قربان علمی

In the opinion of many theologians, the basis of religion is the revelation that humans communicate with the Holy by being present in it. Nathan Söderblom, who calls revelation mysticism, introduces it as the central core of religion. The distinguishing feature of his interpretation from the interpretation of the commentators of revelation is that this concept is considered in terms of meaning as genius that goes beyond ordinary talents and potentially exists in all human beings. According to Söderblom, there is revelation not only in great religions, but also in primitive religions. Hence, the task of the scientific study of religion is to examine this key element, without which a religion cannot be properly understood. On the other hand, Söderblom assumes that the history of religions manifests itself in two levels of consciousness: the level of common people, which is related to religiousness, and the level of ucommon people, which is related to religious genius. The topics discussed in this research are the central core of religion, the origin of revelation, genius, its connection with aesthetics and consecration of life, and prayer and worship.

This article analyzes the concept of happiness in the thought of Confucius, one of the greatest sages of ancient China, especially in the book Lun Yu. First of all, in Lun Yu, Confucius considers true happiness moral happiness and believes that happiness is primarily not in physical pleasure but in moral pleasure. He defined the principles of happiness as moral education through continuous learning, achieving human virtues such as benevolence, justice, merit, and wisdom, maintaining harmony or peace between oneself and one's family, others, or the community, and individual and subduing one's ego and returning to merit, etiquette and traditional ceremony. Confucius believes happiness to be the perfect virtue in a simple social life. Being good and benevolent is necessary for happiness. By placing morality as a prerequisite for happiness, Confucius points out that happiness can be achieved through "knowledge, benevolence, and harmony among members of society." So others’ happiness is part and parcel of our happiness.

The main issue of this article is to examine the religious studies aspects of the anti-realist viewpoint of Don Cupitt- an English theologian - from the entry of examining his viewpoint about God, the religion of mysticism, as well as the analytical findings of the philosophical roots of anti-realism and their criticism. Cupitt believes that realism belongs to the world before the era of historical criticism and anti-realism belongs to the critical era after modernity. From Cupitt's point of view, God, religion and the world do not exist as a reality independent of mind and language, and human knowledge of the world is also done through theories. The present study, while carefully examining the various aspects of Don Cupitt's anti-realism, analyzes its philosophical foundations with an emphasis on the pioneers of modern thought and new philosophical foundations in three existential, epistemological and theological fields, and through the analysis of the philosophical foundations of anti-realism, to the criticism of anti-faith Realist Don Cupitt has discussed; A view that may be effective in understanding the roots of skepticism in the modern era and analyze from a new perspective the realistic search inherent in today's human skepticism.

The coexistence of religious followers is centuries old and these relationships have led to the development of friendships, the closeness of traditions and finding common ground. In the current era, dialogue between the great religions of the world is necessary. The increase in direct communication between people who have different world views, beliefs, cultures and customs is one of the factors that necessitates the need for inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogues, as a result of which people, in addition to followers, have different beliefs and world views. They understand different things, they define their position towards them. This article examines the possibility and solution of realizing inter-religious dialogue and considers the category of wisdom to be the most important and comprehensive component in inter-religious dialogue. The etymological investigation of wisdom in different religious traditions and its position and importance in religions, as well as research into its functions, shows that wisdom emphasizes the necessity of dialogue on the one hand and can be the best basis for dialogue on the other hand. The comprehensiveness of wisdom in the field of inter-religious dialogue is such that it can not only be the basis of dialogue, but it is also very efficient and effective in the method and manner of dialogue. After analyzing the necessity of dialogue and the possibility of realizing the dialogue of religions on the basis of wisdom, we come to the conclusion that this theological discourse will lead to a moral insight that the highest fruit of that is justice, the observance of which can lead to a fair judgment about another.

This article, in a descriptive and analytical way, investigates the nature, elements and function of religion in ancient China, during the Western Chu period. The works left from this period - including iconography and writings on ritual bronze vessels, writings on occult bones, royal tombs and some later works - express their religious beliefs and rituals. The religion of western chu included the belief in Tien as the Supreme God, the spirits of ancestors, the spirits and gods of nature, and the belief in life after death. The Supreme God was at the head and the rest of the spirits and gods were at a lower level and were his agents. Tien is a personal deity, ruler of all existence, creator and sustainer of all beings. He sends revelations to help people and judges them with justice. In addition to believing in Tien, they believed in life after death, that man has two souls: one is P’o, who after death, will fall to the lower world and live a dark life there. Another is Hun, who ascended to Tien’s Palace and lives there happily. In order to obtain favorable living conditions, or at least to be safe from calamities, one must respect and worship God, spirits and ancestors and make sacrifices for them. Unlike the Shang period, in the Chu period, not the spirit of the dead ruler but the living ruler himself is the intermediary between Heaven and Earth, who should rule the people justly according to Tien Ming.

