محمدتقی سبحانی

The section on monotheism (tawḥīd) is one of the most important areas of Islamic theology, addressing numerous issues related to the ontology and epistemology of God, including His names and attributes. A key challenge in this field has been the question of whether the divine names are divinely pre-established or ordained (tawqīfiyyat al-asmāʾ). This issue was considered in several hadiths even before the first theological works were compiled. As a result, theologians have sometimes drawn upon sacred texts, such as the Quran and the Tradition, to support their arguments on the matter. Among prominent Imami scholars, al-Sayyid al-Murtaḍā (355-436 AH/965-1044 CE) was the first theologian to formally present and establish the view that divine names are divinely ordained, which subsequently became one of the main solutions to the problem. Given the significance of al-Sayyid al-Murtaḍā’s views and their influence on shaping trends in the history of Imami theology, this article aims to examine the issue based on his theological texts and to derive his perspective on the matter from his writings.

Throughout the Islamic history, with various motivations, several political, social and religious activists and religious scholars have always tried to create unity and approximation between Islamic denominations, and in some eras they have pursued projects such as the movement of Nādir Shāh and Sayyid Jamāl ul-Dīn Asadabadi, and the establishment of “Dār al-Taghrīb” and “The World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought” can be considered as the most important. Approximation projects have always faced disadvantages such as: ambiguity in goals and meaning, management and structural challenges, and have suffered from the lack of a clear theory. Also, they have paid less attention to knowledge issues and religious differences that are the main point of division. These damages, alongside with the existence of obstacles such as the disharmony of political elements or the interference of foreigners, the existence of extreme and radical currents, went hand in hand and leaved the approximation projects and Islamic solidarity unsuccessful. Therefore, one should look for a new plan with a comprehensive approach that can overcome these challenges and damages.

For Farabi as a philosopher and Syed Morteza as a rationalist theologian, reason has an incomparable role; For this reason, in order to compare the political philosophy of Farabi and the political theology of Syed Morteza, a comparative study of the role of reason becomes necessary. By examining the works of Farabi and Syed Morteza, this article has discussed the role of reason and its function in the political thought of Farabi and Syed Morteza and has clarified that Syed Morteza and Farabi agree on the value of reason, but their point of departure and direction in rationality is different. In Syed Morteza's political thought, reason is free from philosophical foundations and based on definite revelation and is busy processing to achieve worldly and hereafter happiness under the truth of Shiite Imamate, and reason according to Farabi is based on the foundations of Greek philosophy and with the intention of theorizing the Platonic philosopher-king and with a view It is transcendental and mixed with mystery and paying little attention to external realities, in reaching knowledge from the active intellect and lacks a fundamental view of the fundamentals and Shia Imamate.

Historical knowledge and analysis of theological arguments have various benefits. For instance, the accurate understanding of these arguments depends on the correct identification of their different angles in the historical context. One of the important projects in line with the thematic, historical studies in the Imami theology is a work entitled " A History of the Arguments for the Existence of God in Imami Theology" which was written by the efforts of the valuable researcher Dr. Hamid Ataei Nazari as a result of which a good and honorable achievement has been bestowed to the scientific community. This monograph is the first and most comprehensive study that reports and explains the arguments presented in the theological works of Imami, Mu'tazili and Ash'ari concerning the existence of God and describes the history and evolution of these arguments in the history of Islamic theology. The importance of this work, in particular, is related to its focus on the period of Islamic theology in which it was established and also the previous centuries, the periods in which the discussions of the theologians, due to the fact that understanding the concepts and content of their literature and terms was very difficult, have not been reflected in other works and researches. So far, no work has been written with this breadth and precision about the history and evolution of the arguments of God's existence in Imami theology, and therefore, this book can be considered as the main source and reference for understanding the topics and materials related to the arguments of God's existence in the knowledge of theology.

The question of to what extent and to what extent the theological presuppositions of a historian have influenced his historiography and what factors and contexts have shaped this influence is one of the basic questions that have been raised in the discussions related to Islamic historiography. The answer to this question is important because its solution is an accurate picture of the basic question of what are the limits and the do's and don'ts of the effect of theological presuppositions on historiography. Examining the evidence in the history of Islamic historiography and the sources written in this knowledge by descriptive and analytical methods proves the hypothesis that Islamic historiography is affected in various dimensions from the author to the choice of subject, description and analysis of events and finally writing the text in many cases. It has been one of the theological presuppositions of historians. Also factors such as the emergence and growth of Islamic historiography in the context of theological needs, the spread of Islamic historiography in the political context, religious prejudices of historians, the dominance of specific cultural and social approaches, lack of accurate historical sources and reports and the need to rely on non-historical sources. The holy figures in historical events and, finally, the continuity and inseparability of history from other sciences, have provided the ground for the realization of these interventions

