نشریه عرفان اسلامی
پیاپی 31 (بهار 1391)

Women related issues are one of the most important affairs which are among the concern of a number of scholars in the present era. Regarding religion، the scholars of both Islam and Judaism have stated their opinions on the basis of their religious educations. In the Old Testament، woman is deemed as the secondary and minor creature. The women rights are highly restricted as compared to men، and except few cases، she is deprived of a great deal of human advantages. This viewpoint has caused a lot of misunderstandings regarding the status of women in existence which ultimately turned into the role of an instrument in western communities. In Islamic view، men and women both have identical essence in humanity and within the realm of human concept they are equal. This important idea is reflected in the verses of the Quran، and the life of the prophet and later Imams is filled with a number of the related examples. A look at the impact of these two perspectives in mysticism suggests that in mystical literature of Judaism، too، the status of women has not developed yet and the same gender look is preserved. Woman is either in lower degree than man or not human at all. Conversely، woman has got a different position in Islamic mysticism. Impacted out of Islam، Mystics too look at women as a creature that is on the way toward perfection having no trouble to be a perfect mankind. This perception is evident in Mowlana''s poems. On the other hand، the mystic women themselves have a great share to prove this idea. The role of these groups of women in enriching mystical literature could not be denied. In addition to examining the personality of women in Islam and Judaism، this paper tries to deal with the position of women in Islam and Judaism.

In theoretical mysticism، manifestation is one of the important issues of Theology meaning revealing and emergence of God through names and attributes. The theory of manifestation or revelation has been attended by different schools of thoughts. One of them is Kabbala mysticism. In this tradition God has two aspects of sublimity and existence (names and attributes). The existence aspect stems from the sublime one showing the manifestation of God from top to bottom. The ten stages of manifestation are called Sephirah or Sephirot. The Sephirah is demonstrated either like human being، or a tree، or seven branch candlesticks with three knots. The tenth and last Sephirah is called kingship or Shechinah meaning the light and kingdom of God and His presence. This paper tries to study the stages of divine manifestation in the light of Kabbala mysticism as the most important school with an aim to prove the monotheism in this tradition according to the fact that Kabbala members came to be as the mediators to sustain the grandeur of God. And as a result، this mediator is nothing but the first stage of the God''s manifestation and that they describe the creation according to the stages of the manifestation of divinity.

Ibn Arabi and Mollasadra assume the spirit of human being to be the manifestation of God because the human spirit reflects the nature and characteristics and behaviors of the Almighty. They believe that the existence of human being overlaps the whole universe. Therefore, they match the microcosm of human being with the macrocosm of God so much that they sometimes take the world of human being as macrocosm and the universe as the microcosm. The extraordinary action of human spirit is their significant belief upon which they have discussed galore and by the use of such a reality they have been able to make their comments and explanations of miraculous objects.

The Hasidic mysticism could be found as the third significant mysticism in the history of Judaism after both schools of Kabbalah and Merkabah. The word Hasid, which means pious and well tempered and an abstinent man who is firm minded in piety and faith in God, was generally used in Judaism but later came to be a special name for such a religious mystical movement. In the eighteenth century and upon the influence of the unfavorable social situation of Jews in Israel, this movement became well known as Baal Shem Tov or Besht. The primary center of Hasidism was in Ukraine and South Poland but after a short period of time it became widespread throughout Europe. Hasidism teachings were affected by Kabbalah and instead of observing apparent Judaic law it emphasized on personal praying of God though it was more general and extensive than Kabbalah. That is why it turned out to be a public movement. One of the most important achievements of primary Hasidism was stabilization of charismatic leadership or holy and spiritual power in the Judaic community titled "seddigh" acting as the mediator between God and other creatures.

Sufism philosophy is a philosophy of taste that requires confirmation and dedication of heart in which Sufi experiences different moods from penitence to mortality. Tazkaratol Owliya is a collection of report like moods and discourses of senior Sufis among whom Attar follows those tracing God. The main purpose of this paper is to study and understand the general perspective of the four concepts of mercifulness، cloak، Sama (mystical dance)، and the world in Attar''s Tazkaratol Owliya. In addition، after going through an introduction on the moods of Sufis and Sufism، rituals and etiquette، other examples in books such as Qashiriyeh treatise، Asrarol Toheed، Tamhidat، Nafahatol Ons، Kashfol Mahjoob، etc. are given for further description and comparison. As a result، sufis and associates of this approach despite having identical journeys including seven stages of love، experimenting hardship and finally having a unified goal (the Almighty''s Seemorgh)، have had various، and even contradictory، mentalities، discourses، and behaviors. Investigating over mercifulness، cloak، the world، and Sama in Tazkaratol Owliya indicates a sample of versatility of the path reaching to the same destination.

