نشریه ادیان و عرفان
سال پنجاه و ششم شماره 1 (بهار و تابستان 1402)

On the one hand, Ibn-Arabi speaks of "natural egoism" in a sense that the nature of man is such that the dominant tendency of his actions is the acquisition of his good, and the result of each action, materially or spiritually, returns to himself, but on the other hand, he emphasizes "moral altruism"; focused on compassion and reducing the pain and suffering of all human beings. Therefore, the problem of the present article is how the compatibility between natural egoism and moral altruism is possible. In order to approach this problem with a descriptive-analytical method, first, natural egoism is explained based on the mystical foundations of Ibn-Arabi about the special manifestation of human beings for Divine Names, and their capacities of fixed entities and their individuality in terms of their spiritual conduct, and personal goal. Then, focused on his view about the creation of human beings in the Divine form and their fundamental unity, moral altruism based on the inherent sanctity of human beings and the return of the good of every benevolent act to the individual- of course, with the breadth of its meaning to the "general self" - is justified, and finally, by emphasizing the dependency of individual good and happiness over collective good and happiness, the claimed compatibility is shown.

Sheikh Rozbahan Baghli Shirazi is one of the most influential people in the development of Sufism, which is less known due to the complexities of his intellectual and linguistic system. One of these complications that is at the center of his mystical attitude is the term "Eltebas". This term has an inseparable connection with the fundamental trinity of his intellectual structure, i.e. love, beauty and epiphany. In spite of the complexity of the concept of "Eltebas" and its importance in the field of understanding the mystical worldview of Rozbahan, no research has been done that will clarify all aspects of this term. In this research, by investigating and pondering the opinions of the sheikh, it became clear that the term "Eltebas" refers to one of the types of epiphany, which is like a curtain or a covering to cover the light of God or the eternal beauty. A Sufi observes God's light from behind a curtain ("Eltebas"), which is of course the medium of epiphany perception, and prepares to observe and meet this light directly. If we assume that Sufism accepted by Roozbahan has three main steps (human love, divine love, knowledge and monotheism) "Eltebas", with three different layers of meaning, has an active presence in all stages.

In this article the encounters of two great Christian theologians of modern era, Friedrich Schleiermacher and Karl Barth, with aridity of their contemporary theological thoughts are comparatively surveyed. The comparison of these two shows relations between their relatively adverse views. They tried to enter enthusiasm in theology, but concerning the problems of their contemporary theologies based this enthusiasm on different bases. Schleiermacher emphasized on feeling, intuition and piety and Barth on something other-worldly a complete different from human experience. In this way, most of their views especially on Bible and doctrine of Christ are different. In spite of these differences, Barth argued depending on a Spirit-based or Christ-based interpretation of Schleiermacher’s theology we can hope on making a bridge between Barth and his views.

Human knowledge is one of the important principles of achieving knowledge in Islamic mysticism And for this reason, it is very important to pay attention to the anthropological views of the mystics in explaining the foundations and principles of their mystical vision. In this research, we have considered Molavi and Ibn Arabi as the representatives of the first and second mystical traditions; Maulavi as the great mystic of the first tradition, who has provided the widest scope for presenting the views of this tradition in the field of anthropology. Mohi al-Din Ibn Arabi, as the prominent figure of the second tradition of mysticism, whose opinions and mystical thoughts have been the inspiration of many scholars of mysticism and Islamic literature.This article analyzes and examines the anthropological foundations of the two mystical traditions through a comparative comparison of the views of Molavi and Ibn Arabi about the generalities of the foundations of anthropology, examining the levels of human beings and explaining the characteristics of perfected human beings.

