William Chittick's Epistemological Studies In Mystical literature

The epistemological study of the propositions of mystical literature such as Rumi and Ibn Arabi’s Sufism as William Chittick understood, has been considered in this paper. "Research" and "imitation" are two cognitive strategies that have left their effect in earlier and later texts and have also been discussed in contemporary epistemology. The field is influenced by these two intellectual and narrative sciences, which have attracted the attention of scholars like William Chittick, and each one has its own appropriate method. This descriptive-analytical report shows that Chittick, in a paradoxical way, justifies the imitation in all the cognitions he acquires and the most rational stream of imitation, which is obedience to God. He tries to use the Islamic literary and mystical heritage to revive the intellectual tradition, and as a critique of modern epistemology, he points to the lack of cognition and existence, from Rumi’s view which is trapped in imitation and in the teachings of Ibn Arabi also make imitation an inevitable issue in the process of cognition and considering only God and open the way for creative thinking and reasoning. Although Chittick's opinions can be criticized in this regard as well as in the criticism of modernity, and some of them have been discussed in this article.