Reviewing the Theories of Ibn Sina, Aquinas and Sadr al-Mutallehin on the Language of Religion

This paper seeks to review and criticize the theories of three eastern and western scholars, Ibn Sina, Thomas Aquinas and Sadr al-Mutallehin, on the language of religion. Ibn Sina believes that religious texts about the origin and end are in the form of parable and allegory. Therefore, they should not be interpreted based on their surface meaning. Thomas Aquinas, however, deals with allegory in another sense. From his point of view, God’s being "all -Hearing" and "All-Seeing" either means that God is the creator of faculties of hearing and seeing or that God has traits whose relation to him is like the relation of hearing and seeing to mankind. While criticizing these two theories and regarding them contrary to linguistic common sense, this paper explains Sadr al-Mutallehin’s theory in this regard and prefers it to the above two theories. Sadr al-Mutallehin believes in positing words for the spirit of meanings. Accordingly, one can both interpret religious texts based on their appearance and avoid mere similitude and corporatization.