Mystical Approach of Shaykh Maḥmūd Shabistari to the Theory of Reincarnation

The theory of in its prevalent sense refers to the transmission of soul (continuation of soul’s life) from one body to another one (man, animal, plant or inanimate objects) after death. Because of its close relation to the event of death and its later stages, this theory has been the subject of scrutiny by thinkers all around the world. Due to its cognitive claim, this teaching has also been considerd from theological, legal, philosophical and mystical stand points and has been rejected in almost all of them. The mystical world view is an important platform to scrutinize this theory, for it employs the intuition as a means for deeper analysis of this theory. The present paper is going to consider the mystical views of the reknown Iranian mystic, Shaykh MaÈmåd ShabistarÊ (678-740 AH) on this subject.