فصلنامه حکمت اسلامی
پیاپی 13 (تابستان 1396)

Muslim scholars are almost unanimous on the existence of innate knowledge of God, but they however differ firstly on determining the meaning of innate and knowledge, secondly on locating the meaning of innate acquired knowledge once it is proved that there exists innate acquired knowledge about God and thirdly on how it can be proved that the knowledge about God is innate. To prove that the knowledge about God is innate one usually takes recourse to intuition, revelation or induction. To prove that the knowledge about God is innate this study determines the meaning intended from 'innate', explains kinds of innate ideas, meaning of innate presentational knowledge and the various meanings of innate acquired knowledge. It aims to prove the following: 1) There exist only two arguments for innate knowledge about God 2) These two arguments only prove the existence of innate presentational knowledge about God 3) There exists no rational argument to the effect that there is innate acquired knowledge about God. Covenant verse does not imply that there exists innate acquired knowledge about God. Intuition and historical induction are useful tools for proving acquired knowledge about God, but the first methodology is not always common whereas the second does not produce certainty. They are however of use for verifying other arguments or convincing on certain occasions.

The law of 'previous necessity' known among Muslim philosophers as 'that which is not made necessary will not be brought into existence' is a sort of 'necessity by something else'. According to Muslim philosophers an effect will not be brought into existence unless it is made necessary. In other words, when a complete cause comes the effect will be firstly made necessary and then brought into existence. This law is also known as philosophical determinism. To safeguard an agent's free will, theologians have negated the necessity by something else suggesting that 'priority' is enough. They assume that with the coming into being of a complete cause the priority will lie with the existence of its effect, though its existence is not yet a must. They believe that free will will be void if the effect is necessitated by its complete cause. In other words, theologians are of the view that the law 'that which is not made necessary will not be brought into existence' implies the negation of free will. Distinguishing between a free and compelled agent, some scholars of the principles of Shiite jurisprudence have suggested that the law is applicable only to compelled agents. From among the contemporaries, it is professor Fayyazi who being strongly opposed to causal necessity presents arguments against it. Following a comprehensive approach, this article tries to find out the origin of the belief in this law through evaluating the arguments presented for it.

There are different opinions concerning the relation between knowledge and belief among Muslim and Western scholars. Ayatollah Misbah Yazdi holds that belief –though different from knowledge – is in need of knowledge. The essential condition for believing in God is the knowledge of God. Knowledge of God is of three types: 1) innate knowledge which is private, presentational and at the same time concise 2) intellectual knowledge which is acquired and universal but non-presentational 3) intuitive knowledge which is presentational, private and clear. Intellectual and intuitive knowledge is the result and complementary of innate knowledge. Being ambiguous, innate knowledge alone cannot pave the ground for true belief nor can intellectual knowledge, being general, introduce a definite god as the subject of belief. Intuitive knowledge is also nothing but refined innate knowledge. Thus innate knowledge must attain sufficient clarity through intellectual or intuitive knowledge so as to be able to prepare the ground for belief

The fact that how the world came into being is among the difficult theological and philosophical problems which have long been the center of heated debate among Muslim thinkers bringing about a new polarization among them. According to common philosophical approach it is essentially impossible for the world to have a temporal beginning and therefore the world is infinite from the beginning. On the contrary theologians by stressing on temporal creation and some philosophers like Mirdamad by stressing on contingency through perpetual duration (Huduth dahri), have proposed that the world has a temporal beginning. After presenting the claims made by philosophers and theologians, this study suggests that the explanation theologians and Mirdamad have provided for the coming into being of the world suffers from certain defects to the extent that they cannot challenge the philosophers’ argument for the essential impossibility of the temporal beginning of the world. By introducing some changes to some of the axioms of the theory of Huduth dahri and by giving a new reading of it, this study explains the creation of the world in a way that is in agreement with the temporal beginning of the world.

According to Aristotle and his followers time being an essential concept is the quantity of the movement of atlas sphere. Being one of the Aristotelian categories, it occurs with bodies through movement. In the light of his substantial movement, Mulla Sadra proceeds from 'essential time' to 'substantial time'. Time is not among accidental essences nor is it an entity independent of material substances. It is instead the essential constituent of a material substance. That is why all material substances have their own particular timings. Time is the quantity of substantial movement existing together with substantial movement through the same body. In the light of his theory of relativity, Einstein, given that light travels with a constant speed, considers time as relative regarding it as the fourth dimension of a body necessary for the exact evaluation of events. Mulla Sadra sees eye to eye with Einstein on matters like extendedness of time, relativity of time, the fact that each object has its own timing and that time is the fourth dimension of a body, though Sadra looks at issues metaphysically whereas Einstein evaluates things physically. A physical approach, being empirical is deducible from empirical facts whereas a metaphysical approach is not empirical. Einstein's theory of time is related to accidental movements particularly spatial movements saying that there will be no place for time if there is no accidental movement. In addition to accidental movement, Mulla Sadra is, however, aware of substantial movement believing that time is the quantity of substantial movement.

The question of the origin of moral values has always been among the most important and challenging questions for moral philosophers dividing moral schools into realist and non-realist. Positive secularism is a branch of non-realist school of thought. It includes all schools that regard common parlance as the origin of moral values. John Rawl's theory of social justice is an important theory in moral philosophy. It is not clear whether or not it is secular in nature. Some consider it as realist negating that it is secular whereas others term it as non-realist and secular. Using a descriptive – analytic methodology, this study alludes to some of the secular implications of Rawl's theory. It critically assesses this theory if it happens to be a secular one.

This study tries to find whether Islam follows an exclusivist, inclusivist or a pluralist approach and what are the implications of the stand it takes. Having taken into account the Islamic foundations for inter-religious dialogue, this study shows that exclusivism in its technical sense does not have anything to do with Islam. Exclusivism is meaningful when it is situated within the context of inclusivism. The adoption of such an approach which can be termed as 'exclusivism despite inclusivism' has created a fertile ground for Islam to dialogue and interact with other Ibrahamic religions. Believing that one religion is absolutely whereas others are relatively true, this approach introduces Islam as a complementary for Judaism and Christianity. In addition, the fact that it pays attention to ethics and salvation in a pluralistic approach, provides further capacity for dialogue in Islam. It follows a referential methodology while presenting the theories and a descriptive methodology while explaining the content.