Without an iota of doubt, in the domain of unity of muslims and approximation of Muslim sects, exploring the deeds and words of prophet is the most efficient solution. From the deeds of prophet shared among all Islamic sects, it is clearly understood that the holy prophet issued several warnings about the successor- which is the most notorious point of division among Muslims. The holy prophet has shown that the path of unity and approximation is solely sought in reaching a consensus on the successor. According to this view, unity among muslims is only attained when they concur upon the principles of Imamate, and approximation is achieved only when all Islamic sects adopt a discourse relying on Imamate principle. This discourse method must open new chapters for discussions about the issue of Imamate. The first goal of adopting such a discourse has to be disclosing the truth behind the ideology of different Islamic sects and their principles. The second goal must be removing the misconceptions and misunderstanding. The most significant aim of such an approach is: to revisit the root cause of grievences, to shed light on historical and religious issues, to establish a clear margin between unity and approximation on the one hand and unity and social coexistance on the other.

The doctrine of the Divine designation of the Imam which is an outstanding doctrine of the Twelver Shiism has undergone various stages over time. Of them, references must be made to its noteworthy stages, its initial and basic idea of the mere Divine designation, its developed interpretation, and its institutionalization and public dissemination amongst the Twelver Shiites. This study proves that although the Infallible Imams who preceded the fifth Infallible Imam Muhammad al-Baqir had made references to the Divine nature of the appointment of the Infallible Imam, it was the Infallible Imam Muhammad al-Baqir who institutionalized the doctrine of the Divine designation. This trend led to notable increase in the conviction of the believers to the nature and mechanism of such appointment, hence their steadfastness in admitting the Infallible Imam who succeeded Imam Muhammad al-Baqir.

The scholarly seminary of Ḥillah had been established by the presence of a group of the famous Imami scholars in the city of Ḥillah from its beginning days of building by the Shi’i Mazyadis in the sixth century. Although the scholars of this seminary in the first years had been mainly concerned with the knowledge related to Jurisprudence (Fiḳh), on the basis of some necessities, some years later the knowledge of Kalam also flourished in this city. Following the theologians of the Rey School, the Kalam of Ḥillah at first was influenced by the recent Mu’tazilah, after the appearance of Khwajah al-Tusī and Ibn Maytham al-Baḥranī, the Kalami literature of Ḥillah had been completely influenced by the peripatetic philosophy. This new trend, although critical of the philosophical thought in the essential issues of Kalam, completely impressed by philosophy in methodology and Kalami literature. Alongside the Kalami trend, the Kalami-Ḥadithi trend must be referred wchich Sayyid Ibn Ṭawūs is its most prominent representative in Ḥillah. This trend which has been, in fact, the continuation of the kalami Ḥadithi School of Qom, was critical of the Mutakallemun in methodology as well as in some important belief issues. In the Ḥillah School, the Mystical trends must not be ignored. These trends gradually influenced the total Imami thought even the Mutakallems and philosophers. Despite of the critical encounter of some of the scholars of Ḥillah with the Sufī and mystical thoughts, many of the scholars of this school such as Khwajah al-Tusī, Ibn Maytham al-Baḥranī and even a theologian like Fāḍil Miḳdād influenced by it. While they discussed on the rational and Kalami basis in their rational books, but they believed that a higher type of knowledge is also exists which is the mystical.

Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), the interpreter of qur’anic verses concordant with the social order considered by Holy Quran, initiated the Islamic community in Medina based on the unity when the community of Medina included the diverse social groups as well as the diverse beliefs and tendencies and the development of Islamic community based on qur’anic and divine bases and values got feasible by the convention named Vasiqat ol- Madinah. This document including the effective principles in the direction of the advancement of Islamic community was developed by the prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and it was agreed upon by all the groups present in Medina. This research is to specify the epistemological position of Vasiqat ol- Madinah through the historical approach as well as the study of epistemological grounds in favor of developing the Islamic community of Medina. The findings of this research clarify that the ontological elements of unity and resurrection together with the anthropologic elements of taking responsibility and dignity of human are considered as the epistemological elements of this contract towards the foundation of newly developed Islamic community of Medina.

The theory of “meaning” was deployed by theologians (mutakallimūn) of the School of Kūfa, particularly Hishām ibn al-Ḥakam, as an ontological approach to analyzing and explaining divine acts and God’s attributes of action. Of God’s attributes of action, will is the most prominent, which is known by the great theologian in this period of the history of Imāmī Kalām as “motion.” Hishām ibn al-Ḥakam believed that will is what transpires out of power and volition, although it is different from other entities and creatures in the world. Thus, he posited an existence for will independently of God’s essence and act—what he referred to as “meaning.” The view was derived from some Imāmī hadiths according to which will was created separately from other creatures.

