فهرست مطالب

Religious Inquiries - Volume:9 Issue: 1, Winter-spring 2020

Religious Inquiries
Volume:9 Issue: 1, Winter-spring 2020

  • تاریخ انتشار: 1399/06/19
  • تعداد عناوین: 10
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  • Abdolkarim Mohamadi, Shahla Eslami * Pages 5-19
    According to Gabriel Marcel, being cannot be approached directly through a conceptual way, because it belongs to the real territory of mystery rather than that of problem. One of the most important concepts in Marcel’s philosophy is that of hope. Marcel’s conception of hope relies upon a distinction between “having” and “being.”  We do not have a belief; we are in a belief. Similarly, when we hope, we do not have hope. For Marcel, hope consists in asserting that beyond all data and calculations, at the heart of being, there is a mysterious principle related to me.
    Keywords: being, having, hope, Mystery, love, Loyalty
  • Seyed MohammadReza Lavasani * Pages 21-44

    This paper focuses on self-confidence in psychology in both conceptual and empirical ways and investigates the status of self-confidence in Islamic ethics. Five relevant approaches to self-confidence are identified and then comparatively studied in psychology and Islamic ethics. In addition, an attempt is made to present an appropriate framework to build, boost, and improve self-confidence through psychology and to find its relation with Islamic ethics. This is conducted by using the analytical-descriptive method along with library research. The principal elements of Islamic ethics include self-awareness, insight, self-respect, human dignity, positive thinking, optimism, endeavor, will, and being responsible, as well as spiritual and psychological independence. On the other hand, major elements of psychology include pattern, self-belief, self-consciousness, positive self-thought, strong will, positive thinking, self-respect, invincibility, perseverance, objective-centeredness, patience, and acquisition of knowledge. These two approaches have some elements in common, such as self-awareness, knowledge, and experience acquisition, positive thinking, and self-respect. The results show that the God-oriented approach in an ethical framework of self-confidence, the essence of which lies in trust in God, can be distinguished from a psychological approach reflected in behaviorism and pragmatism.

    Keywords: God-oriented approach, psychology, self-confidence, trust in God, Islamic ethics
  • Nazanin Kianifard * Pages 45-63
    Sufism greatly influenced the ethical beliefs and values of al-Ghazali. Had it not been for that influence, his works would have lacked their special spiritual value. In this paper, I will examine the role that Sufi philosophy played in giving spiritual depth to the ethics of al-Ghazali and how he was ultimately drawn to Sufism. Al-Ghazali moved away from his focus on the law and realized the value of spirituality. I will also argue why Socrates and Plato’s beliefs are not at odds with Sufism and thus with al-Ghazali’s views. In his The Incoherence of the Philosophers, al-Ghazali attacks the philosophers including Ibn Sina and al-Farabi, but these two men laid the groundwork for Sufi philosophy. So, in reality, al-Ghazali should have sided with Ibn Sina and al-Farabi rather than opposing them. Neo-Platonism influenced Sufi philosophy, and since al-Ghazali was influenced by Sufi philosophy, he must not have been at odds with the Muslim Neo-Platonists.
    Keywords: Sufism, al-Ghazali, neo-Platonism, compatibility
  • Fariba Sharifian *, Katayoun Fekripour, Azadeh Heidarpour Pages 65-81

    This paper aims to examine the death penalty in Zoroastrianism, the Quran, and the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran. By studying antient Zoroastrian texts, we face a variety of crimes and punishments such as murder, robbery, adultery, magic, rape, and assault that were always considered to be the worst offenses. Zoroastrian religious scholars wrote books on crimes and their punishment in this world and the hereafter. Islam, like all other divine religions, regards the death penalty as a permissible and sometimes obligatory punishment for the perpetrators of capital offenses, while in other cases it prohibits the death penalty and considers it a grave sin. The Islamic penal system strives to confront offenses and injustice and eliminate corruption. This paper discusses the differences and similarities between the crimes that lead to the death penalty in pre-Islamic Iran, the Quran, and the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

    Keywords: crime, Quran, pre-Islamic Iran, capital punishment
  • Salam Alnasir, Mahmoud Ghorban Sabbagh *, Masood Khoshsaligheh Pages 83-103

    This study examines the moral and ethical aspects of creating savior siblings using Kant’s moral-philosophical theory and Beauchamp and Childress’s (B&C) principles of medical ethics. In this study, the researchers argue that three of the four clusters of the principles of B&C framework are derived from common morality and Kant’s ethics. Besides, the second part of this article is designed as a moral qualitative question in order to see to what extent different participants from three different countries (i.e., Iraq, Iran, and the United States) would react to the moral situation of creating savior siblings. The results show how creating savior siblings violate the Kantian categorical imperative that prohibits the use of anyone as a mere means to someone else’s end. Also, through applying B&C ethical framework, it is found that the creation of savior siblings violates Beauchamp and Childress’ principles of medical ethics. Furthermore, the results of examining the moral and ethical dilemmas of creating savior siblings from the participants’ responses show that, in the 21st century, people from Iraq, Iran, and America practice morality and moral rules in their decisions. Also, the researchers found that Iraqi and Iranian people think more within a religious framework in deciding about moral cases than Americans.

