نشریه عقل و دین
پیاپی 21 (پاییز و زمستان 1398)

One of the topics in the Islamic theology is the "problem of evil", which has constantly attracted the attention of many thinkers from past till present. In this study, the researcher uses the library method to gain Mohammad Ibn Mohammad Ghazali’s viewpoint (450-505 AH) on this problem, who is one of the Ash'arite Muslim theologians. The researcher intends to analyses the relationship between reason and faith in his books. In his works, he indirectly discusses the problem of evil and tries to find solution on the basis of faith-based answers, and simultaneously intends to rationalize the existence of evil; in other words, he advocates both the use of reason and submission to the Divine will. Therefore, it is impossible to attribute him absolutely to either approaches, but it can be said that in his solution to the problem of evil, reason and faith both emerge, and their interaction and that has prevented Al-Ghazali from sinking into an abyss of extremism.

Spiritual states are the inner emotions of a person which are related to the spirituality and reveal in the form of affection or behavior. Nowadays, spirituality is not necessarily associated with religion and is also released is some heretical ways. Pseudo-spiritual states can harm the individuals or the society in case not distinguished. Hence this article uses the descriptive, analytical, and critical methods to discover the principles of right spiritual states and their diagnostic criteria and has concluded the following: 1- They are undoubtedly Divine. 2- They are within the boundaries of Sharia. 3- They are within the spiritual sates of the infallible (Ahl-al-Bait) 4- They can be created, enforced or suppressed. 5- They are of different levels.6- They have outer signs. 6- Diagnostic signs must be sought for diagnosing them.

“Miracle” is one of the fundamental themes that are associated with the concept of prophecy. Allameh Tabarsi studied the various aspects of miracles with a wide
 look in Majma-ol-Bayan. He has delivered his interpretative studies in two parts: the general and the specific aspects of miracles. General aspects include the necessity of miracles for the prophets, the relation between miracle and rationalism, and the problem of ability for miracles for people other than prophets. Morever, he also studied the issues that are around the miracles of the Qur'an and the Prophet’s miracles. Issues like the way miracles are demonstrated in the Qur'an, the quality of the miracles of the Qur'an, the miraculous aspects of the Qur'an, and the non-Qur'anic miracles of the Prophet and therequested miracles. However; there are some important issues that Allameh Tabarsi has left out and has not discussed: The theory of “Sarfa”(dissuade) and the relationship between “Keramat”(ability to do strange things) and delivering miracles.

Monotheism and its types are among the topics that open the way to theology, and among these, the unity of the essence is one of the key issues. Sheikh Baha'i is one of the scholars and thinkers who has carefully considered this issue in such a way that the analysis of his thoughts can help to clarify this issue further. Sheikh Baha'i considers the unity of the Divine essence as one of the certain pillars in Islam. One of the issues that add to the importance of his views is the method of recognizing the unity of the essence and presenting it through nature. In completing his views, he has proposed philosophical arguments and proved the unity of the essence through reason and narration, and in this statement he has well shown the importance of addressing the status of oneness and unity, as well as paying attention to their difference, and finally has attempted to invalidate the views of dualists.

A common topic in religious sources is the recognition and application of beauty in life. The desire for beauty and the intellect’s order for beautifying oneself and one’s life are intrinsic. The Holy Qur'an also acquaints people with beauties and guides them to create them in their lives. The Holy Qur'an teaches man the levels of beauty, which include tangible, intangible, sensible, and ultimately absolute beauty- which is specific to God's beauty- and asks him to use rational and spiritual beauties to achieve the desired perfection, based on his natural tendency to beauty. On the other hand, there is a need for being deeply aware of the correct lifestyle, since one’s lifestyle has lots of effects on him and because he must correct it to achieve perfection and happiness. The study of (Islamic) religious texts teaches us that only through learning about and employing  reasonable beauties one can improve one’s spiritual lifestyle in various dimensions, especially in establishing proper communication between different people in the society and also especially in cultivating the spirit of self-sacrifice. The lifestyle based on moral beauty, which is described in the Holy Qur'an as "Hayat tayeba”(i.e. a pure and beautiful life), is reserved for those who believe in God and do righteous deeds.

