In the contemporary era, human has properly come to theoretically and practically apprehend the importance of the concepts such as society and community. Human community is not only an asset for the human to satisfy his needs, but from the viewpoint of the Islamic teachings, it is also the basis of the Divine Grace and Providence. In fact, God’ s hand of providence is with the community. This theme has been frequently repeated in the Islamic traditions. Now, the question is that what is there in the community that attracts God’ s grace and providence? In this article, the difference between the concepts of society and community is delineated. Besides, the article asserts that human community is given God’ s grace and attention due to at least two very important issues. First, community is the moderation point that helps the human to avoid positive and negative extremes in his viewpoints and actions, be these extremisms collective or individual. Second, community can be the manifestation of unity, and unity is a crucial asset for the human in overcoming the collective and individual difficulties. Nonetheless, this assertion does not imply that the society and community never go awry and that accompanying a community in every manner will unquestionably guide human to bliss. A society does not go awry if it is under God’ s providence, and according to the religious teachings, God’ s providence is not absolute but is conditioned. A community can perform its important functions and receive God’ s providence only if it is established based on religion and the divine teachings. The concept of social capital here regards the transcendental stage of the community, i. e. a stage in which humans have come together and have chosen the community, and each and every of them consider the community as their real homeland. If this condition is met, the manifestations of brotherhood, grace, love, and coexistence can be observed in the community. These then become habitual and finally lead to human bliss.

The peripatetic tradition of reading Aristotle limits divine providence to celestial bodies and maintains that, according to Aristotle, there is just divine providence per accident by celestial bodies concerning sublunary world. Alexander of Aphrodidsias in his treatise titled as “, On Providence”, , however, tries to give an Aristotelian version of divine providence so that it would not be in contradiction with the exaltedness of divine causes in superlunary world and would not be per accident. We, in this essay, by pointing to the roots of his Aristotelian conception of divine providence in De Generatione et Corruption and De Caelo, shall show that his specific treatment of divine providence in Aristotle is based on a peculiar theory of causation which in turn will face him with other difficulties in denying providence per accident.

God's relation to the world, a subject whose history is as lengthy as human thinking, is among the basic issues of philosophy and the Kalam in the Islamic world. Problems such as the why and how of emerging the order of creation and paradoxes such as unity and multiplicity, contingent and eternal, will and causal necessity, the First of the first things, and the Last of the last things, and so on are only a few questions of the numberless ones which have preoccupied thinkers during the history; consequently, there emerged -isms like sophism, naturalism, humanism, and theism as well as many other schools of thought, which show the continuous efforts of thinkers for explication of the relation between God and His creatures. Taking a look at the background of God's Providence (inayah), a divine attribute which necessitates 'the best order', this article indicates God's activity, describes the viewpoints of two famous philosophers in the Islamic world, i.e., Ibn Sina and Mulla Sadra, , and shows the differences of their opinions in this regard.

Each of the Divine Names and Attributes opens up a new horizon of knowledge for the truth seekers. Of these attributes which is emphasized by holy Quran and Hadiths and endorsed by reason is the Will of God. The present article is an attempt for the analysis of the revealed and rational arguments for the explanation of Divine Will in the Shiite domain of thought from its inception to the end of the School of Qum. It is to show the development of the understanding of Divine will in the centuries under study through historical view of the material in question. Both literal and technical meaning of Will have been first treated and then has a review on the traditionists' Mutazilite and Asharite views and finally examine the ideas of theologians in the Presence Age esp. Hisham b. Hakam and Kalam traditionists of the School of Qum focusing on three classic works of Hadith of Mahasin, Kafi and Tawhid. As a result of  a total survey  we have come to the conclusion that formulation of the Attribute will in theological system in light of new questions yielded new explanations of the nature of the Will and Providence and a selective choice of Hadiths on the side of traditionists.

This article studies the problem of evil in Abrahamic religions and philosophical traditions, and tries to restate their solutions in a contemporary language. The author aims at affirming traditional Abrahamic approaches to theodicy that preserve divine omnipotence, benevolence, and omniscience, but without denying the reality of evil.

