نشریه ادیان و عرفان
سال پنجاه و چهارم شماره 1 (بهار و تابستان 1400)

The relationship between religion and mysticism is a wide-ranging and challenging issue that has its roots in the history of Sufism and mysticism. Muslim mystics, along with religious scholars inclined to Islamic mysticism, have always emphasized the Islamic origin of mysticism. On the other hand, some religious scholars have denied any connection between mysticism and Islamic teachings. They have considered mystical teachings as heresy which is the result of mystics' connection with foreign cultures; Hence, have confronted them. It seems that this disagreement can be resolved to some extent by clarifying the various dimensions of mysticism, thus reducing the disagreement and increasing the consensus. In the present study, instead of presenting a specific relationship, the various relationships that exist between different dimensions of mysticism and religion will be discussed, so the dispute due to ambiguity in the relationship between these two will be clarified  through analytical and phenomenological methods. Utilizing the "Ro'us thamaniyah" "eight vertices" of the science of logic as well as the comparison of mysticism with other sciences in this study reduces the ambiguity of relation between the two. Because by referring to some of "Ro'us thamaniyah" such as: subject and type, purpose and motive, author and compiler, benefit and interest, position and rank and also Segmentation of mysticism, brings us to different and numerous relations between religion and mysticism that in some similarities and in some other dimensions there will be contrasts. The result of this approach will negate the general view and the definite opinion in this regard and invite to a partial and dimensional view.

In the present article, we have studied the “Food of Light” and “Light-eating” in the works of Rumi and its importance in understanding the nature of Sufi knowledge with a descriptive-analytical method. The problem of researching is the nature of light food and light-eating from the perspective of mystical phenomenology and ontology and its place in Rumi's special epistemological system and its importance in describing and explaining the nature of Sufi knowledge. The research findings show that although tasting and drinking the light of the manifestation of God, in the works of Sufis before Rumi has been expressed in terms of terms such as “ذوق” (Taste), “شرب” (Drink), and “ری” (Slake),  “Food of Light” and  “Light-eating” are Rumi's special Sufi experiences that should not be viewed from a literary-aesthetic look based on creative imagination that can be studied and analyzed in their specific spiritual and spiritual truths and phenomena, which can be studied and analyzed in their specific Sufi context and  are  important from perspective of describing Sufi knowledge.

Religion and its nexus with culture in explaining the women’s status in society can be examined from a new perspective; in particular, the most religious texts are written by men and the status of women has been affected by the masculine perspective of these texts. In feminist studies, however, a new approach has evolved reviving the women’s role in religious experiences in order to improve their positions in religious communities. Hence, in Christian studies, feminine investigations were conducted not only in New Testament but also in other religious texts, including the Apocryphal books. Even though the apocryphal texts were not considered canonical, the scholars think that they are so important because they reflect the ideas and beliefs of some elite members of the early Christianity. By investigating the views of the authors of these texts, a better model of women's religious experiences in that period can be grasped, in particular with respect to Mary Magdalene and her controversial personality. The descriptive-analytical method of this article at first throws some light on Mary Magdalene’s relationship with Jesus, and then paints a new perspective with respect to her personality conforming to the feminists’ four axes.

Ibn Sina is one of the rare philosophers who, based on the knowledge of the soul, has revealed the secret of his personal experience in the form of three allegorical treatises. Ibn Sina's treatise Al-Tair is one of his mystical treatises which depicts the mystical states of man and the way of man towards the truth in the form of a beautiful allegory. In this treatise, the seeker is likened to a bird who, by freeing himself from the attachments of this world and with the help of the elder and guide of the path, achieves his true desire. In this article, we intend to explain some of Ibn Sina's mystical views in the process of the mystic's mystical journey to reach the highest level of truth. This article, after outlining the generalities and a brief description of the original story, will provide interpretation and analysis of the story and will express the views and main mystical elements of Ibn Sina.

