فصلنامه حکمت اسلامی
پیاپی 11 (زمستان 1395)

Reason and reasoning are highly important from the viewpoint of Quranic verses and traditions. Reason no doubt plays an unparalleled role alongside narrated sources in discovering religious truths. There are however different views concerning the nature of reason and the method of reasoning. According to Mirza Mahdi Isfahani the reason used by Quranic verses and traditions is different from the reason used in secular sciences. It is divine reason that is helpful in acquiring religious knowledge. Human reason, a faculty of soul, which generates acquired knowledge, is but an obstacle to obtaining divine knowledge. Divine reason is a beam of light that lies outside human beings. As something self-evident, it is not the same as soul which is not self-evident. This article explains this theory and shows that the arguments presented cannot substantiate the claim. [In addition], the theory is per se faced with many strong objections.

Modern philosophical literature terms materialism as physicalism which is in turn divided into eliminative and non-eliminative. Commenting on awareness, eliminativists say that if we believe in pure physicalism, awareness will not be turned into something unsolvable and call awareness a problem so as to pass physicalist foundations. The theory of neurophilosophy are among the theories that believe in maximal physicalism. This article aims at explaining this new philosophical trend. It explains knowledge from this perspective and touches on the criticisms leveled against it. Given the important criticisms such internality, complexity of knowledge, ambiguity and multiple realization, which are raised against the theory of neurophilosophy, this theory cannot property explain the problem of awareness.

The interaction between rational and religious sciences is an important but controversial issue with some claiming they are the same and others saying they are different. Those who claim they are different believe that religious sciences being sacred cannot be confused with secular sciences. Those who believe they are the same are of the view that he who has no share of rational sciences will not be able to have a profound and exact understanding of the content of religion. According to moderate attitude, one cannot deny the impact of the rational aspect of religion against its other aspects. Using an analytic-comparative method, this articles deals with the interaction between causality (plus with its subordinates) and religious sciences. It has practically showed that there has been interaction between this rational principle and religion in such issues as external onslaughts, resistance against internal deviations, explanation of rational sciences as the essential article of religion, prevention of misunderstanding, mentioning the distant consequences and answering the objections. The rational approach has on certain occasions had dominance over the literal and popular approach. Islamic philosophy can influence religion (with its three parts of beliefs, rulings and morals) and can hereby theoretically and practically affect individuals and communities through deepening the rational sciences of religion and creating a deep insight.

According to Mulla Sadra, metempsychosis which is the return of a soul to another body is impossible. This definition is however applicable to 'return' as a Shiite belief. According to Sadra there has to be a justification for the belonging of a soul to a body. This is while based on his principles, there is no justification for soul to return to the remaining particles of a body. Thus the question arises: Is there any justification for a soul that has left its body to return to its remaining parts, so that there should not rise the problems originating form preference without justification or from the issue of metempsychosis? The present study tries to answer this question on the basis of what Mulla Sadra has expressed on similar occasions elsewhere. Analysis shows that one cannot accept the issue of 'return' unless one accepts metempsychosis or the existence of a sort of relation between a soul and its respective body as a sort of justification. This is what transcendental theosophy cannot accept except with some sort of interpretation

Some of the Shiite beliefs are strongly rejected by Sunni school. One such belief is the belief in return of the deads in the end of time when the Promised Mahdi reappears. Although most Sunni scholars and interpreters have inevitably accepted the revival of the dead in the previous peoples, they have denied such occurrence in the end of times as Shias believe; not observing moral values while refuting it resorting instead to insulation and reprimand to the extent that even their dictionaries which do not usually deal with such issues reject the issue of return. It seems that this refutation is caused by factors the most important of which is their misunderstanding of this Shiite belief. This has sometimes found expression in a prejudiced manner in their words and works. This topic is not dealt with before. The author tries to analyze some of the factors involved in Sunni's rejection of the belief in return. Shedding further light on Shias’ position, this article tells us about Sunni's misunderstanding of this belief.

The issue of seeing Allah has long been a controversial problem among Muslims. One of the reasons for the parties to the controversy is the verse that mentions Musa's request for seeing Allah ('Araf, 143). After giving a brief account of the background of the question of seeing Allah on the basis of Shia and Sunni theological and exegetic sources, the author assesses the arguments presented by the parties in favor of making use of the verses that mentions Musa's request. He proves that this verse does not prove the possibility of sensual seeing of Allah. Instead it indicates that this is impossible.

There are many traditions that lay stress on the love for the progeny of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny), among which top are in number the traditions that encourage love for Ali considering it as a source of salvation. One such tradition is this 'love for Ali is a good deed in the presence of which sin does not harm…'. The strange content of this tradition has caused scholars to adopt different positions in regard with it. Following a method based on traditions and intellectual analysis, this article assesses three main opinions: 1) Denial of tradition and the impact of love for Ali on Human happiness 2) Love for Imam Ali eliminates minor sins 3) love for Ali prevents one from committing any sin. According to this article love for Imam Ali is the basis of Islam and the criterion for faith. Ali's friends who are naturally Muslims are immune from the main harm that is punishment or eternal punishment in the hereafter, though they might however face punishment in this world or in barzakh (that is an intermediary world between this world and the hereafter).