This is a research that seeks traces of the continuity of the theological current of Hishām b. al-Ḥakam in Basra. The research is pursued with the question of why and how Hishām b. al-Ḥakam’s thoughts continued in Basra. As it seems, after Hishām b. al-Ḥakam and his students were persecuted by the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad, some of his students, such as ‘Alī b. Ismā’īl al-Maythamī and al-Ḥakam b. Hishām b. al-Ḥakam, migrated to Basra to continue their theological activities, because the city was a thriving environment for theological dialogues and was distant from the center of the Abbasid Caliphate. In order to pursue their theological thoughts, they had scholarly interactions with the intellectual sect of Mu’tazila, and the opposition they faced from some Imāmīs in Basra is remarkable. Given oppositions to them by people outside and inside the Imāmīyya denomination, the current faded after a short-term presence and influential activities in Basra. Although there has so far not been a clear picture of their presence in Basra, in this research we have found that the theological strand following Hishām was active in Basra in late second and mid-third centuries AH.

The article has been organized in order to show the Imamiyyah Kalami line in the city of ‘Askar Mokram in the time distance of the third/tenth and fourth/eleventh centuries. The main goal of this research is to know and review of the hidden and unknown layers of the history of the Imamiyyah thought in the first centuries. The main question of this research is that in what extent were the activities and role-playings of the Imami theologians on the city of ‘Askar Mokram. It seems that, among the majority of the Mu’tazilites active in the city of ‘Askar Mokram in the region of Khuzestan, there were numbers of the Imamiyyah theologians that were leading the Imamiyyah Kalami trend in that region. Although the mentioned Imami thinkers due to their mutual cooperation with the Mu’tazilites were of the same views as the Mu’tazilites, in the issue of Imamah they succeeded to some extend to change the view of the Basrah Mu’tazilites about the priority of Imam Ali (AS). Making prominent the importance of this city in the realm of Imamiyyah Kalam between the schools of Kufah and Baghdad are counted one of this research’s results.

By studying the previous kalami work, we find that "Latif ul-Kalam" (the Subtle theology) is a title which is used against "Jalil ul-Kalam" (the great theology) and shows a certain categorizing in the discussions of Kalam knowledge. But what is the subtle issues, its features and its place in knowledge of Kalam, are the worthwhile questions that have been considered less. Historical-theological studies show that in the first Islamic civilization periods, the theologians, in addition to being responsible to answer the religious and theological issues of their own religion, considered themselves to be responsible for research and responding to general and fundamental knowledge questions before other Muslim scholars. Later, in the knowledge of Kalam, to address these issues, there was a special part in which they addressed general, fundamental and non-theological issues and discussed it in the introduction of the knowledge of Kalam in order to explain and substantiate different issues of Kalam by these subtle issues. These issues are referred to as "Latif ul-Kalam", which is versus the belief issues that are generally categorized as "Jalil ulkalam". The issues of "Latif ul-Kalam" are categorized in three sections: cosmological, act-study, and epistemological issues.

The Spirit and its attributes are mentioned in nineteen verses of the Holy Quran. The nature and cases of spirit, the way of spirit's relation with humans and angels, its functions and works as well as the spirit being material or immaterial were disputed between the Muslim exegetes and theologians from a long time. According the common viewpoint, spirit is of various cases including the human reasoning soul, but from the viewpoint of Ayatullah MuhammadBagher Maleki Miyanaji none of these verses indicates the human soul. This theory considers the interpretation of spirit to the Holy Spirit as unifying all the verses relating to spirit and regards arguing by these verses for immateriality of spirit as empty of reason. Explanation of the knowledge place of spirit, its ontological relation with the carriers of this spirit and the analysis of its place in prophecy and guardianship (wilayah) are another attempt in this semantic attempt. Aside from the apparent signification of the verses, Ahl ul-Bayt's narrations are an important documentary for this exegete to interpret the spirit to the Holy Spirit.

The early Imamiyyah believed in "Real Dualism" in the topic of human nature. Some other of the most important opinions about the human nature consisted in: the physical theory of the human nature, the latent spirit theory of Nazzam and the philosophical theory of spirit. According to the early Imamiyyah the human nature consists of a combination of spirit and body that at the same time that spirit is principal, but the body is also considered as important. The theory of Hesham b. al-Hakam more exactly considers the human nature in three arenas: this worldly arena that includes the spirit and body as a real combination; the "differentiated" arena which is the reason and the ability of free will in human beings; and the spirit arena which is regarded as the principal and consistent component on human nature that is relatively and not philosophically pure immaterial and can be perceptively active without any need to other things.

