RELIGIONS AND MYSTICISM
Year:2023 | Volume:55 | Issue:2|Papers Count:12

This article studies the nature, components and function of religion in ancient China, especially the Shang period. Therefore, the study and analysis of works left from that period, including iconography on ritual bronze vessels, writings on oracle bones, royal tombs, and some late works (such as poetry book), show information about their religious beliefs and rituals. The religion of Shang included the belief in Shang Di, the Supreme God, the spirits of ancestors, the spirits and gods of nature, and the belief in life after death. The Supreme God was at the top and the rest of the spirits and gods were at a lower level and were his agents and subordinates. Communicating with spirits, gods and God in order to obtain favorable living conditions, or at least to be safe from evils, in a mutual relationship, has been associated with the implementation of rituals; the most important of which is very detailed burial, worshiping God and spirits, and ritual of sacrifice, in which shamans and the royal family, especially the king, played a role and supervised the performance of religious rituals. This shows that the Shang religion has the necessary components of being a religion; and the belief in Shang-di also puts it in the category of monotheism. There was a strong link between religion and power, in such a way that religion strengthened the king's power politically and at the same time controlled it, and the king's political power strengthened the religious influence.

During 1250-1344 A.H./1834-1925 AD, i.e., for more than half a century, American missionaries were active in the Qajar Iran. Within this relatively long period, they initiated various activities in those fields of religion, education, culture and public health in Iran. Although different regions in the west and north of Iran, especially the provinces of Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Hamedan, Kermanshah and Gilan, were the scene of their measures, the former was considered as the first and most important region of their activities. Azerbaijan had long been the home of various Christian minorities such as Armenians, Assyrians and Chaldeans. Catholic missionaries, like the Carmelite priests, were present in this province since the Safavid period. The American missionaries, who mostly sought to revive the Nestorian Church, provided educational-cultural as well as health services for the Christians of Azerbaijan. These missionaries, through their long presence and close connections in the province, were able to influence the Assyrian society of the province. The present article, based on descriptive-analytical method, intends to study both activities of American missionaries among the Assyrians and their results as well. The findings show that the Assyrian society, as a result of the cultural measures of the American Mission Board, experienced changes. While the Assyrians became able to regain their social status, the traditional consistent of their society was disintegrated. Moreover, these changes brought about the confrontation of the Assyrians with their fellow Muslim countrymen.

For "theism" prayer is a kind of conversation with a deity. Against this, "pantheism" dismisses this definition and defines it as "meditation" due to its negation of personality. Prayer as, meaning "meditation,"  also faces challenges. This meaning of prayer is not only conceptually incompatible with the impersonal divinity but is also contradictory to the conventional understanding of the prayer and field reality of the believers’ behaviors. Hence, meditation not only does not place "pantheism" in superior standing as compared to “theism,” but also subjects it to challenges under the heading of the definition of religion. . If, by definition, religion fails to reveal a worthy standing for prayer, it is said to be incompatible, and this is a shortcoming that seriously threatens “pantheism”. This article reviews the semantics of prayer in two conceptions of “theism” and “pantheism” to investigate the criticism raised, finally demonstrating shortcomings of the meanings of prayer in “pantheism”, as its meaning in “theism” is more defensible.

Ever since the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, experts have always sought to investigate the relationship between scroll literature, the Qumran Cummunity, and formal Judaism. In this regard, the present research has analyzed, analyzed and criticized the "concept of wisdom" in the 4Q185 sapiential fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The importance of this Qumran text is that by providing and presenting a new example of sapiential instructions, it shows the position and importance of sapiential teachings in the Second Temple period. On the one hand, these teachings are closely related to the prescriptive teachings of the books of Proverbs and Bin Sira, and on the other hand, it gives a new concept of wisdom. This essay presents the results obtained from the concept of wisdom by examining and analyzing the various and interconnected components of the 4Q185 fragment, and then considering the historical conditions and showing the connection of this scroll with Qumran Cummunity, the components of the fragment It also criticizes and evaluates 4Q185 and opens a new perspective of Judaism in the first century AD: by analyzing and looking deeply into the components of 4Q185, we have come to the conclusion that how some traditions in Judaism develop and evolve, and when they are faced with new religious, cultural and social challenges, they are once again formed from the ancient Jewish tradition. Therefore, based on the examination and analysis of new sapiential components in the scrolls 4Q185, we have reached an understanding of one of the important historical and sociological issues of Judaism in the Second Temple period and have criticized it.

Between Constitutional Revolution and Pahlavi, modernity and modernism were important concerns of the administration and religious people. Sufis reacted in fields like modern education, clothing, and parties, as well as in theoretical areas and foundations of modern thinking like nationalism and humanism. Safi ‘Alishahi and Sultan ‘Alishahi, the main branches of Nematullahiyya Tariqat, each had different perspectives and practices. The question is that based on their religious foundations, what approach they assumed regarding the wave of modernism in constitutional revolution and Pahlavi period?  Sufis avoided revolutionary measures of constitutional revolution but were not detached from the wave of modernization; during the Pahlavi period, conformities and oppositions with mainly cultural issues forced them to revise their religious foundations. The results show that Sufis accepted the manifestations of modernization but not the structural and fundamental changes in religious beliefs.

The golden rule is based on self-other duality. Saadi has explicitly mentioned this rule in one of his pieces with a negative expression. Assuming Saadi's attention to the golden rule, the question is, what is the reason for paying attention to the other in Saadi's thought? And how has this rule been reflected in his narratives and wisdom with regard to the five areas of human existence, namely beliefs, feelings, desires, speech and actions? The answers to these questions have been done with a descriptive-analytical method. The results of this article show that Saadi's attention to another of the three sources of attention to the divine, selfishness, and the importance of social justice. Saadi has presented the golden rule in the form of wisdom, parables and the words of the characters in the story, as a concrete thing and as a lived experience, and as a result, the possibility of identification and its emotional impact has increased; It means thinking of oneself as someone else and wanting what is desirable for someone else.