This article has analyzed the anthropology of Mencius, one of the greatest sages of ancient China and a very important influence on the intellectual and practical life of the people of the Far East. The central theme of Mencius' philosophy is his understanding of human nature. For Mencius, the question of the true nature of man is a true and fundamental question that must be answered in his existential structure. The knowledge of human nature is derived from his understanding of God/Tin on the one hand and from his idea of the perfect human being on the other hand. He considers human nature to be good and mentions the dimensions of human existence in three elements: 1- The human body, which is not bad in itself, but must be controlled by the conscious mind; 2- The mind (heart), through which man can act as a man. The way to reach the perfect mind is to develop and nurture it through thinking. 3- Human nature, an aspect of human existence, which is the creator of humanity. It appears and is manifested by the perfect mind and the body is its carrier; But it is never the same as mind and body. Human nature is a pure truth, which every human being has, even the wicked; Goodness is pure because there are no bad elements in it. This is the aspect that needs to be discovered and nurtured.

Most of scientists of religion sometimes consider Chantepie de la Saussaye to be the founder of the phenomenology of religion. This study first explains Chantepie's view of the phenomenology of religion, and while analyzing the phenomenology of Chantepie's religion, which lies between the philosophy of religion and the history of religion, believes that the critique of the phenomenology of Chantepie's religion in general is self-critical. The most important critique of Chantepie's phenomenology of religion is that it did not deal with the essence of phenomena and the nature of religion. His phenomenology is the classification of phenomena with a non-historical perspective. By reflecting on Chantepie’s ideas, this article proves that Chantepie pays attention to the special nature of religion. Contrary to the criticisms leveled at him that his phenomenology is merely descriptive, Chantepie has in fact studied two basic aspects of religion, namely its essence and manifestations. This paper explores and then evaluates this critique, and finally distinguishes that critics measure Chantepie's phenomenology of religion in terms of Husserl's philosophical phenomenology; while Chantepie, by emphasizing ritual phenomena, seeks to understand the nature of religion and the sacred as the essence of religions.

The present study tries to examine the Sermon on Mount Q, the first written book of the New Testament, and its influence on the Epistle of James. Using a descriptive-analytical method, the authors conclude that according to the Sermon on Mount Q and the Epistle of James, Jesus makes a cultural revolution in the society as a social reformer, who sees the path of social transformation in individual reform, change of cultural values, and the reversal of identities, and James as a follower of his reform has such a concern. In addition, both identities are socially representative of realist thinking on the one hand because they considered useless fighting against a powerful Roman empire as the Zealots failed. On the other hand, they are considered the representative of idealistic thinking because they sought to build an ideal society by presenting trans-ethical rules.

The present study, using a descriptive-analytical method, has examined the altruistic and self-sacrificing image of Imam Ali (as) in the thought of Attar and Rumi. The study of their works shows that the reason why modern humans favor their ideas derives from their emphasis on human dignity and value and its most important manifestation is to love and serve human being, altruism. In their works, in addition to the sincere eulogy of Imam Ali (AS) and the expression of his attributes, they both refer to the major events of his life, expressing the kind and sacrificial character of him that God says about him: "And some people sacrifice their lives to gain God's favor." They praised Imam Ali (as) as a great model of moral virtues, especially love, sincerity, altruism and self-sacrifice, and encouraged people to follow him. Because he, who according to Attar is "the mountain of sorrow and the door of knowledge and the center of religion", considers the first principle in associating with people as love, respect and friendship of others and addresses the Malik: "Fill your heart with people's affection and their friendship and favor". "In fact, his practical life has been full respect and trust in others." Rumi also called him "the pride of every prophet and every saint" and called him the master of all believing men and women, who always considered altruism as one of the important principles of his teachings and his heart was full of loving people and guiding them.