The idea of the exigent knowledge (al-marifat ul-iztirariyyah) is examined by the Mutazilites with the two different criteria of being "non- arbitrary" and "needless of contemplation and reasoning". It encountered many developments and changes during the Mutazilite thought history. With the criterion of being "non- arbitrary", Abu al-Hudhayl al-Allaf considered the genuine of knowledge of God as exigent and the rest of the knowledge as attainable (ektesabi). With the same criterion, Beshr ibn al-Mutamer regarded all knowledge as attainable and denied any kind of exigent knowledge, whereas Jahez and the Ashab ul-Maaref (the companions of Knowledge), counted all knowledge as exigent and denied any kind of arbitrary knowledge. Al-Nazzam was the first Mutazilite which by changing the measure of the exigent knowledge, considered only the sensory knowledge as exigent with the criterion of "needled of thinking and contemplation" (nazar) and named other knowledge as theoretical that need to thinking and contemplation. The believers in the attainability of the knowledge of God (ektesabiyytu marefate Allah), on the contrary, regarded it the first duty and believed that for the responsible person in order to attain and choose the knowledge of God, there must be a moratorium for thinking and contemplation between knowing the self – which occurs exigently- and knowing God.

The present paper examines four of the theological knowledge sources with a distinct approach from that of the early Imamyyah theologians during the presence ara. To this end and to identify the necessary components of a paradigm and an independent model of thought among early Imamyyah theologians who distinguished themselves from their contemporary ones and also from the thinkers of the later eras, the study adopts a historical analysis based on narrative, theological, and historical sources. About the first source (intellect) and its relation to revelation, all of Imamyyah theologians, except for a small group of scholars, believed in joint authority. The early Imamyyah theologians also believed in the independent authority of intellect, but, unlike the Mu’tazila, not exclusively and without recourse to revelation. In relation to the issue of fiṭrah, the early Imamyyah theologians believed that one of the most important missions of the prophets was the awakening of human nature not rational argumentation about monotheism. As for the issue of perception, the sharp-sightedness of sense perceptions is not what theologians questioned. Finally, in contrast with the extreme views of tradition-oriented Sunnis and also intellect-oriented Mu'tazilites, they took the position of explaining the ultimate being through heart sight..

From the Quranic teachings which play an important role among celestial and basic teachings in cognition of man, the issue of “soul” is of special position. This composition by a descriptive and analytical method and attitude of Ijtihad tries to study the verses in which this word is used. To have a more exact grasp of soul verses, they are grouped, and each group is explained by the help of other verses. Then in a defined order, the connection of each branch with other verses is showed. Acknowledgment of share semantic of soul in the Quran with two parameters of life and complementing and accepting existence of levels and degrees are resultant of this study.

The Imam's authoritative place in the commandments legislation is one of the most controversial issues that had been always discussed by the scholars. Many Imami thinkers accepted this place for the Prophet, but refused to accept it for the Imam. Nevertheless, according to the denotation of some Hadiths, it seems that the purified Imams also have the authority in the Sharia commandments and, everywhere needed, can include some commandment in religion. These demonstrations consisted in: the tafwidh (cession) hadiths, the demonstrations show the affinity of the Imams with the Prophet in all the positions and the demonstrations show the occurrence of the place by the imam. With the presupposition of the Prophet's authority in the commandments legislation, the current writing tries to examine the demonstrations prove this place for the infallible Imams.

What is Death and how it occurs and what would be the final destiny of man? The answer to these questions, that are amongst the oldest and the most long-lasting philosophical-religious questions of man and mended to the meaning of life, depends on the nature of man. Sayyed al-Murtaza is one of the theologians that although had chosen a materialistic interpretation of man and regarded death as annihilation, strongly believes in life after death and tries to explain the state of purgatory (barzakh) and resurrection. In this paper it is tried to interpret his view on the nature of man and the nature of death in detail to be an introduction for his view on the quality of life after death which requires an independent chance.

The Muslim thinkers based faith and guidance on the knowledge of belief fundamental teachings; but, in the history of Islamic knowledge, the knowledge's characteristics, its domain and how it is gained, had been always a challenging issue. In this regard, to answer the above-mentioned questions, the Imami thinkers of the Kufan School put forward the theory of "Constraint Knowledge" on the basis of the Qur'an and the Shi'i Hadith heritage. The belief of the early Imamis was that the complete knowledge purport had been given to human beings in the previous worlds and the human being has the purport actually in his conscious. Thus, knowledge is created by God and man can't acquire it, but only must remember the purport of that knowledge. Of course, from amongst the early Imami thinkers, Hesham b. Hakam which was pioneer in the ImamiKalami discussions of that time, was trying to offer a more reasonable reading of the Imami beliefs. In order to avoid the criticisms and to open an acceptable place for "rational reason", he maintains that the actuality of the constraint knowledge depends on reasoning.