Charles Hartshorne (1897-2000), who was the most Process philosopher-theologian after Whitehead (1861-1947),believed that the traditional theism emphasizes on the transcendent, which prevents the creation of a two-way relationship between God and the world. For this reason, Hartshorne proposes a model in which God has two poles: abstract and non-abstract or real. The abstract pole is absolute and immutable and the real pole is relative, in motion and changeable. God is connected with the world through his real pole, or in other words, he contains the world. This attitude led to the approach of "Panentheism " in theology. Present paper on the basis of analytical–critical method, in the first step, gives an analysis of  Panentheism; In the second step, extracts its characteristics from Hartshorne's works. In the third step this article examines dipolar theism as the main basis of panentheism; and in the final step, discusses two questions: can panentheism be a suitable alternative to traditional theism? Can this approach be considered another form of pantheism on the presence of God in the world? Panentheism has resulted in consequences such as God and His knowledge are affected by temporal processes, the changeability of God's perfection, God's being influenced by creatures, and that God  does not have absolute power. For these consequences, Panentheism, with a special emphasis on the changeability of God, not only is not an attractive alternative to classical theism but also cannot be defended  or accepted by Classical theists. Also, since in Hartshorne's cosmological system, God and creatures are recognized as distinct identities from each other, panentheism is distinguished from pantheism in which God and the world are the same

Among the New Testament canon, The Acts of the Apostles stands out in terms of its special importance. These significant points can be examined and analyzed in respect of the first-hand information, both geographically and theologically, that presents about the establishment and expansion of the early Christian church, along with the reports on the evangelical missions of the apostles, especially St. Paul the apostle, validity of his apostolic claims, and his ceaseless efforts in critical circumstances at the Christianity era due to defending Christ's message against Jewish and Gentile opponents. In this regard, the Acts serves as the link between “Gospels” and “Pauline Epistles” in the first century. In addition, the doubts raised on its author (Luke), the trustworthiness and style of his text, a consensus on being the same author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts, also, their thematic sequence/coherence, which puts two volumes under the name of “Luke-Acts” as a “Source-book”, has been discussed. Accordingly, in this article, the historical character, theological emphasis, and apologetic interests as the thematic features of the Acts producing parallels to the context of Hellenistic culture have been reviewed.

In the Islamic mysticism, Love is one of the most frequent concepts that has been considered by many poets and authors since long ago. In mystical-Ashuraic poetry, love is one of the most commonly used themes too; In the poems of Safi Alishah Isfahani's Zobdah al-Asrar (as the first mystic poems of Qajar period) and Omman Samani's Ganjinah al-Asrar (as the most prominent mystic poems of this period), there are clear and hidden references to the True Love of the martyrs of Karbala especially Imam Hossain (A.S.). The main issue of the current research is the adaptation, description, and analysis of the motif of "love" and its elements in the poems of these two poets and the way they use linguistic and imagery capacities to express these concepts artistically. Therefore, the linguistic and rhetorical characteristics of these poems are investigated and compared with a descriptive-analytical method. The result is that at the thought level, there is not a subject as frequent as "love" in their poetry. In particular, love for Imam Hussain (A.S.) has been considered. At the phonetic layer, the selection of soft prosodic rhythms and weights, the selection and repetition of words suitable for the concepts of love have given an inner meaning a touch of lyrical and emotional atmospheres. In addition from literary perspective, The structure and style of similes, metaphors, and hints are formed on the basis of romantic images, and poets have tried to effectively induce their fundamental mystical thoughts by using these elements.

The golden rule of ethics, often expressed as "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," has been a prominent principle in various religions and cultures throughout history. Among the definitions offered in different cultures and languages, the one presented by Harry J. Gensler in his book, ethics and the golden rule, appears to be more comprehensive and widely accepted: "treat others only as you consent to being treated in the same situation." This study aims to explore the origin of this ethical rule and identify the distinctive feature that has made it widely recognized and accepted regardless of the type of religion, culture, or era of human life. Through a descriptive-analytical approach and an examination of Islamic sources and related traditions, this article concludes that the dynamic and enduring nature of this ethical rule in various religions and philosophies can be attributed to the inherent inclination of reason and human nature toward concepts such as justice, humility, and fairness. According to Islamic traditions, these concepts form the foundation for observing the golden rule of ethics. Ultimately, the origin of the golden rule of ethics, according to Islamic traditions, lies in human nature and its rational acceptance of this principle and this study emphasizes a nativist approach in line with Jonathan Haidt's propositions regarding the roots of ethical matters.