Among the most significant features in the poems of Rumi is the concept of “ will” and “ divine providence” . The mentioned features are abundantly manifested in the poems of Rumi due to this knowledgeable outlook. From his point of view, all substances in the universe are defined merely in the domain of God’ s will and authority. Such insights, which are derived from the verses of the Qur'an, are found in various sections of Rumi's poems in Masnavi and Divan Shams. Of course, Rumi does not deny the will of man in the fullest sense; moreover, the exhortation of such verses implies his belief in the insignificance of man and his actions against the absolute power of God. The present article seeks to study the rare illustrated versions of these highly valued works (here 5 copies), focusing on the implications of these concepts in light of the centrality of divine will and desire in his poems. According to the studies, the representation of the divine will in the paintings is in accordance with the context of the story contained in the poems, and the artist selects and displays some of the narrative scenes to incline the viewer's mind toward the story and indeed the concept designated prior by the poet. Guidance, fate, triggering and burning, managing affairs, control of the heart, supplication of prayers and others are among the instances of the will of God depicted in these five versions. Research questions: 1-How are the visual effects of the divine will and providence reflected in the two versions of Masnavi and Shams' sonnets? 2. What examples of divine will can be found in the paintings of these manuscripts? Research aims: 1-Understanding the visual effects of divine will and providence in two versions of Masnavi and Shams' sonnets. 2-Identification of instances of divine will and providence in two versions of Masnavi and Shams's sonnets.

One of the issues dealt with in the philosophical theology of Judaism, Christianity and Islam is the ontological relationship between God and the universe. This issue which has been referred to as “divine providence” is in fact one of the important distinctions between the Abrahamic religions and Greek philosophy, as this relationship has been almost absent in Greek philosophy. Rather it is the lack of grace on the part of the superior being toward the inferior being which is considered the basic principle in Greek philosophy. The three distinguished philosophers in the Judaic, Christian and Islamic theology, with an eye on this principle and the religious texts, have provided a different interpretation of the relationship between God and the universe. Within the limits of available space, the present article deals with only four key questions in relation to God’s providence and tries to weigh the degree of success of each the three philosophers in their philosophical delineation of this issue and to present the similarities and differences of their viewpoints.

When the existence of God, the hereafter and the encounter with human existence are established, a basic question many arise: can we, by resting only on mind, make a decision about the necessity of divine guidance? Until now the followers of divine prophets have provided abundant evidence on the logical necessity of sending prophets. One of their evidence is that the necessity of revelation is based on divine providence and that the role of senses and mind in achieving felicity in this world and in the hereafter is very limited. Conversely, some hold opposing views and raise some objections. Using an an a lytic a l method based on reasoning, and criticizing the various objections which are raised by some of those who oppose the idea of the logical necessity of sending prophets, this paper seeks to admit the mentioned evidence again and stress the necessity of divine guidance. The findings of human conscience and mind are so limited and imperfect that they cannot answer man's questions about the various actions and their different effects on his body and soul and on other creatures and worlds. Any person who is familiar with revelation, will face questioning in the divine court, otherwise man's mind and nature (Fitrah) will be taken into account.

The verses including divine providence and will have caused theological disputes due to their external differences. Ash'arite commentators regard these verses as proof of determination. One the contrary, Imamiyyah commentators believe that the extensiveness of divine providence and will does not negate free will. In his works, Ayatollah Ma'refat has scrutinized these verses. He regards the term "providence" mentioned in the Holy Quran as a special term resulted from divine wisdom, and interprets most of the verses related to divine providence and will accordingly. Alusi, an Ash'arite commentator, has also referred to divine wisdom and man's free will in his commentaries of most verses related to divine providence. Given their works, the present paper compares their views in order to find their similar and different views and approaches in this regard. It also compares their exegetic views in the dimensions of linguistics, theology, and exegetic method, and criticizes Alusi's views.

Since long ago, the reality of ‘ destiny and providence’ has been the focus of presenting various views and discussions among the thinkers of philosophy and theology. Mulla Sadra is among those philosophers who have stated the reality of destiny and providence. By presenting a new and different design, he believes that ‘ destiny’ (Qazaa) is the scientific and rational realities of all beings essential to Almighty God’ s essence and is considered as a part of the divine realm. Mulla Sadra believes that God’ s creative foreknowledge, which is a simple synoptic truth, is turned into objective foreordinations through stages of ‘ Umm al-Kitaab (the Mother Book), Lowh Mahfuz (the Guarded Tablet), and Lowh Mahw wa Ithbaat (the Tablet of Effacement and Affirmation). Using religious themes, Mulla Sadra regards the home of the Quran’ s seven heavens to be the Tablet of Effacement and Affirmation wherein the scientific foreordinations for the ideal being is determined. In the present article, while stating the stages of destiny and providence, the relationship between ‘ destiny and providence’ and the Quran’ s seven heavens has been stated.