The article explores the significant interaction between religion and wisdom in Zoroastrianism, with a focus on certain evidences from Zoroastrian texts. According to the research, God's wisdom is his fundamental nature (xēm), and religion is essentially God's wisdom. The authors also emphasize that God has created the world through his wisdom and based on the cosmic war, where to be the winner is rooted in a covenant between the Good and the Evil to fight against ignorance and extremism. This mutual interaction between religion and wisdom is hierarchical and manifested throughout the world. The research investigates the processes and concludes that their foundation is xradīharwisp-āgāh, which is the philosophical interdependence of religion and wisdom. By delving into these grounds, the research returns to the primary origin of God's wisdom, which is denoted by Justice or yazadān-xradīs, the highest manifestation of his wisdom in humans.

Epistemology is a science that discusses human knowledge, including its nature, possibility, ways, types, territory, etc. of knowledge. It is a field that philosophers, theologians, and religious scholars have taken more effective steps in deepening and developing it. Jewish thinkers have also paid special attention to this issue. Sadia bin yusuf al-fayoumi, nicknamed Sadia Gaon, the father of Jewish philosophy and the head of the Rabbinical religious school "Sura", is considered one of the most important theologians in the history of the tradition of Rabbinical Judaism. He is known as the first Jewish philosopher and exegete in the middle centuries due to his innovative and systematic ideas. He is the first person who, in addition to his detailed views on theology and cosmology, has also raised important opinions on epistemology in two works ‘Kitab Al-Amanat Wa'l-'tiqadat (the Book of Beliefs and Opinions)’ and ‘Tafsir Sefer Yetsira (Commentary on the Sefer Yetzira)’. The two works suggest two different structures of epistemology. Sadia points out that the human mind is able to explain reality in two ways: one is based on empirical rationalism and the other is based on divine illumination and self-revelation in the mind. In other words, the human mind can act in two modes like the act of dialogue (i.e. arguing and reasoning or being silent, meditating, listening, and seeing).Considering the unique role of knowledge arising from reflection and revelation, in reaching the complete truth, Sadia plans and examines it from various angles in his important works. Along with Al-Amanat Wa'l-'tiqadat, he makes a detailed discussion in the Commentary on the Sefer Yetzira about epistemology. Its study helps a lot to understand his thought. Sadia's thinking in religions and beliefs has a controversial nature. In the Commentary on the Sefer Yetzira, he has relatively deep and esoteric thinking.This study, using the analytical comparative method, investigates the topics related to epistemology raised in the two mentioned works of Sadia. In his works, knowledge has different meanings: in Al-Amanat Wa'l-'tiqadat, it is shown as the correspondence between external reality and its concept in the human mind, while in Commentary on the Sefer Yetzira, knowledge is related to the origin and nature of creation.In ‘the Book of Beliefs and Opinions’, Sadia, in a positive answer regarding the possibility of acquiring knowledge, considers his goal to be certain and removes all doubts. In this book, while proving the same validity of knowledge and results that can be achieved through revelation and rational reasoning, he cites verses from the Bible to prove the foundations of his epistemological teachings. He considers the factor of knowledge to be the intellectual power of the soul, which only God has rightly placed in the person's existence. Despite the fact that the cognitive process relies on sensory perception, the intellect includes a system of principles and generalities