مجله انوار معرفت
سال هفتم شماره 1 (پیاپی 14، بهار و تابستان 1397)

According to Muslim mystics, esoteric interpretation of the holy Qur'an, which means explaining the inner meanings of the holy Qur'an, has some principles. To dispel some doubts and reject accusations against Muslim mystics, this paper briefly studies the most important principles of interpretation of the holy Qur'an. These principles are as follow: 1. Setting words for the spirit of meanings; 2. The various meanings of the holy Qur'an; 3. The reference of all the inner and outer meanings of the holy Qur'an to God; 4. The unexclusiveness of the awareness of the esoteric interpretation of the Qur'an to God and the infallibles (peace be upon them). Using a descriptive-analytical method, this paper, under each of the above-mentioned titles, first, refers to some of the mystics’ words, explains their meanings and then reviews and criticizes their ideas and perhaps those of their opponents. The research results show that, first, the general terms are not set only for their examples; second, the holy Quran has many apparent and inner meanings; third, God has intended all these meanings; fourth, although only the infallibles (as) can be aware of all the apparent and inner meanings of the Divine Book, others can also understand and explain the esoteric interpretation of the Qur'an to some extent, based on their scientific level and the degree of their inner purity.

Using an analytical-descriptive approach, this paper seeks to analyze the meaning of free will and attributing it to God in Islamic mysticism. Muslim mystics have expressed various applications for "free will". Their passages imply that they have used this term both for God and man in homonym way. While considering the internal evidences and some other mystic's expressions, the author attempts to turn the different meanings into a single meaning and provide a comprehensive concept. Their passages also reveal that, "free will" with wonder and doubt cannot be applied to God. Focusing on their expressions, this paper seeks to justify the attribution of free will along with doubt to the Almighty God with regard to other validities, and resolve the primitive conflicts of their expressions.

The Qunawi's mystical school is undoubtedly the largest school in the domain of the Ibn 'Arabi's mysticism school. One of the issues of this school is the issue of imagination, which has been proposed in both absolute and confined domains. The world of the absolute imagination is a matter between the World of Spirits and the World of Sense, and the third house of the absence of ipseity. The world of the restricted imagination also, is the middle world between man's natural and heavenliness emanation and its meaning. In mystical ontology, distinction realizes through absolute and binding, and individuation and non-individuation, as the distinction of the absolute imagination realizes through the mingling of light and darkness.

The impacts of mystical theoretical foundations extend to various levels of human life, even to the social and civilization level. One of the fundamental dimensions of civilization is the theoretical and intellectual foundations, which itself have a connection with the mystical theoretical foundations. While possessing political, cultural, social and artistic capacities, Islamic mysticism has unique theoretical capacities that can play a role in the theoretical foundations of civilization. Analyzing the mystics woks, this paper studies the role of mystical teachings in the theoretical dimension of civilization. This paper also analyzes the theoretical foundations of the Islamic mysticism regarding the theoretical philosophy of the history of civilization, the ontological status of unity and its civilizational role, systemic attitude to civilization, the connection of manifest and non-manifest in Islamic civilization, the position of man and his true destination and the importance of intuition in epistemology.

The first step towards Allah is awakening or awaking from negligence. Khwaja Abdullah Ansari listed the most influential elements of this stage in Manazil al-Sa'irin. The Martyrs of the Sacred Defense, who, according to Imam Khomeini, attained the highest degrees of conduct and mysticism, have pointed to the features the stage of awakening in their valuable handwritings. Using an analytical and desk-research method, this paper, in a comparative study, proves the convergence of the viewpoint of the martyrs of the Sacred Defense and Khwaja Abdullah Ansari in the mystical stage of awakening. The martyrs' references to the effective factors in the awakening such as "hearing knowledge", "self-knowledge", "celebrating the Almighty God", "expecting the Oocculted Help of the Almighty God", "taking benefit of life", "acknowledging the promises of the Almighty God", "accompanying the righteous" and finally "abandoning common habits" indicate that their heart were imbued with this mystical stage, as their point of view coincided with Khwaja Abdullah's view.

In a comparative study, this paper seeks to analyze the views of Ibn 'Arabi and William James on mystical experience. Ibn Arabi and James consider mystical experience indescribable and transient in which man acquires a transcendental and private epistemic knowledge through a transcendental force; in this experience one acquires a knowledge that never achieves through rational efforts. Whatever one gains in one's own experience cannot be transmitted empirically to others, and thus, those who seek such experiences should strive to gain those mystical experiences with spiritual struggle and self-discipline. In spite of the similarities, Ibn al-'Arabi believed that mystical experience can be acquired in the light of the Shari'a, which strengthens faith, but James considers the feeling as the source of religion and mystical experience, and regards theology as a secondary matter.