The conflict between science and religion has its roots in the West, especially following the Renaissance, and it gradually spread to the East and became the focus of Muslim scholars. In this respect, Allameh Hassanzadeh Amoli, relying on the comprehensive tradition of Islamic thought, attempted to explain the relationship between the two. The current research, thus, aims to explore the relationship between science and religion from his perspective. According to the results, giving originality to the aspect of the discovery of science in his definition of science, Allameh regarded it inappropriate to restrict and reduce science to mere empirical sciences; in contrast, while acknowledging Islam as the religion of truth, he saw religion as a divine legislation based on the creational secrets of the creation that is drawn up for the eternal happiness of man; and, finally, in explaining the relationship between science and religion, he presented the assistance theory in the fields of empirical sciences, mathematics, philosophy, and mysticism.

On the one hand, Ḥāfiẓ calls his readers to submit to eternal fate and Divine Willingness; and on the other hand, he shows his linguistic and mental rebellion against the world's misfortunes and human suffering. The present study seeks to explore how can we find a logical relationship between these two incompatible approaches in Hafiz's thought? Do the fatalistic propositions in Hafez's poetry indicate a theological approach such as Ashʿarites or The Sufistic teachings? Or we can find another perspective behind Hafiz's fatalism that shows the critical aspects of his thought? The results showed that, under the cover of fatalism, Hafiz negates the ideologies that generate "hypocrisy" and "superficiality" and resists the hegemony of discourses that narrate the world according to the will of autocratic rulers and the interests of two demagogic institutions: the “Mutašari'ūn” (religious legislator) and the “mutasawifa” (Sufis). And thus, he uses fatalism as a discursive strategy to reject "prejudice" and "violence"; and expand "free thinking" and "tolerance".

Contemporary researchers pay less attention to the intellectual principles of the spiritual movements of Islam in matters related to the worldly life and lifestyles. “Work” is one of these principles, which has gained special importance in the contemporary era and the Islamic spirituality also paid attention to its ethical and spiritual dimensions. The Malāmatīs of Khorāsān, who were one of the most authentic Iranian spiritualists in the Islamic era, had a special attitude towards work as a spiritual matter. Paying attention to the intellectual principles and the practical method of the most prominent representatives of Malāmatīs (Ḥamdūn Ķaṣṣār, Abū Ḥafṣ Ḥaddād and Abū Uthmān Ḥīrī), with the method of textual analysis, shows that their focus on the self-blame (malāma) and at the consequence, hiding the conduct (solūk) and fighting against hypocrisy, made them to criticize those who have advised to leave the work and business under the pretext of asceticism and reliance (tawakkul). Few reports show that the Malāmatīs, both in the field of opinion and in the field of action, have considered the work as a means to promote the inner self (bāṭin) and fight against the ego (nafs). In their opinion, the work is the best way to earn lawful (Ḥalāl) sustenance, and by working, the wayfarer (sālik), in addition to self-blame, will be freed from falling into the trap of hypocrisy, and it is not only compatible with the two doctrines of reliance (tawakkul) and poverty (faqr), but also is necessary to be considered, because it is the best way to hide one's conduct (solūk).

Teresa of Avila (1515-1582 AD) introduced the theory of the Interior Castle (the Seven Mansions) as a path towards union with God and the attainment of His divine presence. Since Teresa was not a classical theoritician, it raises the question of how much influence Hekhalot (the Seven Halls for attaining divine visions) had on the presentation of her theory. The hypothesis of this paper is that Teresa was influenced by Hekhalot. The writing of this article proved the validity of the aforementioned hypothesis and demonstrated that Teresa incorporated concepts and terminology from Hekhalot into the structure and development of her theory, with repeated references to the ancient covenant, particularly the book of Ezekiel, as one of the sources of Hekhalot. Emphasizing on the role of contemplation in achieving union and overcoming obstacles to union, Teresa was influenced by Hekhalot. Comparing the seven mansions with the seven halls reveals significant similarities that indicate Teresa's adoption of Hekhalot in presenting the theory of the Interior Castle. Both the mansions and the halls aim for the vision of unity and the unity of vision, with the difference being that Teresa associates vision with union and Hekhalot with encounter. However, this does not imply that Teresa had mastery over the reading and study of Hallucination; rather, she drew from the prevailing mystical literature of Avila, which contained these opinions and teachings.