One of the most common ancient moral teachings of considering oneself as equal with others is called the Golden Rule, which has long been the focus of different schools in time and world. This rule, as an important moral value and norm, by "adopting another perspective" (perspective_taking) causes the mutual understanding of individuals and is the cornerstone of other moral standards. . The implementation of this rule requires accurate knowledge of the needs, good and evil of others with one's own conscience. In fact, to implement this rule, one must imagine oneself in another position, which causes a kind of epistemological-motivational empathy. The golden rule means "treat others as you would like to be treated" and the golden rule "do not like what others do not like for themselves" is explicitly or with different interpretations in Nahj al-Balaghah. This research uses a descriptive and analytical method and through the collection of library information to try to explain the different interpretations of the golden and silver rules in Nahj al-Balagheh. According to the results of this study, fairness, justice, compassion, identification of self-interests with others, forgiveness, meeting with different sections of society and self-discipline are among the conceptual forms of the golden rule in the words of Amir.

Although in the mysticism of Ibn Arabi, the aspect of super-sensible world of man has of special importance, and most of the mystics explain this aspect of man, but in the works of Ibn Arabi, the importance and role of the bodily aspect of man is also significant. About the importance of the bodily aspect of man in theoretical mysticism, this question appears in the mind: Does the physical dimension of man as an important reality have an effect on the surrounding realities from Ibn Arabi's point of view? And basically, is there a relationship between this dimension and the surrounding realities? This article, which is written based on the library and content analysis method, seeks to answer these types of questions, and finally it is concluded that the bodily  aspect of man, based on the important principles of Ibn Arabi's theoretical mysticism, plays an important role in the world of existence; such as, the realization of the best design, the perfection of the world, the perfection of the hereafter, giving distinction by divine light in the world, the appearance of actions and creatures, the manifestation of the face of the Allah the Exalted, the adaptation of the microcosm to the macrocosm, the goal and destination of nature, the most complete manifestation and hiding the truth of the Allah the Most High for surviving the world. This article shows that the role and function of the human bodily aspect has wide aspects that include all levels of existence.

Akbar the Great's reforms at the end of the 16th century in India is an important issue. These reforms were opposed by Muslim religious scholars. During Aurangzeb's reign, these oppositions led to the dominance of conservative scholars against Akbar's religious reforms. The consequence of this situation was the emergence of signs of degeneration among the Muslim communities of India. It was in such a situation that Shah Valiullah Dehlavi, in order to discover the causes of degeneration, started a modernist approach to the Islamic tradition by looking from within the religious texts. This research aims to investigate the impact of Akbar Shah Gorkani's reforms on the religious innovation of Valiullah Dehlavi by using the historical research method and the application of Hegel's dialectic theory, relying on historical sources and the works of Wali Allah. The findings of the research show that Akbar Shah's reforms can be explained as a thesis, Muslim scholars' opposition to it as an antithesis, and finally Wali Allah's modernization can be explained as a synthesis.

The secularization in Iran has been the subject of much research, explaining that most studies to measure secularization measure the degree of religiosity of society and the reverse of religiosity is considered secularization. This article claims that secularization is a phenomenon independent of religiosity, and appropriate measures must be taken to measure it. Therefore, the author attempts to show its levels, dimensions and components by limiting the meaning of secularization. The article shows that secularization occurs in three levels: macro, medium and micro, and in three dimensions: social, religious and individual. Social secularization has three components: structural, cultural and organizational, and occurs in three areas: society, politics, and economics. Religious secularization, which manifests itself in the form of "acceptance of customary values, norms and rules" and "utilitarianism", is related to both macro and medium levels. Personalization refers to the secularization of one's motives, values, beliefs, feelings, cognitions, and behaviors.

Roozbehan is a mystic who loves beauty, and "revelation and intuition", "love" and "hope" are the three distinctive features of his mysticism. The current research is focused on this fundamental question: how does Roozbehan think about "God", "man" and "being", when his mysticism focuses on the aforementioned three characteristics? In order to find the answer, we have analyzed Abar al-Asheqeen with a descriptive and analytical approach and focusing on the fundamental concepts of "God", "man" and "being". In Roozbehan’s view, on the one hand, eternity is understood with beauty and light, and on the other hand, creation is the result of the manifestation of eternity in two intrinsic and current forms, which leads to the emergence of old and created concepts. "Manifestation of works" implies love and hope, and "metaphorical relationship" of accidental and eternal beauty implies discovery and intuition in the mystical view of Rozbahan. Also, all aspects of the metaphorical relationship between accidental and eternal beauty are gathered in the term "Eltebas". This concept is also based on the field of human "imagination" which ultimately creates the kind of discovery of Roozbehan.

The esoteric sect of "Zhikriya" which started in the 10th century of Hijri in an area called "Torbat" in Baluchistan, Pakistan, is a sect whose religious beliefs have been taken from some prominent sects in the Islamic world. The followers of the Zhikriya sect have created heresies in their acts of worship and religious rituals, whose beliefs require scientific analysis and evaluation. One of the religious beliefs of this sect is the belief in the end of prophethood, in which two approaches have been reported in their religious sources. In this article, the criticism and analysis of its point of view about the end of prophethood is discussed. One of the results of the present research is that the views of the Zhikriya regarding the end of prophethood with the teachings of the Quran and Prophetic progeny are divergent. Their claim has caused a distortion in the resuscitative teachings of Islam and is in conflict with religious teachings.