Common Mystical Thoughts of Mani and Ayn al-Quzat Hamadani

Mani is among the philosophers and mystic scholars who had left the most profound effects on the theoretical grounds of Gnosticism which flourished in Iran after them. His beliefs about the divine or ancient human being, his fight against Iblis, his belief in the two bases of being (Spentä Mainyu and Angra Mainyu in the Zoroastrian religion or Ahmad and Iblis as meant by Halaj, Ahmad Ghazali, and Ayn al-Quzat), separating the soul from the body, mystical manifestation and exemplification were transformed exactly or with slight differences to the realms of ancient Iranian Sufism of which Ayn al-Quzat is a notable inheritor. The basic goal of the present study is to determine, explain, and analyze the degree to which Gnostic thoughts of Ayn al-Quzat Hamadani and Mani agree in the mentioned fields. The research hypothesis comprises the tracing of the mediated influence of Mani on Ayn al-Quzat Hamadani in the field of the two bases and also the unmediated effects of Mani on him in the field of mystical manifestation, exemplification, and the separation of the spirit from the body. This influence has been to such an extent that it can be said that Ayn al-Quzat’s Gnosticism is affected by Mani’s Gnosticism in the three different areas. The results of the study are as follows: Mani and Ayn al-Quzat both agree that every creature in the universe has exemplified alternative in the heavenly world (the Malakot), while Ayn al-Quzat believes that each action that human beings do has a good or bad exemplified reflection in the Malakot. In this research project, a descriptive-analytical method is applied to the common grounds in the mystical thoughts of Mani and Ayn al-Quzat.