that exist independently of sensory data. The Commentary on the Sefer Yetzira considers the goal of the author of the book to be the representation (portrait) of how things come into being and find their existence so that the knower can understand them and the wise beings can learn them. Therefore, while confirming the possibility of acquiring knowledge, this work emphasizes the role of revelation in this connection.Al-Amanat Wa'l-'tiqadat presents the elements of the ‘cognition process’ in the form of a hierarchical model in three steps: 1) a complex and vague idea that is only a vague and confused idea of the nature of the research subject, 2) an analysis of this idea, and 3) accepting the ultimate truth by a belief freed from doubts. Here we witness a process of gradual internalization of knowledge that occurs in the mind, a process during which sensory perception turns into belief. In this process, reason gradually removes the factors that cause doubt and error, and then reaches the understanding of the truth by refining and classifying the mixed information of the external world. This is Saadia's model to reach the correct belief.The Commentary on the Sefer Yetzira does not include regular epistemological statements that describe the process of cognition in detail. But it associates three necessary factors (knowing, thinking, and believing) with the three corresponding faculties of the soul. He attributes knowledge to the power of collecting data (al-Qowwah al-Hashira) of the soul, which collects the discussed data and transmits them to the second power. The second power is the ‘discernment power’ (al-Qowwah al-Momaizah), which recognizes true and false data and verifies the facts by rejecting false data. Then, this power transfers the refined information to ‘Al-Qowwah al-Mu’taqidah’ which preserves it and becomes sure of its authenticity.In the Commentary on the Sefer Yetzira, along with the three general sources of knowledge, mentioned in Al-Amanat Wa'l-'tiqadat, the knowledge of ‘lightning-like’ (Kal-barq), i.e. illumination, plays a prominent role. In complete contrast to his negative assessment of lightning-like knowledge in Al-Amanat, in the Commentary on the Sefer Yetzira, he states that the principles of things appear in the mind like lightning, then they become clear and certain before his eyes. Of course, this duality goes back to different approaches of Sadia's epistemology in these two works as well as the related fields. In Al-Amanat, the knowledge of ‘lightning-like’ refers to sensible reality per se. But in Commentary on the Sefer Yetzira, knowledge has the nature of representation. That is, the mind relies on itself in the complete absence of sensory data. Therefore, it seems that illumination is the only way to understand this ‘other reality’.In al-Amanat and beliefs, knowledge means the correspondence of external reality and its meaning in the human mind, while in the Commentary on the Sefer Yetzira, it is related to the ultimate roots of creation, without considering sensory perception.Wisdom is one of the most controversial epistemological words of Sadia. Saadia's definition of wisdom is based on various biblical passages, and thus it can be seen as the result of Saadia's exegetical activities rather than independent philosophical reflection. In Al-Amanat, al-Hikmat is defined as “kawn al-ashyaʾ ʿala ḥaqaʾiqiha al-maʿluma wa-laysa-l-ḥikma an takun al-ashyaʾ ʿala tamanni mutamanin wa-la shahwa mushtahin” and the Commentary on the Sefer Yetzira defines it as “al-ḥikma hiya tartib al-ashyaʾ maratibaha wa-taqdiruha maqadiraha”.In short, according to Sadia, it should be said that reality speaks in two languages. In other words, the human mind is able to understand and express reality in two ways: one is universal and unanimous, and ultimately based on sensory and intellectual perception, and the other is based on God's self-revelation through human intuition.

