Rumi's Evaluation of (different) Kinds of Faith in Response to the Issue of Suffering

The relationship between two issues of faith and suffering is of great importance among thinkers and different views, both inside-religious and outside-religious approaches, in this regard have been proposed. The importance of the issue of faith is mainly a matter of the relation between faith and felicity, to which ample emphasis has been attached in religious texts and traditions. In the domain of the exchange of opinions in this regard, mystics also, in their written works, have proposed mainly novel viewpoints based on their own intuition and mystical experiences. Among them, Molana Jalal al Din Mohhamad Balkhi, who is also from among the greatest Muslim mystics, starts his book, ‘’Mathnavi’’, with the issue of suffering, introducing faith as a cure for the deliverance from this suffering all over his works. Criticizing the macrocosmic approaches towards faith, he holds a microcosmic/beyond-rational, individualistic standpoint on the nature of the ideal and redemptive faith. And about the faith’s object of association, he holds a realistic viewpoint. Regarding the functions of faith, Mo’lana also envisages a direct relation between faith and felicity, and so he links his theory of felicity to the issue of faith.