Review of Religious Pluralism Based on Avicenna's Perspective and its Relation with Verses of the Qur’an and Hadiths

Religious pluralism is one of the recent issues with which Avicenna has not dealt directly, but with a new approach and through the topic of prophethood and the characteristics of the prophets, this article examines the foundations of religious pluralism based on Avicenna's theological and philosophical ideas. According to Avicenna, prophets have the highest level of perception and they have taken all their talents into action, therefore they are the wisest, the most knowledgeable and actually, the most perfect people of their time. Avicenna believes that all the prophets, because of the perfection of their intellectual faculties, are related to the active intellect and through it to the essence of being and they are aware of them.  All their teachings are in accordance with reality and truth, because they have originated from the source of being.  Just as the differences in languages and religions are not due to their substantial and inherent difference, apparent difference in some life-style laws and ways of prayer are also not due to the inherent difference between religions, but the kernel of religion and what the prophets have received from the higher world by the archangel or active intellect, all originated from one reality and for this reason all of them are true. On the other hand many spiritual statuses are realized in the world of intellects and merely relationship with the intellectual world is not the cause of the relationship with the whole world and awareness of all facts and levels and stations. Avicenna explicitly states that the soul of the prophet is more active in its connection to the active intellect. He is more aware of the world of intellect and his mission is stronger. Therefore, although all divine religions are manifestations of a single truth, their hierarchies are not the same. Some prophets, and consequently some religions are more virtuous. Although all the prophets are equal in invitation and the purpose of the prophecy which is invitation towards God, the Return and training the community and according to Hick turning from self-centeredness toward God, but in perfection, knowledge and other characteristics they have different grades. Men of heavenly religions all agree that true prophecy has levels and the prophets differ in level and position. Avicenna in his work explains the difference of levels of the prophets and has rational reasons for that. He believes that the prophets are different in terms of knowledge, virtues, moral perfection and the power of influence in the world. His most important reasons are the differences in the powers of the prophets, the differences in the levels of the world of intelligences and the extent of qualifications or lack thereof regarding the sacred intellect. Even his reasons for the necessity of prophecy implies different levels of the prophets and their evolutionary journey.
If, as stated, access to truth is not the same in all religions, it is natural that the acquisition of happiness will not be equal in all religions. So, all those who believe in God and the Day of Judgment and do actions that are motivated to approach God and obey the religious and divine commands, whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims, their actions will be acceptable to the Divine court, and they will be saved. As if the truth has degrees and achieving one level of it and awareness of the facts of it does not require achieving all grades, happiness and wretchedness also have grades. Among the felicitous and the wretched there are various degrees.
Therefore, religious pluralism at this level is acceptable and it is provable that all divine religions have a degree of legitimacy and all the prophets have been associated with the higher world and from that world they brought truth for people. But pluralism in the sense that all religions have truthfulness to the same extent and give the same amount good fortune to their people is not compatible with Avicenna's theological and philosophical ideas about prophethood. In his view, religions constitute an evolutionary movement with the intellectual development of mankind, the right laws have been passed on to the people through prophets.   By the connection of the prophetic missions with each other prophecy has progressed gradually toward evolution and the last link of prophecy is its highest peak.
Finally all divine religions, in spite of their differences in rank, have total authenticity. The final salvation of religious followers is precisely based on religious righteousness of religions and consequently have degrees, because there is a direct relation and concomitance between the religious levels of religions and their salvation. Felicity and wretchedness are subject to real and genuine conditions, not contractual terms.