A Comparative study of self-scrutiny Principles From the perspective of Imam Ali and Attar

Self, or the truth of man, has different aspects of being has always been investigated in the religion and mysticism. The religious teachings are the exact criterion for the definition of humanity; because it has been considered all aspects of his being and taught man the right way of life. This article which has been done by a descriptive analytical method, the aim was to study one of the most important epistemological topics in the field of religion and mysticism, namely self-scrutiny in Nahj-ol-Balaghe and Attar's couplet-poems. Much of the epistemological topics has been affected by the religion because he grows in the Islamic culture. In Attar's words like imam Ali's words in Nahj-ol-balaghe. The findings of the study show that Attar, like Imam Ali attributes human authenticity to the spiritual dimension of man, which is in essence opposed to the Physical body. In the struggle between the human spirituality and his corporeality, the extent of one's humanity becomes apparent. In Nahj-ol-Balaghe, this humanity is referred to as the heart, and Attar calls it the pure soul. It is essential for human heart health to know the path to perfection and to know what helps or disables it. Also these works believes that contemplation and God's saints are as development and perfection factors and ego, Satan and world are the main obstacles to human perfection.