According to Allameh Hilli, the concept of God is based on the two concepts of "necessity of existence" and "perfection", and these two concepts are the basis for explaining the semantics of attributes. The concept of "necessity of existence" is a philosophical concept that has entered from the peripatetic philosophy into the theological discussion of the school of "Hillah" and although the concept of "perfection" presupposes the discussion of attributes and even the proof for the existence of God, it is discussed little in Islamic theology. Here, the relation between these two concepts in theology as well as the explanation of the attributes of God is discussed. The question is: “What is the relation between "necessity of existence" and "absolute perfection"?”; Are these two concepts deliverable to each other or are they based on two independent concepts? The concept of perfection for Allameh Hilli has been expressed with completeness, and in the semantic analysis of attributes, including positive and negative attributes, the concept of "perfection" is the background and default; But the concept of "necessity of existence" is the basis in the semantic analysis of some negative and positive attributes. Accordingly, in this article, by explaining the semantics of the concept of perfection and necessity of existence, and examining the semantics of attributes based on those two concepts, we arrive at the relationship of equality between the two concepts of necessity of existence and perfection; In other words, with the negation of the perfection of existence, existence will become meaningless, and with the negation of the necessity of existence, perfection will become relative. Since this issue is a theoretical and conceptual discussion, its method is also descriptive and analytical. By conceptual analysis of Qur'anic attributes of God and their philosophical explanation based on "perfection", practical benefit is also obtained.

The way that the angel of revelation has sent down Quran to the prophet has always been an important problem for thinking among theologians and Quran commentators. Finding an appropriate answer for this problem motivated the researcher to study the views of both theologians and commentators focusing on the views of Mullah Sadra developing an analytical method. According to the first view,  the Prophet does not go beyond the material world, but Gabriel appears in the material world and speaks to the Prophet, but according to the second view, the Prophet goes up from the “Nasout”(the ordinary material world) to “Ofogh A’ala”(highest horizon) and receives the revelation. Mullah Sadra considers four stations for the revelation’s process: “Qalam-i-Rabbani”(The Lord pen), “Lo’h-i-Ma’hfooz”(the protected tablet), “Lo’h-i-Qadar”(the tablet of fate) and “Lesan-i-Gebraeel” (the tongue of Gabriel). He believes that receiving the revelation has different stages. He explains the issue by expressing the existential dimensions of the Prophet, i.e. “self”, common sense, holy spirit, the human spirit, the movement of the self in the ascending arc(from the senses to the imagination and from imagination to the intellect) and in descending arc (from the intellect to the imagination and from imagination to the sense). He means that the self of the Prophet, assisted by the common sense, observes the angel of revelation and receives his word in all of the three stages of intellect, imagination and senses. Thus, in the ascending arc, the Prophet contacts the sacred world with his intellectual soul and receives the Divine knowledge, and in the descending arc, he causes the angel of revelation to appear in the both worlds of imagination and the senses.
Therefore, he believes that Quran's revelation is both sensory and intellectual.

In the second century AH, the Mu'tazilites turned to rationalism in religion, especially in the interpretation of the Qur'an and Hadith, so as to confront Ahl al-Hadith and extremist narrativism. That resulted in the emergence of literary interpretation and its gradual evolution. In order to show the role of rationalism in the tendency of Mu'tazilite commentators towards literary interpretation, the present article, using the analytical method, examines the place of rationalism in Quranic interpretation and its effect on the emergence and expansion of literary interpretation. It also compares some of the rationalist viewpoints, particularly those of of Abu Muslim and Zamakhshari, two Mu'tazilite rationalist commentators, with those of the narrative commentaries of Ahl al-Hadith and Ash'arites. The result of this research is that the Mu'tazilites' rationalism has an obvious role in the emergence and expansion of literary interpretation and also there is mutual influence between these two approaches to interpretation. However, these two literary interpretations have resulted in wrong understanig of some verses.

The motion, life and time are dimensions of human existence and time is one of the most important philosophical issues in understanding the meaning and progress of life. In Mulla Sadra and Bergson's philosophies, time is related to the meaning of life. Here, pointing to the fact that they were contemporaries, and also their similar emphasis on the fact that time is the magnitude of any motive being,such as mankind, the relationship between time and the meaning of life can be explained and analyzed. In this research, the analytical-comparative method is developed to prove that one’s life is his presence in different stages of time and also the moments of life corresponds to the minutes of time. Thus the meaning of life can be concluded from two facts: first, the adherence of the system of life on the basis of the order and the sequence of time and second, one makes the present and the future according to his experience of the past.