پژوهش نامه قرآن و حدیث
پیاپی 15 (پاییز و زمستان 1393)

The idea of‘savior’ in almost all divine andnon-divine religions can be delineated as ‘a reformer will appear in the last days of the world and will makethe world full of justice by establishing the rule of the righteous’. Based on the Twelvers’beliefs,appearance of Mahdi (a.s.) is one of the fundamental tenets dealt with in the Holy Quran and narrations. On the other hand, the role of the Apocalypse of John, which is the description of a dream byJohn the apostle, is of great significance in addressing this issue and the coming of Jesus (p.b.u.h.).Although the views of the two about the Saviorand some other subjects are different, we can find out the points they have in common by studying their interpretations. The similarities offer a decent basis for comparison of the two views.Among the common points,we can refer tosuch issues as‘the appearance of a reformer and a savior’, ‘the rule of the righteous’, ‘removal of the Devil from the scene’, ‘defeat and annihilation ofevil forces’, and ‘secure and peacefullife’. Looking into the subject of Mahdi (a.s.) in the Holy Quran and the Twelvers’ narrationsand the subject of Jesus (a.s.) in the Apocalypse of John, the present article attempts to explore the similarities between them and establish proximity betweenthese two views.

The most important principle ofhow to describeGod and interpret His attributes isto free God from the two suspension (ta’til) and comparison restrictions. The Holy Qura’n and the narrationsfrom the Infallibles (a.s.)stress the existence of God and knowing Him, on the one hand, and rejectany resemblance between God and His creatures, onthe other.Rejection ofresemblance denotesconsidering Him a unique and singlebeing bynot likening Himto His creatures in any way. Thus, rejection of comparison originates fromUnity of God, any trait attributed to Him cannot be attributed to His creatures,any concept or notion associated with creatures cannot be ascribed to God and He must not be likened to anything. Hence, the important point, in taking cognizance of God, His names and attributes, is to purify the Creator from the attributes of His creatures. The present paper explains and criticizes the perspective of the polytheists who believe the angels are daughters of God, the jinn are the spouses of God and the creator of the universe is poor, needy and dependent. The paper, also,reviews the attributes of the devotees to whom we should refer to know God and His attributes.

Truereligion is unique and non-diverse and contrary to what pluralistshave claimed, there has been only a single religion during the whole period when prophets were calling people unto God. Although this religion has haddifferent names,it has been the origin of all the teachings of all the prophets and, in general terms, it is Islam.Of course,the truth of religion has remainedunchanged,but shari’as have been different and unstable. This religion and this single truth was completed by the Prophet on behalf of all prophets during the last years of hislife when he introduced the Commander of the Faithful and it was named Islam and its outcomewas satisfaction of God. It is the same religion that will not be limited by the boundaries of space and timeduring the last days of the universe and will be introduced to the public by the Reformer and Savior of all periods and Islamwill be universal.

Hermeneutics is the theory and practice of ta’wil. The factors which gave rise to widespread ta’wiland the possibility of interpreting religion in different waysin the West,particularly in the history of Christianity, include ambiguity in religious teachings, contradictions and conflicts related to the life and character of Jesus (AS), the challenge of religion and reason, incompatibility of religion and knowledge, and restriction in the Christian religion.However, due to its revealed nature, unity and uniformity, compatibility with wisdom and knowledge, comprehensiveness, dynamism and enjoymentof the principle of ijtihad, Islam is not certainly threatened by any restriction and insufficiency to be repaired by the secretions of ordinary human thought and to bemingled with the worldly rules. Thus,hermeneutics emerged in the contestof Christianity with its previously-mentionedbackground and historical courseto help it overcome the obstacles put in its way. Moreover, relativist epistemology and the possibility of interpreting religion in different waysstrongly contributed to the development of philosophical. The outcomes of philosophical hermeneutics are: 1) interpreter-orientedness, 2)instability of understanding and interpretation of texts, 3)lack of understanding and perception of the very text, 4)limitless interpretive perceptions and discernments, 5) lack of any logic and criterion for the soundness of understanding and interpretation, and 6) relativism.Interpretation denotes clarification of the meaning and intention of God’s book andta’wil refers torenderingthe likely meaningof the Quranic verses from their apparent meaning. Subjective interpretationrefers to erroneous explanation of the word God on the basis of guess work, preference and whim of the soul, which will be naturally inconsistent with reason and Sharia’ and contrary to the aim and intention of God and the owner of the text.The position of those who believe inphilosophical hermeneutics is more radical and destructive than the followers of subjective interpretation since they resort tota’wilboth to clarify allegorical and unambiguous versesand denigrate objective andfaithful-to-authorinterpretation. They both believe inlimitless readings and consider no boundary and criterion for discriminating valid understanding and interpretation from the invalid ones. They both believe that interpretation is unstable and are plagued with relativism and confusion in understanding religious texts.

The succession of the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) is one of the extensive issues that has preoccupied the scholars of both Shia and Sunni sects sincethe demise of the Prophet. Considering the advisory vote of the people, Sunnis justify the question of the succession of the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) on the basis of the public’s selection and referring to religious texts, Shiite theologians arguethat the Prophet has not neglected this important issueand hasopenlydesignated his successors from among the Ahl al-Bayt (a.s.). In this context, one of Shiite evidences is Qertas Hadithsin Sulaym ibn Qays al-Hilali’s bookand other resources in which the hadiths claimthat the Prophet (p.b.u.h.), in the last moments of life, asked for paper and ink to write his will and despite the existent disputes and conflicts over the issue, he dictated his twelve successorswith their names and indications to Ali (a.s.). This article seeks to verify the validity of thishadithcomparingit with other narration resources.

The topic of the verbally allegorical or seemingly repetitive verses of the Quran is one of issues discussed in the Qur’anic and interpretationsciences. The question why some verses of the Quran are repeated twice or several times without any change or, sometimes, with a little change has attracted Muslim scholars and interpreters and has resulted in the emergence of valuable works on this subject. Most of the efforts made on this issue have rhetoric and aesthetic nature and, hence,the semantic and contextual aspects have received less attention. As theexplanation of the difference between two similar statements mainly depends on the intent of the speaker or writer, evaluation of the similar verses should also be carried outconsidering this point. In the field of linguistic sciences, the science which deals with the intent of the writer or speaker taking into account the contextual conditions of the discourse is pragmatics. In this paper, using some factors of intralingual context discussed in pragmatics, i.e.the meaning of references and presupposition, someexamples of verbally allegorical verses are examined and the roleof these factors in explaining the original intentis revealed.