نشریه معرفت ادیان
سال دهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 37، زمستان 1397)

A comparative study of the story of Saul in two holy texts of the Quran and the Old Testament represents a closer look at these two texts. The criterion of the adaptability of this story in two texts is sanctity, common themes, and the structural and educational differences between the two texts. The scope of this adaptation is the story of the Saul, which has been stated in 6 verses of the second Chapter of the Holy Quran and 654 verses of the Old Testament in 23 Chapters of Samuel 1. The similarities and differences between the two texts are based on two aspects of the literary structure and the intellectual system of the story. Some of the literary components used in two texts, such as the way of expression, the geography of the story, and the ways of characterizing the main character of the story, and using coherent expressions to increase the cognitive and educational messages are comparatively investigated. The findings show that, there is a coherent literary structure and precise characterization, modeling, and cognitive messages in the story of Saul in the Quran. There are also similarities between the intellectual system and the religious foundations of these two texts, but the cognitive effects of the Saul story in the Quran are deeper, more accurate, and more correct in the field of theology. One can say that the logical necessity of the structural and the content superiority of the story of Saul in the Quran is that the Holy Quran contains non-distorted Divine teachings and did not adapt the Bible's common themes.

The realization of "global government of justice and peace" has been one of the innate human needs and of the aspirations of all the prophets and Divine rulers. The prophecy of the Time of Appearance has been proposed in the sources of various religions. Using an analytical-comparative and documentary method this paper seeks to study the viewpoint of Imamieh and Christian Zionism on the realization of the global government of justice and peace in the Time of Appearance. The research findings show that, although the two schools share the same prophecy, they are different in some ways, such as determining the time of appearance, the length of the promised government, the central purpose of this government, and so on. In addition, the realization of the global justice and peace at the end of the world, combined with widespread wars and massive slaughter, which Christian Zionism considers its fulfillment as its duty, is not compatible with the attitude and the conduct of Messiah and the rational principles.

One way of comparing religious traditions, is comparing the ideal moral man in those schools. It is clear that the greater similarity of the ideal moral man attributes in two schools reveals close intellectual foundations, and it prepares the conditions for dialogue and cultural interaction. Using a desk-research and focusing on the main ethical texts of the two schools of Islam and Taoism, especially "Nahj al-Balagh" and "Tao Te Ching" the similarity of the ideal man qualities in these two educational systems is compared. Farzaneh (the ideal man of Taoism) has certain characteristics, is similar to the "Parsa" (the ideal man of Islam), in many respects. Piety, satisfaction to predestination, isolation, thinking, Intimacy with nature, silence, forgiveness, serving the people, avoidance of self-esteem, avoidance of violence and etc., are among those characteristics. On the other hand, Islamic Parsa is distinct from the Taoist due to features such as prayers and worship, a sense of responsibility towards the community, and the separation from the opponents (unbelievers) and believing in the Resurrection, and so on, which shows that these two schools have a considerable distance from each other despite the many similarities.

Avesta is one of the oldest Iranian hymns and text, which was once among the heavenly books and at various stages, it undergoes fundamental changes and has separated it from its monotheistic foundations. Duality and Trinity are among the beliefs that have long been manifested in theistic and nontheistic rituals and religions. The research on Avesta shows that this book, centered on the two powers of "Ahura Mazda" and "Ahriman" is more inclined to dualism, which is influenced by the "Zurvanism". The historical research in various texts relies on the on the power triangle of Ahuramazda, Anahita and Mitra. Using a descriptive-analytical method and focusing on the Avesta and other sources, this paper seeks to study the role of clerics and kings of the Achaemenid and Sassanid era in Avesta along with a branch of the trinity in Zoroastrianism, which has its origins in Mitralism rather than in Zurvanism.

Herodotus Halicarnassus, a Greek historian, has been praised or criticized by many scholars and researchers due to his famous history. A group accused him of falsifying and distorting historical realities and the others praised its reports and has used it in their researches. Herodotus reports of Iranian customs and traditions, according to his life (425-484 BC) that coincided with the two Achaemenid kings (Kheshayar Shah and Ardeshir I), support the prevalence of Zoroastrianism in ancient Iran. The way Herodotus used his historiography is a narrative style and it is possible that his writings have been transmitted incorrectly by the narrator. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze his reports in various aspects. Accordingly, comparing Herodotus' reports in this period about the customs of Iranians, including the existence of various Yazata (izadan), Yazesh and sacrifice for the Yazata on top of mountains, Yazesh of the elements of nature, the burial of the dead in crypt (dakhme), the presence of the Magi during the sacrificial ceremony, the impropriety of telling lies, observing the cleanliness of the rivers with the Avesta, the holy book of Zoroastrian and other Zoroastrian religious books can be a solution.

Procopius was the Roman annalist, the judicial advisor to Belisarius, an officer and commander of the Roman army during the time of the Justinian Empire. He has written the cultural and social history of the times of the kings such as Peroz I, Kavad I and Khosrow I. Through the writings of Procopius, the religious situation as well as the beliefs of the kings can be deduced. Some of the first class sources in Pahlavi, as well as the writings of the early Islamic centuries on the history of Sassanid history, confirm a large part of Procopius's words. Analyzing the religious status and the attitude of the Sassanid kings towards Zoroastrian in the last Sassanid era is the purpose of this research. Accordingly, the most important question of this research is the effects of the attitude of the Sassanid kings on the Zoroastrian and the impact of this attitude on their domestic and foreign policies. Using a descriptive-analytical method this paper has analyzed the issue. As a result, according to Procopius's writings, the orthodoxy of the religious kings was more subject to the domestic and foreign political conditions, which the most important component in this regard was the war between the Sassanid and the Eastern Roman Empire. Sometimes the disregard for Zoroastrian laws by the Sassanid kings has been due to the above reasons or to the personality and psychological characteristics of the king. Therefore, sometimes the king would modify the rules of religion in his favor.