Journal Of Religious Thought
Year:2001 | Volume:2 | Issue:1-2|Papers Count:9

This article is going to find and review the roots of two concepts in political jurisprudence from Majlisi"s viewpoint. Firstly, the question of the legitimate temporal political authority (saltanat-i mashru"ah). Secondly, the guardianship of the jurist (wilayat- i faqih) and its parameters. The main source of the research will be Majlisi"s "Ayn al- hayat. It will be proved that wilayat- i faqih has been dealt with by Imami scholars a long before Imam Khomeini.

A study of the philosophical personality of Imam Ali (A.S.) is actually important because of the following reasons: 1) it reveals an aspect of his personality, 2) the significance of his ideas, 3) the significant position of philosophy in human knowledge, This paper is a research about the philosophical personality of Imam Ali (A.S.) and an analysis of its different aspects. Hopefully, it will illustrate a few points about the Alavi philosophy and the great personality and the philosophical ideas of Imam Ali (A.S.).

The subject of the faith and its concomitants is one of the most important controversial issues among Muslim theologians. In this paper, this issue has been discussed under three general headings: Faith and Knowledge, Faith and Verbal Confession, and Faith and Practice. In the first part, the relationship between faith and knowledge is demonstrated, and then, the nature of the knowledge required for the faith is studied. Afterwards, keeping the three distinctive approaches to faith in mind, i.e., intellectual, emotive, and intellectual-emotive approaches, different views of some Westem and Muslim thinkers are discussed. Finally, the intellectual-emotive approach, which is more comprehensive and compatible with the Qur"an and Ali (A.S.)"s speech is chosen by the author. In the second part, after reviewing Muslim theologians" views regarding the verbal-confessional aspect of faith, the Qur"an and Ali (A.S.)"s views on its lack of essentiality to faith is demonstrated. In the third part, first the nature of the relationship between faith and practice is studied, and then, textually supported by the Qur"anic verses and Ali"s speeches, it is proved that practice is not related to the conceptual meaning of faith. However, the fact that good deeds are necessary for religious faith and guarantee man"s happiness is re-affmned.

In the history of Islam almost all Sufi orders, except. Naqshbandieh, ascribe themselves to the general mastership of Imam Ali (A.S.), and believe that these orders reach the origin of Ali" s mastership through the intermediary of the infalliable Imams. Their insistence on this ascription specially during the time when Shi"a had apparently no power, for example, during the Seljuq period, is a sign of their spiritual devotion to and seeking guidance from Imam Ali (A.S.). This point, even if denied by some historians, is essentially worth considering because it serves as an introduction for two other subjects: First, it helps to clarify the real meaning of sufism and not only its relation but its union with the truth of Shi" a. This relationship which has been forgotten after the end of the Safavid Period, though the Safavid Dynasty is one of the Sufi orders, is a clear evidence that whenever sufism has come to power, it has supported the cause of Shi" a. Second, the real meaning of Shi"a, which has been overshadowed by its legal and theological aspects during history, will be illustrated. In this paper the essence of the Alavi Sufism will be defined, and historical evidence will be provided to support the theory of the relation between Sheism and Sufism.

One of the most complicated problems in the history of philosophy is the issue of the immutable -mutable and eternal-originated relation. This problem in the evolutionary process of philosophy in the world of Islam, found its best rational solution in Molla Sadra"s Transcendent Theosophy but at the same time it is considered to be one of the most difficult parts of Asfar. Even after Molla Sadra there was no agreement among philosophers concerning this issue. Through his theory trans-substantial motion, Molla Sadra proved that when the existence of every existent is identical with becoming and flux, motion will stem from its essence; since such existent in its motion is not in need of a cause of its being, hence, its motion does not imply the motion of its cause. The author of this paper is of the view that there is always such concordance: Renovated being requires renovated making, and renovated making also requires the renovated maker. Thus from the perspective of trans-substantial motion not only the problem of immutable-mutable relation will not be solved but by approaching becoming and flux onto logically, this problem would seem to become more difficult.

One of the important and complicated rational problems regarding many discussions in Eastern and Western Hekmah philosophy, sufism, theology and... is the unity and multiplicity in the world of being. This problem contains some subsidiary subjects like: the relation between the preeternity and temporal origination, and vice versa, opposition of the unity and multiplicity, God - world relationship, verification of creation originated from the first, the time of creation, precedence of possible world to non- existence, and tens of other problems. Many theologian schools like Asha"irah" and Mo"tazilah have been drowned in awkward positions like: anthropomorphization of God (تشبیه) and interruption (denying God all attributes (تعطیل), furthermore, this discussion has been considered in Western philosophy and theology in different aspects, but, thus accordingly, problematic subject has engaged philosopher"s and theologian"s attention forever, and also, many varied verifications offered by philosophers; for example, Plato used the higher Good, the world of forms and sensible world, and then Aristotle used the unmoved mover, actuality and potentiality, form and matter, and then Plotinus used the One in order to explain unity and multiplicity in domain of existence. We, in this article, from the basis of Imam "Ali"s Nahj al- Baldlghah and his sermons, letters, sayings and narrated traditions, analyzed and mentioned different meanings of oneness and" then explained true and real unity of God and so called opposition of God"s Names and attributes and their relations to the above-mentioned true and real unity of Him; and we have verified so-called opposition existing between the Name and attributes themselves. Imam "Ali by his divine words, solved this problem in the best way and helped thinkers to overcome the difficulties involved in these issues.

With no doubt, Ibn "Arabi is one of the greatest thinkers in the history of man"s ideas. However, there is a big confusion among scholars as to which school of thought he belongs. Some consider him the father of the theoretical mysticism, and some others do not consider him a mystic since he is a system maker and has no mystical experience according to the apinion. Making direct references to Ibn , Arabi" s works, it will be proved that he is certainly a mystic, and has no relationship, whatsoever, with philosophy and philosophers.

The influence of Amir al-Mu"menin Ali (A. S.) on mysticism is one of the subtlest issues of epistemology and philosophy. Allah"s Face (Wajh- Allah), which is one of his permanent titles, is indicative of his eminent position. This honorific title implies that through his sacred being, true seekers of the straight path can draw nigh to God. Depending on his spiritual state, every seeker has a special relation with this eternal direction. This relation has four different aspects: Unquestioning Submission, Spiritual Confrontation, Spiritual Lineage or Second Birth, and the Theosophy attributed to Ali (A.S.) of Ali. Unquestioning Submission (itteba ") means the subordination of the resurrectional intellect to Amir al- Mu"menin (A. S.). The vast political and cultural popularity of magnanimity in the history of Islam is an example of itteba". Spiritual Confrontation (Mowajeh- i Rohani) means the emergence of those revelations which are, in one way or another, related to Amir al-Mu"menin (A. S.). Spiritual Lineage or Second Birth (Nasab-e Ma "navi or Tavallod S6navi) is a drastic change in the identity of the seeker due to the biessings of Alavi"s sanctity. And the Theosophy attributed to Ali (Hekmat -e Alavieh) is the philosophical adaptation of his sanctity, a good example of which is the emergence of the Alavi Theosophy during the twelfth century by Seyyed Qotb al- Dinn Nayrizi.