نشریه معرفت ادیان
سال دوم شماره 1 (پیاپی 5، زمستان 1389)

On God''s command and under Musa''s guidance، Israelites left Egypt and camped under near the borders of the Promised Land (Jerusalem). Knowing the strength of inhabitants in Jerusalem، they violated God''s command to enter this land and fight with its settlers. As a punishment for this disobedience، God deprived them of entering into their most favored and desired land for forty years، during which Israelites، in failed attempts to enter the Jerusalem، wandered in the surrounding deserts (the Oasis of Et – Tih) and involved in fights with tribes and settlers neighboring with Palestine. They witnessed many events during this period. The present paper investigates the commentators'' different viewpoints on the way in which Divine Sanction materialized، and then analyzes its cause، and finally discusses the events occurred in the Valley of Et – Tih، with the emphasis on the common features of the story of the Old Testament، the story of the Glorious Quran، and commentators'' views and opinions.

Throughout the history, scholars have always paid especial attention to the general domain of the studies of religions. There have been and continues to be debates and researches on different issues of this domain, some of which are as follows: The cultural, historical, and political contexts for the formation of religions and what course of development they have had; the study of the personality and characteristics of the founder/s of religions; the geographical scope of religions; the beliefs, practices, rituals, and mores which have been formed and continues to be formed in the realm of religions; the role of religions in the formation of civilizations, etc. One of the important issues in this domain is the study of the important and influential figures and their works and thoughts, especially those thoughts which have been formed under the influence of scholars of other religions. The present paper tries to briefly investigate Musa b. Maymoon's scientific life and present his most important religious views, using an analyticaltheoretical approach. Although he had written many books and studies on various disciplines, this paper discusses his religious thoughts and investigates them briefly. One of the research findings is that he was under the influenced by some Muslim scholars, as far as his religious thoughts are concerned. Of course, there have been some researches on this issue which calls for further investigations.

The present paper investigates briefly the influence of Muslim scholars on Thomas Aquinas regarding one of his most basic viewpoints، that is، the arguments he offered to prove the existence of God، and shows that he owes to Muslim philosophers in this regard. First، Aquinas believes that it is essential to prove the existence of God through arguments. Second، he proposes Five ways to Prove the Existence of God، four of which have been proposed by earlier philosophers.. He has used the philosophers'' attempts in this regard in at least four arguments. His fifth argument is not so strong to rely on too.

The present paper seeks to describe a general picture of Jew's life in Muslim territories. Living Among Muslims Jews have always lived in peace, and have flourished in different domains. No doubt, Muslims and Jews have influenced each other. In order to describe the Jew's life and Muslim's influence on them, four periods – The Holy Prophet's period, the 'Abbasid period, the Ottomans period, and contemporary Islamic Iran period – have been taken into consideration and Jew's general status can be investigated in these periods. Surprisingly, contrary to the interaction between Jews and Christians, the general trend for interaction between Muslims and Jews has been always positive, so that the Jews themselves have acknowledged and emphasized on such an interaction. Finally, the Jew's life in Christian countries is briefly discussed to allow the readers to make a crude comparison between the Muslims and Christian's conduct with Jews and thereby recognize the Muslim's proper conduct with Jews which has its roots in rich Islamic culture.

The orthodox beliefs، which God the Almighty has demanded of us and has considered them as the conditions to achieve the ideal and human happiness، include all beliefs and moralities which are discussed in the intellectual system of Islam. These beliefs، which are nothing but the good word of monotheism، acting، and insisting upon it، form the basic foundation of the world''s monotheistic religions and schools and are included in them in varying degree. Promotion of such a belief، knowledge، and thought is made possible through its application. Hence، the Holy Quran not only emphasizes the interrelation of faith and deeds by mentioning them close together but also believes that man''s deeds are the manifestation of his beliefs and thoughts. Zoroastrianism، as one of the world''s monotheistic religions، has many features in common with other monotheistic religions، especially with Islam. Therefore، monotheism is regarded as its whole rightfulness. The ancient Persian prophet، Zoroaster or Zarathustra، as it is used in Avesta، believes that the origin، the basis، and the foundation of all good and desirable words and deeds or bad and undesirable words and deeds are man''s good thought. The role and position of good thought which is mentioned repeatedly throughout the Avesta is similar to those of true beliefs in Islam. As Zoroaster believes that good words and deed are based on good thought so Islam believes that good words and deeds are based on faith and belief.

The Catholic Church, which nowadays considers itself as the full-length mirror (complete manifestation) of Catholicism and even the orthodox Christianity, takes the responsibility of all affairs related to the Catholic Church. The Pope who is at the top of church organization and considers himself as the inheritor of Christian spiritual (theologian) hierarchy, (order) traces back to Saint Peter, the legatee of Jesus, and through him to the Jesus Christ who is the Lord. Using an analytical-descriptive approach, thepresent paper tries to explain the meaning and nature of Catholic Church and to expound the only meaning among several meanings on which the Catholics rely. First, the meaning and nature of the Church and then the meaning and nature of Catholicism are discussed. It is evident that one can study the Catholic Church and make accurate judgments on it in scientific researches and comparative analyses by having a true understanding of it.

The name of «Solomon» has been mentioned in the Quran and the Bible. The Holy Quran calls the Prophet Solomon as a righteous servant and a prophetic messenger who has been bestowed with knowledge and wisdom. The word «wisdom» is repeated in the Qur''an twenty times and refers to Luqman، David، the prophets'' teachings، and the Qur''an. The holy Qur''an believes that the Solomon''s government was based on «wisdom» and that this wisdom was the source of development and transformation in the human society. It speaks of Solomon''s extraordinary power not of the size of his country and government which extended to the whole world. However، the Israelites believe that Solomon was one of their kings. Solomon was the king of kings and his wisdom and government was the superior wisdoms and governments of the kings who ruled in Jerusalem. Parts of the Old Testament such as the song of songs Ecclesiasters، the Proverbs are attributed to him.