فصلنامه آینه معرفت
پیاپی 48 (پاییز 1395)

The representation of subjective perceptions of the outside world and its quality is one of the basic issues in Islamic Philosophy. One of the theories intended to explain this issue is the Image (Shabah) Theory according to which the mind receives only an image of the external object. This theory was not followed by the leading Muslim philosophers and has been criticized by contemporary ones. The present paper argues that, irrespective of the position that one may take with regard to this theory as being reasonable or unreasonable, the critics’ attempts to reject this theory do not seem to have provided convincing arguments.

The miracle of Quran, as the major source of proof of the prophethood claim and its verification, has assumed a very high position in inside religion controversies specifically in theological controversies, oratory and promotion of the religious cause. Nowadays, with the development of epistemological issues, the outsider view of the study of the miracle of Quran, especially from the point of view of the classical theories of epistemology, has assumed great importance. Epistemology, as a fundamental approach in modern philosophy, is seeking possibility, boundary and conditions of human knowledge. In fact, the study of the truth value and justifiability of scientific theories constitute the major focus of epistemology. With the plurality of interpretations of the miracle of Quran, it is of utmost importance that these interpretations are studied from an epistemological point of view. With this aim in mind, we first present the theories of the miracle of Quran and their components. We then present the major epistemological approaches and their components. In specific, the aim is to study the epistemological foundations of possibility and meaning of the miracle of Quran in terms of classical theories in Epistemology (e.g. coherentism, correspondence theory and pragmatism). Such an epistemological scrutiny will explicate the epistemic implications of the Quranic interpretations and will also enrich the connection between epistemology and Quranic studies.

In monotheistic religions, the interpretation of the principles and beliefs of the sharia (in particular the issue of unity) from an intellectual perspective has been among the major concerns of the followers\ of these religions. In the meantime, a group of thinkers have imposed (a second group is suspected to have imposed) their own views on religious beliefs, and this has created deep-rooted differences among religious scholars. One of the monotheistic controversial issues among the religious propositions, as delineated by scholars (such as theologians and Jurisprudents) is the proposed monotheistic explanation in theoretical mysticism (Islamic) under the name of unity of existence (or unity of personal existence). With studies done, we can acknowledge that there are a large number of articles and academic books on the topic of unity of existence, however, with regard to the affinities between the unity of existence and the Islamic traditions and revealed verses, the intellectual scholarship is patchy. Therefore, the present study is aimed at examining the commensurability of this mystical issue with the Quranic verses and Islamic traditions adopting a rationalistic perspective along with reflection on the traditional sources and Quranic verses. The conclusion stresses on the lack of validity of the alleged incoherence between the mystical issues and sharia.

In many verses of the Holy Quran, God refers to a variety of natural phenomena and describes some of their features implicitly or explicitly. This fact demonstrates the need for special attention to the scientific method of interpretation and its theological bases. The result of the present study shows that for any kind of accurate scientific interpretation of the verses of the Holy Quran a number of specific theological principles should be taken into consideration. Of course, these theological principles are not limited to scientific interpretation. They are used in other methods of interpretation as well. Attributing them to the scientific interpretation is for the fundamental role they play in this method of interpretation, because they affect the validity and quality of scientific interpretation. The present study shows that the most important theological principles involved in scientific interpretation are as follows: the multi-dimensional language of the Quran, verisimilitude and the impossibility of falsehood entering the Quran, the immortality of the Quran, the multi-layered meanings of the Quran, the wisdom of words, acts, orders and prohibitions of Allah and the need for a chain of causations in the governance of the world created by God.

Transcendence and immanence, as two dimensions of recognition of God, has always been considered as the most important theological issues of ontology. In different trends of thought and conscience in Islam, transcendence and immanence have also been discussed as a controversial issue. Most of these discussions have their origin in the holy Quran, because God is mentioned with these two dimensions in the Qur’anic verses. Sufi mysticism has discussed this issue in the context of ontology. In the meantime, Molavi, the greatest mystic of the seventh century, has dealt with these issues in Masnavi in hich he has stated the principles of his thoughts. He himself adheres to the transcendence of God and simultaneously His immanence in this world. The present study tries to conceptualize transcendence and immanence and contextualize them in Masnavi in order to explain their integration in Molavi's mysticism.

Happiness and perfection in the Abrahamic religions is equal to nearness to God the Almighty. Closeness to God can be examined from different aspects such as the position of closeness to God in religion, its impact on worldly and afterworld lives, different ways of achieving closeness to God, and so on. What is important in this regard are the oundations and infrastructures of this approximation. In Islam and Christianity, nearness o God is based on a series of anthropological and theological foundations. Some of these oundations are common in Islam and Christianity like man has covenant with God, man is n the way of becoming, man is in pursuit of absolute perfection; man is the vicegerent of God and Christ. Although, given the fundamental differences between theology and anthropology of Islam and Christianity, based on Paul's writings, some of the foundations of nearness to God are different in these two traditions. Islamic specific foundations are man as the carrier of divine trust, man’s clean nature, and his ability to attain perfection. Christian specific foundations are the infected nature of man and his inability to save himself and achieve closeness to God except through the grace of God and Christ’s atonement.

The necessity of Imam’s superiority is one of the oldest theological issues of Imamate which has always been a matter of controversy. The Sunni and Shia views on this issue are usually considered distinct and divergent. The Shiite are identified as ardent fans of the doctrine of the necessity of Imam’s superiority, whereas Sunnis are viewed as those who regard popularity as an obstacle to accepting the theory of the necessity of Imam’s superiority. Drawing on the views of the most important Islamic denominations, The present paper tries to introduce the true theory of Shia school and at the same time argue for the role of popularity in the issue of the necessity of Imam's superiority. The findings of the study show that if we regard lack of popularity as having several levels and consider the hatred toward the superior person as being at the highest level, this level of unpopularity will affect the decision about the role of the superior individual as Imam. There is evidence shwoing trances of this theory in the words of Imamites theologians.