Ever since the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, experts have always sought to investigate the relationship between scroll literature, the Qumran Cummunity, and formal Judaism. In this regard, the present research has analyzed, analyzed and criticized the "concept of wisdom" in the 4Q185 sapiential fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The importance of this Qumran text is that by providing and presenting a new example of sapiential instructions, it shows the position and importance of sapiential teachings in the Second Temple period. On the one hand, these teachings are closely related to the prescriptive teachings of the books of Proverbs and Bin Sira, and on the other hand, it gives a new concept of wisdom. This essay presents the results obtained from the concept of wisdom by examining and analyzing the various and interconnected components of the 4Q185 fragment, and then considering the historical conditions and showing the connection of this scroll with Qumran Cummunity, the components of the fragment It also criticizes and evaluates 4Q185 and opens a new perspective of Judaism in the first century AD: by analyzing and looking deeply into the components of 4Q185, we have come to the conclusion that how some traditions in Judaism develop and evolve, and when they are faced with new religious, cultural and social challenges, they are once again formed from the ancient Jewish tradition. Therefore, based on the examination and analysis of new sapiential components in the scrolls 4Q185, we have reached an understanding of one of the important historical and sociological issues of Judaism in the Second Temple period and have criticized it.

This article studies the nature, components and function of religion in ancient China, especially the Shang period. Therefore, the study and analysis of works left from that period, including iconography on ritual bronze vessels, writings on oracle bones, royal tombs, and some late works (such as poetry book), show information about their religious beliefs and rituals. The religion of Shang included the belief in Shang Di, the Supreme God, the spirits of ancestors, the spirits and gods of nature, and the belief in life after death. The Supreme God was at the top and the rest of the spirits and gods were at a lower level and were his agents and subordinates. Communicating with spirits, gods and God in order to obtain favorable living conditions, or at least to be safe from evils, in a mutual relationship, has been associated with the implementation of rituals; the most important of which is very detailed burial, worshiping God and spirits, and ritual of sacrifice, in which shamans and the royal family, especially the king, played a role and supervised the performance of religious rituals. This shows that the Shang religion has the necessary components of being a religion; and the belief in Shang-di also puts it in the category of monotheism. There was a strong link between religion and power, in such a way that religion strengthened the king's power politically and at the same time controlled it, and the king's political power strengthened the religious influence.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the place of metaphysics of light in the thought of Saint Bonaventure. Bonaventure is one of the mystical philosophers of the thirteenth century who had many influences on later thinkers. How man achieves fixed and common truths is a fundamental issue that Saint Bonaventure has faced in epistemological discussions. He uses the theory of light to explain this issue. In this article, while proposing different views and approaches to Bonaventure's theory of light, an attempt has been made to examine issues related to the metaphysics of light. The results show that Saint Bonaventure uses light as an analogy to communicate with God and enjoy Him in life. A God-centered view that seeks to reconcile the philosophical search for truth with the ultimate truth of Christian revelation. Despite his influence on Aristotle's thought in the form of the physics of light, in the general synthesis of his thought, the use of Neoplatonic and Augustine's ideas and the metaphysics of light is evident. "Lux" and "lumen" are terms used by Bonaventure to describe the metaphysics of light. In his metaphysical thought, light is the most original form on which all other forms depend, and whatever it is, it is formed through the basic form of light.

Salvation is a fundamental issue in Christianity. Due to original sin, man has lost his relationship with God and has descended from Heaven. Restoring this relationship leads to saving man from a state of descent. The way of salvation in Christianity is explained in different ways. In Paul's writings, free grace by Christ saves man. In the theology of the fathers, including Augustine, grace replaces the human will, which by his descent has lost the power of right bias, and calls him to salvation. Martin Luther, as the Augustinian theologian, sees man as essentially a corrupt and sinful being who is saved only by grace and faith, not by doing good deeds. Therefore, he can enjoy the righteousness of Christ in faith only by trusting in divine promises. Aquinas, on the other hand, sees man as a rational and good-natured being who progresses towards faith with an innate tendency to virtue. Faith is a rational trust in which man has an active presence by believing in propositions and participating in grace. This article examines Luther and Aquinas' views on salvation and the role of man in it through a descriptive-analytical method and concludes that different understandings of human ontological status are directly related to their approach to the issue of salvation and faith. Luther considers man to be in a passive state whose salvation is communion with Christ. Aquinas, in contrast, gives man an active role that his good deeds along with grace can be effective in the process of salvation.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, evolutionary anthropologists believed that human’s religious belief began with primitive simple forms and, after various phases of historical evolution, turned to the form of contemporary modern religions. This view holds that primitive humans did not have the concept of God and the formation of this concept in human’s mind was considered to occur in the last phase of the development of religious thoughts. Andrew Lang, the Scottish anthropologist, who was one of the foremost opponents of the use of the evolutionary teachings in the explanation of the origin of religion criticized this view and advanced a theory on the existence of the ‘Supreme Being’ in primitive human beliefs. This theory was subsequently complemented and introduced as the 'theory of primitive monotheism' by Wilhelm Schmidt, the Austrian anthropologist.Lang considers belief in God and belief in the immortality of the soul as two main essential origins of religion. By documenting some evidence, he believes that even amongst the most backward tribes, variants of the idea of worshiping the "Supreme Being" are evident. The present study outlines Lang’s intellectual background and foundations as well as his criticism of the views of evolutionary anthropologists. Moreover, it explores his main theory on the anthropology of religion.

Christology of Paul of Samosata was condemned to heresy in the 3rd century AD by the Synod of Antioch for its emphasis on the mere humanity of Jesus and the denial of the substantive divinity and preexistence of Christ. This Christology revolves around the three axes of the historical Christ, the God-like man, and the saving prophet, and shows that Jesus that like other human beings, is composed of soul and body but more transcendent, and was born of Mary at a point in history; With his moral development, he became worthy of the grace of the Son of God and attained the position of a prophet and the promised Messiah, who had already been designed in the plan of God's salvation. He was united with the will of God by his death to save human beings and to conquer the original sin of man. By looking at early Christianity, the author argues that the Christology of Paul Samosata, which is most closely related to early Christianity, revived the intellectual tradition of Jesus Christ and the thought of the early Christians, who considered Jesus to be a mere human. on the other hand, it is in opposition to the Catholic logos-cosmology Christology, which believes in the divinity and humanity of Jesus.