    Keywords: morality, medical ethics, savior siblings, dilemma
  • Parisa Eftekhar *, Hossein Mahmoudi Pages 105-127
    Life in today's global village has two ontological and epistemological aspects. One problem of the globalized world related to these two aspects, which will be discussed in this article first is the fact that the civilization of the globalized world has, in some ways, been disconnected from its culture, since civilization moves towards collectivism whereas culture moves towards individualism; this will be the most problematic issue in the realm of ethics, the major subset of culture. Afterwards, using the scenario planning method, four possible scenarios of ethics in future culture will be put forward, and the content of these scenarios will be discussed.
    Keywords: globalization, global village, global culture, global ethics, Collectivism, Individualism, egoism, Altruism
  • Richard Worthington * Pages 129-168
    The Quranic statement that Jesus predicted Muhammad by name is examined in light of the expectation of what the “kingdom of God” was. The concept of the kingdom of God as being the light or fire of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is contrasted with the Sufi concept of the “Light of Muhammad.” Pentecost could be the Light of Muhammad coming upon the apostles of Christ; the Light is the same, but known under a different name. However, on the other hand, it is shown that some Jewish Christians could have been looking for an earthly “kingdom of Israel” to be restored. In this case, they would be expecting a human person to bring this about. The name “Muhammad” is then wordplay on the term “Paraclete” via the related Greek word “periklute,” having the same approximate meaning as the name “Muhammad.” In this way, the term “Paraclete” remains unchanged in the Bible, referring to Pentecost, while enabling Jewish Christians to give it a double meaning, because these two Greek words appeared identical when written in Semitic languages before the invention of vowel points. Finally, non-biblical references to Jesus talking about the Paraclete are examined and shown to have some relevance.
    Keywords: Periklutos, Ahmad, Light of Muhammad, kingdom of God, Manichean
  • Aliahmad Naseh * Pages 169-189
    Knowing the factors that secure mental health and using them in practice ensure peace of mind for the individual and society. The present study explores this topic in the Quran and hadiths. The study will show that, according to these two sources, the main factors in securing mental health for the individual and society are the following: enhanceing faith in God, trusting God, having a good opinion of God and positive thinking, being hopeful, maintaining the prayer, fasting, supplication, patience and perseverance, repentance, asceticism and restraint from vain worldly pleasures, love and affection, good-naturedness, marriage, and a decent profession.
    Keywords: mental health, psychology, God, the Quran, Hadith
  • Ali Asgariyazdi *, Soheila Piroozvand Pages 191-214
    Theories of the meaning of life are divided into two categories: nihilistic and anti-nihilistic. The latter is divided, in turn, into the view that life is meaningful and the view that life can be made meaningful. In this paper, we deploy a descriptive-analytic method to discuss Jean-Paul Sartre’s view of nihilism. In his view, God does not exist, the human being is born and dies without a reason, and then his life ends when he turns into a being-in-itself. Sartre’s view is subject to a host of objections, including the following: his restriction of the domain of knowledge to the empirical cannot itself be empirically established; given their confinement in the material world, human beings cannot come up with a comprehensive plan for their life; and that the meaninglessness of life is a self-contradicting idea that cannot be true in the external world.
    Keywords: Human, Jean-Paul Sartre, absurdity of life, purposefulness of creation
  • Seyyed Abolhasan Navvab * Pages 215-244
    Customary marriage (nikāḥ ‘urfī)—non-official married life of a couple—is a new phenomenon increasingly spreading throughout the Arab world. Legal and social consequences of customary marriage have led many socio-jurisprudential scholars to forbid all its varieties. The strategy has, nevertheless, failed to restrain the spread of this type of marriage. In this paper, I argue that one fundamental religiously acceptable solution is temporary marriage. Although Muslims have disagreed over the legitimacy of temporary marriage, I argue that they all agree over its original legitimacy according to the Quran and Hadith, and then I show that there is no decisive evidence for the subsequent abrogation of its legitimacy. Moreover, I argue that temporary marriage can serve the purposes of customary marriage. Thus, all Muslims can accept temporary marriage as a religious replacement for customary marriage.
    Keywords: Marriage, Temporary marriage, customary marriage, mutʿa, Emergency