فهرست مطالب sayyid abdurrauf afzali

Few people are unfamiliar with or have not heard of extraordinary phenomena, but the question that arises for many is what causes these phenomena and how they can be scientifically explained. Does a natural phenomenon, known or unknown, give rise to these phenomena, or is it a supernatural phenomenon? In this study, which is conducted using an analytical-descriptive method, we attempt to answer this question based on Allameh Tabataba’i’s and Fakhr Razi’s viewpoint. These two prominent scholars of the Islamic world, both theologians, and philosophers and interpreters, have provided different answers to this issue. Allameh Tabataba’i, based on his theological and philosophical foundations, considered a natural fact as a cause, and provides a scientific explanation for extraordinary phenomena. On the other hand, Fakhr Razi, based on his own Ash‘ari foundations, considered a supernatural fact as a cause and deemed a scientific explanation impossible.

Misconception of God as a delusion recently raised by Richard Dawkins, an English biologist and behaviorist, is one of the most important misconceptions in the new age. Based on this misconceptions, although the problem of improbability of life cannot be solved by coincidence, this does not mean falling into the lap of the intelligent designer theory supported by theologians; because there is a better alternative to coincidence and it is nothing but the theory of natural selection. In this article, organized as descriptive-analytical, we first tried to explain Dawkins’ misconception and its foundations in a fair way and according to his own works, and then criticique it based on the opinions and thoughts of Muslim theologians and philosophers. From the viewpoint of Muslim thinkers, not only the foundations of Dawkins’ view do not have the necessary strength; rather, some of the premises used in his argument are not sufficient enough.

The theory of God as the product of human ignorance has been presented by many scientists including modern physicists and biologists. In this article, we address the theory from the view point of Stephen Hawking, a physicist. According to him, belief in God is the product of human ignorance. Humans believe in God as the cause of natural phenomena so long as the cause of these phenomena is not discovered by them; But when their cause is revealed, there is no room for believing in God. In the past, the world was considered as the creation of God because of people's deep ignorance, but today when the natural causes of the formation of the world have been revealed thanks to science, there is no need to assume the existence of God. In this paper which is organized in an analytical-descriptive way, first we deal with the model-dependent realism, quantum physics, M- theory, and God as a being covering gaps as the foundations of Hawking's theory and then attention is paid to issues such as the scientific explanation of the origin of the world, the superiority of the scientific explanation over other explanations, and the incompatibility of the scientific explanation with the religious explanation as the three main axes of Hawking's theory. At the end, we will assess the basic elements this theory contains with a critical approach based on Islamic philosophy and theology.

Being an important problem of political thought, utopia is deemed to have various functions and applications. Mulla Sadra makes use of the concept of utopia in order to criticize his contemporary political setup and present an alternative pattern. In Mulla Sadra’s utopia citizens and regulations are of great importance. This is because no society can be es tablished without these elements. More important than these is, however, the executive sys tem. On his view, a utopian society is one over which a prophet, an Imam or a juris t rules. In addition to having numerous benefits, his utopia brings about a situation in which the inner and the outer realms of exis tence get to some sort of harmony. It is by living in this society that man gets back to the right track determined by his Lord attaining thus ultimate happiness.

One of the most important allegations of believing in God in the present century is the proof or allegation of the 'Divine concealment'. This allegation is posed by Schellenberg, a contemporary philosopher of religion, and has been greatly noticed for more than two decades in the West by philosophers of religion. Accepting God's concealment, there is not enough evidence to prove God's existence therefore God does not exist. Western scholars consider this proof important but it is less noticed in the world of Islam. I will try to explain and criticize the latest version of this proof from the perspective of Islamic philosophy (which is not yet done), using a descriptive-analytic method of research. This investigation and analysis will show that it is not correct to conclude paganism and polytheism from the Divine concealment and is variously criticized.