Criticisms of Shāh Ne'matollāh Vali in the Fields of Sufism, Philosophy, and Speculative Theology

In this paper, adopting a descriptive-explanatory method, the criticisms of one of the most influential figures of Sufism, Shāh Ne'matollāh Vali, in the epistles attributed to him are analyzed with the aim of identifying the fields critiqued by him, as well as his method and language in these criticisms. Studying these criticisms reveals his standpoints on religion, mysticism, and philosophy. Shāh Vali had many disciples and certainly a number of them had deviations; nonetheless, the results of the research show that Shāh Vali did not critique them. He limited himself to critiquing theoretical views regarding mystical journey. Shāh Vali did not believe in the position of observation and considered the knowledge of mystics to be incomplete except for the knowledge of Qutb. Also, he did not see any contradictions between the mystical journey and the ordinary life of the people. In the field of philosophy and speculative theology, although he is one of the commentators of Akbari School, he has occasionally criticized Ibn Arabi's views, as well as the views of sages, Mu'tazila and theologians, and some of the views of the Imamiyyah without mentioning the name of the one being critiqued. He was opposed to the ascetics and Shattāh; however, he had a positive view of Malamatiāyyah. From the point of view of language, Shāh Vali used parables and anecdotes less and expressed his criticisms in a simple and clear language.