Ayeneh Ma‘refat
Year:2012 | Volume:10 | Issue:31|Papers Count:10

One of the major issues in the doctrinal and theological debates is methodology. Generally speaking, the methodology can be rational, traditional or both. In the rational methodology, the interpretation can rely on rational reasoning or rational reasoning in combination with religious texts. This is true with the traditional methodology which can rely on outward aspects without due attention to rational reasoning or can rely on both of them. All theological schools have their own methodologies among which the methodologies of Imamieh, Mutazilites, and Asharites are clearly inferable from research studies and publications. However, the methodology of Matorydyh has received little attention and as a result is full of ambiguities. Adopting a library research procedure with an analytic descriptive method, the present article examines the methodology of Matorydyh and concludes that this methodology is an intermediate between reasoning and tradition.

On the basis of the monitor theory, the philosophy of humanities is concerned with the what of realized humanities with a logical approach and the what of the desired humanities with a historical approach and the way it can be realized. The specific humanities with a logical approach consists of the Islamic behavioral and social sciences and a set of propositions which explains and interprets the social and individual behavior of the realized human being using a combination of methods (experimental and non-experimental) and non-empirical principles (wisdom, revelation and intuition). Taking advantage of human values, the specific humanities try to change the realized man to the desired one. The history of Islamic humanities is presented in three phases and the various viewpoints on west, west-orientation, and west-aversion are introduced.The pathology and improvement of humanities are presented in three spheres: optimization, localization and Islamization. The strategic process is explained in four stages including culture building, criticism, production and dissemination and the implementation process in three steps including the formation of qualifier council, the policy council and the community groups and the process of the evolution of knowledge in three critical stages including the critique of western heritage, the discovery of Islamic heritage and the development of philosophies and theories of Islamic humanities.

The present article is an attempt to provide a new and comprehensive definition for “new religious movements” based on the previous definitions. The assumption is that the requirements of such a definitions have their own limitations; however, the author has managed to propose two different definitions based on his investigation of the two previous approaches to define “new religious movements”; that is, “definitions by analyzing the purports” and “definitions by referring to instances”. The author demonstrates that the first approach provides an exact definition of a certain religious movement as an instance and the second provides a general and universal definition by focusing on the common elements of new religious movements. The conclusion is that the first approach lack comprehensiveness as a prerequisite for its application to all sects. The second approach should be preferred as it manages to overcome the limitations of the first approach.

Shaykhits consider hurqalya as a one level of existence which is more transparent and more subtle than the physical world. Although they believe that there exist objects in hurqalya, for them these objects are more transparent and subtler than their corresponding objects in the physical world. For them, hurqalya is the discontinuous imaginal world. Due to the inconsistency in Shaykhiyya’s thought system, hurqalya sometimes wavers between the spiritual and the physical world and at some other times between the physical world and the world of pure intelligence. Making a distinction between the body and the corpse, Shaykhits postulate four bodies for man; some belonging to the physical world and some to the imaginal world. The second body which belongs to the imaginal world is the one referred to in Hadiths as ajb-u-zanab and in Mulla Sadra’s philosophy as the imaginative power. The present article is an attempt to examine Shaykhits’ views on hurqalya and the imaginative mind and to check the accuracy of their application to the continuous and discontinuous world.

The present article is the study of the theological consequences of man’s interference with creation. This topic is of significance because of the fact that some of man’s interferences with creation have given rise to various theological doubts and challenges. With reference to samples of man’s interference, the theological consequences of such interferences are analyzed and the doubts are dealt with according the outcomes of the present study. Based on the outcomes, irrespective of how widespread, destructive and evil these interferences can be they do not breach the uncontested belief principles such as the divine absolute agency, the common comprehensive divine order and the purposefulness, wiseness and superiority of divine creation. The reason is that man’s agency is subordinate to divine existential laws and traditions, His providence and common divine order. They are not realizable outside the sphere of these laws and traditions. Therefore, the supposition of man’s interference with creation, divine order, and creation destinations or the possibility of disturbing the order or destructing the conditions of life on earth is not valid.

Death is of three types: death in accident, voluntary death and natural death. There is consensus over the cause of voluntary death and death in accident. The cause of death in accident is the incapacity of the body to sustain its possession of the soul. The cause of voluntary death is the refinement of the soul, the eradication of passions and the dependency of the soul to the body of the mystic. The major concern of the present article is an explanation of the cause of natural death. In relation to the cause of natural death there are three approaches in the Islamic philosophy. The approach of Avicenna and the physicians is to deal with the receptive physical causes of death which leads to a physiological explanation. The second approach is the theological one which deals with the accidental ultimate cause of death. The third one is Mulla Sadra’s ontological approach which deals with the ultimate inherent cause of death demonstrating the necessity of death to all human beings. From Mulla Sadra’s point of view, the completion of soul is the real cause of natural death. Due to its novelty and systematicity, this point of view deserves close attention and research. The present article tries to analyze and explain the similarities and distinctions of the current views on the cause of death and to demonstrate their deficiencies.

Wisdom (Hikmah) means firm theoretical knowledge which leads to appropriate action removing ignorance. Muslim philosophers have defined wisdom as knowledge of the essence of God, skilled craftsmanship, academic skills, knowledge of distant causes, acquiring knowledge of the superior recognizable being through the best of sciences, seeking spiritual perfection and knowledge of the essence of beings. The word “wisdom” has been mentioned twenty times in the holy Koran. By reference to the prophet’s and Imam’s sayings and commentators’ views, we can infer several meanings for the word wisdom including knowledge of the holy Koran, its guidelines and laws, knowledge of the prophet and Imams, inherent wisdom (Ilm al Ladduni), knowledge of the essence of God and knowledge of the Islamic ethics and beliefs.Studies show that Muslim philosophers have developed Islamic philosophy under the influence of Koranic teachings. For this reason, despite differences in interpretation, the meanings mentioned refer to a single truth, that is, knowledge of the essence of God and His creation in such a manner that it would lead to human perfection and happiness. Although wisdom is different from philosophy, Islamic philosophy is so close to wisdom that many Islamic philosophers have considered them as synonymous and others like Suhrawardi and Mir Damad have established their schools of thought on this basis. The present article is an attempt to demonstrate the consistency between the philosophical meaning of wisdom and its Koranic meaning through conceptual analysis.