we have compared and contrasted his Quranic interpretations with a few important mystical commentaries written before him. Also we have compared and contrasted his interpretations of the traditions attributed to the Prophet (PBUH) with a few important mystical texts in Persian literature. In the end, the similarities and differences between the two texts have been reviewed.

Farid al-Din Attar’s Mosibatnameh (Book of Lamentations), written in line with clarification of mystical teachings and with the aim of proximity to the Divine nature, has been founded on codes that are decoded either by the spiritual guide or directly by Attar himself. In view of Attar, all the universe, heaven and earth, are filled with higher codes that fall into three categories: The first group of codes are natural-based such as inanimate things, vegetation, animals and even the universe. In this group the sun and the sea are among the most important and highest codes as the codes of Divine essence. The second group of codes are the human codes which the messengers of Allah, as the real directors of wayfaring, lead the wayfarers toward total spiritual annihilation in the presence of the most perfect human being, i.e. The Prophet (PBUH) of Islam. The third group are the spiritual codes, hidden inside the human being. Although they are not exoteric, they contain codified meanings. In this paper, we have tried to study the collection of codes in Mosibatnameh in detail and in the three above-said levels, in order to discover new mystical concepts in the treasury of mystical views of Attar. It also intends to clarify some stages of wayfaring in the light of the triple codes.

The term Vilayat has been abundantly used in the majority of works during the era of Sufism. However, a research in the works of Sultan Mohammad Gonabadi, known as Sultan Alishah, the Imami mystic of the 13th and 14th centuries hegira shows that he has given new definitions of Vilayat in discussions related to mysticism and Sufism. According to him, the term Vilayat that has been abundantly used in transmitted narrations attributed to the Prophet (PBUH) and the Infallible Imams, refers to one of the following three: 1- The common pledge of allegiance in Sufism which is realized by shaking hands; 2- The heavenly image of the Infallible Imams in the heart of wayfarer that has been interpreted as faith, Divine tranquility and knowledge of the Truth in verses and narrations; and 3- The state of the appearance of the said image, i.e. yielding to and obeying the Imams and servitude to Allah.

Symbolic study and analysis of religious teachings intend to display the meaning and depth of these instructions. This paper intends to explore and present a meaningful relationship in human relations and in conjugal life through a symbolic or codified language. The main focus of this paper is clarifying the concept of religious teaching through symbols and codes in an epistemological, ontological, and finally anthropological structure, particularly on conjugal life and matrimony and their related issues. This paper has applied a semantic approach and resorted to written documents to make the research in a library method. The preference of the paper is inter-religious and the principal and secondary issues are based on philosophical and mystical analyses as well as interpretive and narrative texts. In view of genealogy, the paper is based on multi-genealogical approach. The results of this paper show that explanation and clarification of religious teachings through symbols and codes can be very influential in exploring the meaningful relationship among the components of religion. Also, the findings of the paper showed that in view of great mystics such as Ibn Arabi and Qaysari and some other Muslim scholars, matrimony – in manifestation of the Truth - is a symbol of the Attributes of Allah in the world of human sense, exploring of the relations of which can grant a Divine meaning to the conjugal life.

There are some texts among various Persian literary works with in-depth human-world outlook, the meaningfulness and durability of which depend upon accord, interconnectivity, unity and amalgamation of form and meaning. Such an amalgamation, at the same time, is the most appropriate ground for interpretation and de-codification. Due to the endless thirst of the addresses in each period to new concepts, they possess endless capacities for review. It is due to the nature of mystical literature that from epistemological point of view, one can embark on resolving some intellectual crises of the contemporary man. One of the pressing challenges before the contemporary man is the “denial of appropriateness” from the existence, including the world man lives in and the world of man whose humanity depends upon. This research work, developed in a descriptive-analytical method, has tried to, based on hermeneutic approaches, identify strategies for resolving the crisis of the inappropriateness in modern world through mystical works written in between the 6th and 8th centuries hegira.

Divine vicegerency is one of the highly respected human capacities that have been studied and clarified in gnostic discussions of such theosophists as Imam Khomeini. Imam Khomeini considers as an existential necessity without which esoteric nature cannot be understood well. To understand the caliph and discover his qualities, one must first understand the one who has attained the position of vicegerency in order to recognize the caliph through the unity of appearance (exoteric qualities) and epiphany or his exoteric representation. This is what Imam Khomeini has discussed in detail in his Misbah al-Hidayah (The Light of Guidance). The caliph has a two-pronged character. He shall be a man of the world of divinity when working in the cause of Truth and shall be a man dedicated to the people and the material world when turns into a hand that receives. His image of divinity is called Vilayat (Islamic guardianship) and his image of material world includes prophethood and messengership. On this basis, vicegerency shall be interpreted in two Divine and material aspects with first and last, esoteric and exoteric representation. In view of Imam Khomeini, the caliph is a true representation of Truth. This paper has been developed with a descriptive-analytical method.