The truth about love and its various manifestations is an important discussion in Islamic mysticism that mystics have dealt with in a special way and have reflected their understanding in their written works. In this regards، a group have been impressed by the theory of platonic love. Two very significant ideas in Islamic mysticism are impressed more by platonic love: one is the followers of eternal love and the other is beauty lovers. Therefore، the writers have tried to give an explanation on the theoretical fundamentals of platonic love so as to declare the impact on the two groups of Islamic mystics.

This paper deals with religious-political ideas of Khajeh Nezamolmolk Toosi in the book titled ''Siyasat Nameh''. The paper reveals that he lived during religious bigotry، and as an impressing person، instead of balancing social difficulty he made a generalization of his religion and heated up religious campaign. Though he tended toward Sufism and had meetings with Sufis and build up dervish praying places for them، but he never learned from their negligence of interacting with public beliefs. On the contrary، in order to accelerate his religious belief socially and convince people to accept it، he sought help from great scholars such as Qazali through establishing political centers so that their ideas could be the advocate of his beliefs resulting in the defeat of his religious opponents who basically were his own political adversaries and that of Seljuk dynasty. It will be clear that the overall chapters of the book mentioned above that the bigoted religious ideas of Khajeh have overshadowed every socio-political issue.

Mowlana Jalaloddin Mohammad Balkhi، son of Baha Valad in 604 A. H. was born in Balkh and deceased in 672 A. H. in Ghooniyeh. After being acquainted with Shams Tabrizi، a dervish looking mystic، he became a lover poet and left preaching for Sama (mystical dancing). His works include Kolliyat-e-Shams، couplets، Fih-e-Ma-Fih، Seven fold sessions، and Makateeb. Mowlana''s poetry is born out of his mystical experiences which were composed to urge the audience. His poems are just like a growing flame، changing color and falling again and begin again. Mowlana''s language is full of spiritual discoveries and passions that have unveiled the love and majesty of God through imaginary faces. Mowlana''s trainings are lessons of love and experience of self-releasing، resulted from one''s taste، action، and insight rather than knowledge and thinking. In this paper، mystical truths are explained and analyzed through Mowlana''s initiative imaginary faces within Sham''s lyrics.

Name is of special position in mysticism. In theoretical mysticism، every living thing and every universe is a manifestation of divine names. In practical mysticism، every mood of living things and every level and position of human being is affected by one or more names. As a result، the relationship between all living things and the Almighty is through names only. This kind of relationship includes existing and intuitive one. Names represent God in emergence. Though names and adjectives are divine attributes and have no objective existence in themselves، objective creatures rely on them. Name means the Almighty through one of His adjectives. Divine names are divided into practical، characteristic، and instinctive plus aesthetic and majestic ones. The most grandeur name of God is the most comprehensive kind of divine names the manifestation of which is the perfect man. Praying and levels of spiritual journeys are also affected by names. The paper deals with the descriptive-analytical way of comparing the two perspectives of Ibn Arabi and Imam Khomeini in terms of divine names and their functions regarding theoretical and practical mysticism.

The researcher’s considerations in the history of religions and sects show that the basic elements and pillers of tasawwuf and mysticism، like avoidance of worldly pleasures، intuition and relevance، unity of existence، identity with truth and annihilation in general spirit has long time background. Some believe that India has been the first place of tasawwuf and mysticism، and source of mystical thoughts. The Indian religions and schools in spite of their ideological and disagreements، all have similar elements which establish their basic mysticism and tasawwuf. Indian different religions are in common in this element that the basis of happiness and freedom، is avoidance of pleasures and worldly and material desires، and continuation of asceticism. The last stages of journey from point of view of Indian mysticism is to reach to nirvana or moksha. The present paper examines the state of nirvana and its ways in light of Buddhism and in the last deals with the impact of Indian mysticism on Islamic mysticism.

This paper is a comparative study over perspectives of love in the mindset of Sohrab Sepehri، the outstanding Iranian Poet and Jebran Khalil Jebran، the Lebanese scholar and peot. Love that has always been a mystical issue is of special position in the minds of these two poets who had made a profound and lovely relation with the overall emblems of creation and the essence of their ideas are focused on a mystical love. This paper tries to discuss the origin of love and its impact on the destiny of human being from the poets'' perspectives. Thus، after going over their works and making a comprehension over their perspectives on love، their comparison and contrast will be investigated. In their opinions love will sublime the human soul so much that the man made regulations and natural phenomena are not able to change its course of action. Sepehri and Jebran love the whole cosmos and in their opinion it is only through love that one can gain the truth of life and other things. They assume love to be along with sorrow and grieving.