Philosophical Understanding of the Paradise and the Hell from the Viewpoint of Aziz Nasafi

The Origin and the End (the Resurrection) are two foundations of religious thinking and the Paradise and the Hell are two pillars of every discussion on the End. Theologians، philosophers and Gnostics have explored a lot about the End، especially about the Paradise. Aziz Nasafi، the distinguished scholar of the seventh century AH، has investigated the Paradise and the Hell from traditional، rational and exploratory perspectives. His findings based on the rational method are reviewed in this article. The principles he has utilized to interpret the End are the principles of Peripatetic Philosophy combined with some points from the Illuminative Philosophy. Stressing the abstraction of the soul، the possibility of actualization of the speculative intellect and the practical intellect and detachment of the soul from the body and its attributes، Nasafi interprets the Paradise and the Hell. Using a kind of philosophical outlook، he interprets such concepts as the Paradise and the Hell، the record of deeds، joy and suffering in the Hereafter، the Tuba Tree and the Zaqqum Tree، Houries in the Paradise، the Streams in the Hereafter، and the angel of punishment and the Balance.