This paper reviews the structure and elements of Rouzbehan Baqali’s narrations in his Kashf ul-Asrar. The main theme of these reports centers round explanation of the revelations and spiritual visits of Rouzbehan with God that are narrative in structure. They are narrated within the context of surreal stories. In addition to studying the background of “observation” and “ecstatic utterance”, in this paper we have studied unconscious origin (archetype) of these narrations and the existing elements in these narrations that are proportionate to their origins. These elements are: time and place ambiguity, the existence of a superhero narrator, having a pattern for travel and quest, the existence of a guide, using symbols, vagueness of language and images, and attention to aesthetic elements that are all proportionate to unconscious state and the unconscious ego of the narrator. Also in these narrations, a survey of development and metamorphosis of the words from epical, literary and material state to mystical and spiritual words have been shown well via samples.

Afif al-Din Tilimsani was an Arab poet and mystic of the 7th century hegira who has left behind a golden treasury of high mystical concepts and who has played an outstanding role in the development of this higher culture in Arabic and Islamic literature. This research work, developed through a content analysis method, has tried to review and analyze the mystical themes in Afif al-Din Tilimsani’s poetry. The results of the study show that Tilimsani’s mystical worldview is manifested in such issues as unity of existence and honoring the Prophet (PBUH) who mediated between the world of the being and the love of Allah. In addition to the mystical teachings, he has tried to clarify practical wayfaring under volitional death, annihilation and survival, abstraction, and seclusion to help the wayfarer in his spiritual journey to the final destination. Tilimsani’s principal message is based on monotheistic worldview that is attained through esoteric purification. He has explained his own esoteric experience through his poetry and has pictured a combined atmosphere of material and spiritual love.

The quality of Sufism-Shi’ism relationship is one of the important areas in Islamic studies. Sufism created a very sacred history for itself from the beginning in which it linked Sufi scholars to the Infallible Imams, in particular to Imam Ali (AS). The concept of esoteric knowledge and its attribution to Imam Ali (AS) have been among important issues of the sacred history of Sufism. This school of thought, like people of tradition and jurists created a type of science for themselves and called it esoteric science. The principles, fundamentals, rites and rituals of this science were written by Sufism in the 4th century hegira after the murder of Hallaj. This paper intends to study the concept of esoteric science and its attribution to Imam Ali (AS) in a descriptive-analytical method.

The history of Islamic mysticism falls into two pre- and post-Ibn Arabi periods. These two periods maintain fundamental differences in subject, language, and objective. One major disagreement is the difference in meaning and positions of the terms of mysticism. This paper intends to review one instance of such difference, i.e. the important discussion of “epiphany”. In the first-period mysticism (practical mysticism), epiphany is defined in an axiological aspect along with wayfaring. Epiphany is a manifestation of Truth in the heart of the mystic that leads him toward proximity with Allah, Who is the ultimate goal of wayfaring. In the second-period mysticism (theoretical mysticism), in addition to axiological aspect, epiphany is defined in terms of ontology and via such concepts as holy emanation. In this paper, the important mystical works from the beginning, i.e. 4th century, to the 8th century have been studied carefully. In practical mysticism, Divine epiphany plays an outstanding role in determining the rank of the wayfarer and in realization of the mystical qualities in wayfaring toward Allah and the ascension of the wayfarer to the stations of self-denial and monotheism. This research work has reviewed types of epiphany and its role in the stations and stages of wayfaring.

Mysticism and ethics have always been two essential demands of the human beings in all ages. In the meantime, the spiritual token of the messengers of Allah, known as “transmitted mysticism and ethics”, is the best and safest response to this demand. The Holy Quran and the traditions attributed to the Infallible Imams are full of mystical and ethical teachings that need accurate ways of reasoning, such as intellect as one of the four requirements for independent reasoning, to be extracted. These methods, however, have not been used properly. This descriptive-analytical paper intends to clarify the achievements of Ayatollah Saadatparvar in his “Serr-ul Asrar” and interpret basics of his independent reasoning on the function of intellect. The following functions for intellect were extracted from the above source: the function of intellect in evaluation and validation of documents on mystical and ethical narrations, the function of intellect in settlement of disputes on mystical and ethical narrations, the function of intellect in interpretation of difficult mystical and ethical narrations and the function of independent intellect in issuing ethical decrees. Also the function of intellect in mystical discussions and denial of the power of intellect in Divine knowledge have been evaluated in some narrations. These show the importance and essentiality of Divine knowledge and esoteric intuition.