What can be seen in the mystical and allegorical stories of the philosophers and mystics, especially in their Bird Treatises, is the flight of the human soul, which is imprisoned in the exile of body, toward his own origin and truth. In these stories, the soul of the traveler or travelers is represented, symbolically, in the form of a bird or birds. Reaching the soul to its origin and at the same time arriving at a subjective relationship with a Sacred Truth is one of the central ideas in these travelogues. By using some philosophical-theological ideas, and by reviewing Bird Treatises of Ibn Sina and Al-Suhrawardi, we try to analyze and explain Attar's theological system in Manteq al-tayr about the origin of the soul and its relationship with God. Unlike Ibn Sina and Suhrawardi, who equate reaching the soul to its origin with arriving at personal and subjective relationship with the active intellect, Attar speaks of a communal subjective relationship of soul with God at the end of the journey. Attar has also discussed some important ideas which, have been neglected or disregarded in the treatises of the two other philosophers. The negation of the subjective/objective distinction concerning the relationship between man and God, taking a negative stance toward the essence and attributes of God along with a positive approach to God's actions and names, believing in the divine identity of the soul, believing in the existence of a single communal soul for multiple religious human beings, and a theory about the first manifestation of God in a personal human being, are among these ideas.

Decreation is one of the central ideas in Simone Weil’s mysticism that first was introduced by her into theological and mystical discourse of Christianity. Understanding the idea of decreation depends on understanding Weil’s model of creation. She believed that God, out of love, withdraws from His divinity so that the world of creation to be realized. Just as, in creation, God empties Himself of His divinity in order for man and the world to exist, so in decreation, man, by imitating God, also must empty himself of what have been given to him so that he can participate in creation as God wills. Decreation isn’t just imitating God detaching Himself from His divinity; rather, it is a passive action which, in practice, must be waited for after giving all the attachments and fantasies up. Simone Weil, through the act of decreation, explains how to deny selfishness and avoid self-centeredness.

Perhaps if we had not faced the eclipse of the sun today, Shams' teachings and educational views would have been known to Iranians. Now we should re-read and listen to his instructions and words as a forgotten coach. An educator whose lessons, such as the invitation to a spirituality based on love and peace as an educational and cultural heritage, have crossed the boundaries of the time and place of his life and are still remembered by man and for man. The present article reviews the views and ideas of Shams Tabrizi from an educational perspective, after examining the adequacy of Shams' thoughts and reflections to receive educational implications, seeks the answer to the question of what are the characteristics and dimensions of spiritual education from his perspective. Rereading the views of Shams Tabrizi in this research, with a descriptive-analytical approach and in the interaction between the structure derived from the research literature of the field of education with analysis ,deduction and inference obtained by examining the content and text of Shams' essays. Based on this, we can talk about findings for spiritual education such as foundations (freedom, will, sincerity), principles (spirituality), goals (lovemaking and abandoning selfishness) and methods (silence, confrontation, dialogue). Spiritual education based on the recitation of Shams has cognitive (such as intuitive thinking), emotional (happiness and compassion) and practical (training of soul and spirit) dimensions.

Discovering the relationship between essence and divine names and attributes has always been one of the great concerns of theologians. The present study follows this concern, based on the main question "How to explain the relationship between essence and divine attributes in the intellectual system of Seyyed Haidar Amoli?" The present paper, first collected and coded the related materials and then arranged them in a logical order to achieve the results. the results are as follow: Seyyed Haidar Amoli introduces the divine names and attributes as a channel for the orderly emergence of the divine essence, however, considering the inseparability of the names and attributes. it seems that these two are at the same time; In the intellectual system of Seyyed Haidar Amoli, names/Asma/ has been introduced as the same essence, but his reasons for objectivity have been distorted, and in the end, his performance in proving this claim has not been considered successful; By reconstructing the argument for otherness from the words of Seyyed Haidar Amoli, in some positions he has been evaluated as inclined to the theory of otherness; The way out of this internal contradiction will be to find a collective face between objectivity and zeal; It seems that the sum of objectivity and otherness is the theory of "names and attributes, the manifestation of essence", because with a validity of manifestation other than essence and degradation of essence from authority.