Jonathan Edwards, a New England theologian and theorist, in response to the extremist current of Enlightenment rationalism and the isolation of revelatory teachings in the process of describing moral beauty, believes that man, due to the disease of descent, needs a kind of resurrection and return to natural situation According to him, the creation of man is done by God and under two general principles of human nature (essence) and his inclinations (tendencies); but returning to the natural state is possible only with the grace of God. Man, influenced by divine grace, undergoes changes in his conscious desires and will that become the source of his choice. The most important conscious choice of man in this field is to get out of self-centered love and make a collective good choice. Although this choice is influenced by the understanding of the mental and conceptual part of man, but the influence of human emotions and tendencies on the will eliminates the passivity and indifference of mental activities in morality. If this sublime current continues, all human conditions will take on the color and smell of love for God, which is the moral beauty

Whether the miracles of saints are epistemological or persuasive is a matter that solves many problems of practical mysticism. Decreasing the knowledge of the mystic to the possessor of miracles has damaged mysticism, and reduced the scope of their knowledge to the reports of their miracles. The outline of the present study on the evaluation of miracles are as follows: the evaluative study of miracles in the first periods of Islamic mysticism, the lack of connection between divine knowledge and doing miracles, the lack of a position in the lower realm of religion for miracles, the attitude of famous Sufis to the miracles as a distraction from the path towards God, their humorous view, and the encounter of the Holy Quran and the infallible prophets and imams with this issue. This article, by examining the descriptive-analytical aspects of the mentioned subjects, concludes that miracles have no epistemological value, and that the occurrence of the supernatural by the seeker or the mystic does not accelerate the process of journey to God and closeness to the truth, just as its non-occurrence does not disrupt them. Finally, although the Holy Quran describes the miracles of the prophets in order to persuade the deniers or reassure some followers, it always calls people to rationality.

The connection between religion and myth in a scientific background has opened the way for human beings to become acquainted with a collection of beliefs and find their origin. This event progressed faster from the end of the eighteenth century, and with the activity of famous scientists in the following centuries, the hidden aspects of myth and religion became more apparent. Undoubtedly one of those famous scientists is Max Müller. Müller was one of the pioneers of scientific and comparative studies of religion and myth in the nineteenth century. And was influenced by philology, idealism, positivism and Eastern beliefs, especially India. He developed important theories about myth and religion that were considered and criticized by many of his contemporaries. Given the importance of Müller's theories in studies of myth and religion, in this article we have tried to examine the relation between myth and religion from Müller's perspective in a descriptive-analytical manner. Müller believed that the origin of myth is in the naming of natural phenomena, and he believed that religion (religious form) came into being when the "name" became sacred. That is, from inside the myth. He believed in the infinite but believed that it originated in nature.

Christianity is an Abrahamic religion and believes in monotheism on the one hand, and constantly emphasizes the three concepts of Father, Son and Holy Spirit on the other hand. Determining the nature of the relationship between these three concepts has been one of the most important issues in classical Christian theology. With regard to these three essential foundations, Arius, one of the theologians of the Patriarchal Age, holds a view which has been regarded heresy and has been condemned by the Council of Nicaea since (325 AD). Drawing on the historical-analytical method, this article seeks to identify related intellectual contexts and reconstruct his theology based on the reliable works of Arius. This study shows that Arius believed that the father is transcendent and the other, and in terms of eternity and essence, he is alone and unique. By his own will, the Father created the Son out of nothingness to mediate the creation of time and the universe. The Son is not the same as the Father in terms of eternity and essence; the Father-Son relationship is the creator’s relationship with the creature; and the Holy Spirit is the first creation of the Son, and these three essential foundations are different in essence and glory.

The concept of spirit, or soul, as an alternative term, is one of the important concepts, which has received the attention of philosophers and thinkers throughout history both in the West and in the East, and in the world of Islam. Throughout history, different theories about the nature and the essence of soul have been presented by such thinkers as Aristotle, Plato, Avecina, and many others. The present study focuses on discussions concerning spirit studies such as the definition and individuation of soul, faculties of spirit, occurrence and survival of soul, and the association of soul and body from the viewpoints of Ikhwan al-Safa. Influenced by Plato and other philosophies including Neo-Platonics, as well as the philosophies in the world of Islam, Ikhwan al-Safa regarded the spirit as a spiritual essence which, to him, was an independent illumination per se, active by nature, teachable, potentially knowledgeable, active in corporal things, the employer thereof. The manner of the relationship between the abstract soul and the material body is the most important discussion in the studies of soul. Ikhwan al-Safa holds that the soul and the body are two distinct essences, and that the soul is abstract and the body is material