نشریه هفت آسمان
پیاپی 41 (بهار 1388)

Kierkegaard is regarded as the founder of contemporary Existentialism of which there are two major types: theistic and atheistic. He provided the contemporary Existentialism with the conceptual devices. According to Kierkegaard, God does not reveal himself as an object to be studied, but as an individual who involves himself in a personal relationship with us. He adopts existence on the grounds that on the one hand man is isolated, painful, passionate and free to make choice and on the other hand he is always in becoming and by his free choice makes his own life. According to Kierkegaard, in the stages of human existence, the aesthetic individual does not regard himself as committed to anything. But the moral individual is obssessed with the fulfilment of his duties; he gets married; finds a job; he is righteous and pure. The individual who lives in the third stage of the life, that is, the religious stage, is the manifestation of faith; the distinguishing characteristics of this stage is sympathy and continuous attempt to become christian, that is, avoiding any kind of relative ideal in order to achieve the absolute. This article begins with an investigation into the roots and backgrounds of Kierkegaard’s thought which have been manifested in his different works; then, it proceeds to set forth his main motifs; and finally it offers a critique of his ideas.

Usually every religion has got a scripture or set of scriptures which consists of the most fundamental teachings. So, the best way to study a religion is the careful examination of its scriptures. This approach is more applicable to Sikhism, for the status ascribed to the principal scripture is more than a mere sacred text so that it takes on the status of the only Guru or spiritual leader; this scripture, Guru Granth Sahib, is regarded as the manifestation of God in word. Other key scriptures include Dasam Granth, Bhai Gurdas and Bhai Nand Lal’s Vaars and Janam Sakhi. Dasam Granth is the scripture which contains all of the poetic writings of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the tenth Guru; its poems are used in daily prayers of Sikhs. Bhai Gurdas and Bhai Nand Lal’s Vaars are two sets of poems composed by Bhai Gurdas and Bhai Nandlal, the former a companion of the fifth Guru and the latter a companion of the tenth Guru. As interpretations of Guru Granth Sahib, these sacred writings enjoy high status among Sikhs. Finally, Janam Sakhi, a religious-historical text and a biography of the first Sikh, Guru Nanak, is another key scripture of Sikhism. While dealing with the structure and content of these scriptures, this article examines the religious status of each of them.

Free will and predestination has always been one of the key and controversial issues for Muslims and it can be traced back to the Holy Quran and Tradition. This issue proved controversial in the first half of the first century of Hegira. Then, with the development of theology, different approaches were taken to this issue. This issue has been considered in mysticism too. But, after centuries since the appearance of theoretical discussions in mysticism, mystical perspective has shown no difference or similarity to the positions adopted by other Islamic thinkers. As a result, there have been and there are some who identify mystics’ views, especially Ibn Arabi’s concerning free will and predestination with that of Asharism. This article attempts to clarify in what Ibn Arabi’s view result. Regarding his particular mystical principles and written evidence, his view can be considered different from two groups of Islamic theologians, the Mutazila and the Asharites. Now, because of Ibn Arabi’s status in theoretical mysticism, it is evident that his position on this issue will be regarded as that of all mystics.

In order to explain how faith and practice are related on the basis of the Twelver Shiite sources, we can speak of two kinds of relationship: conceptual and objective. The conceptual relationship of faith and practice is concerned with the question whether practice is a constituent part of faith. If practice is among constituent parts of faith, the loss of it will lead on to the loss of faith. But if practice is regarded as one of the conditions or elements outside faith, the loss of it won’t result in the loss of faith although it won’t be a perfect one. This issue is significant, because on the one hand, according to some Shiite traditions, physical act is one of the constituent parts of faith and it is even narrated that faith totally consists in practice and on the other hand, if this is the case, the number of believers will be very restricted whereas this position is not consistent with the current Shiite viewpoint. As regards the objective relationship, the interaction between faith and practice can be either of a conditional, revealing or concomitant type in the external world. In fact, faith necessitates righteous practice and righteous practice, in turn, is a sign and proof of faith.