ماهنامه معرفت
سال بیست و نهم شماره 9 (پیاپی 276، آذر 1399)

One of the characteristics of Shiites from the point of view of Imam Mohammad Bagher (a.s.) is avoiding pride, grandiosity, arrogance, and selfishness that turn man away from God. We mentioned issues such as greed in the previous discussions. This discussion examines the issue of pride and its relation to self-knowledge. Imam Mohammad Bagher (a.s.) says, "avoid selfishness through self-knowledge." Comparing human life to wrestling with soul, his holiness has expressed the most important tricks and techniques of the soul and the ways to prevent and treat them. Therefore, self-knowledge, attention to the infinite divine blessings and gratitude to Him is the best way to avoid pride, arrogance and temptations of the devil. Thinking about the beginning and the end of human life is the way to cure arrogance, in other words, thinking about where I came from and where I will go?

On the one hand, the Holy Qur'an describes the disciples of Jesus (a.s.) as believers and helpers of God, and on the other hand, the appearance of some other verses shows that they did not have strong faith. Using an analytical and deskresearch method and focusing on valid interpretations, especially al-Mizan exegesis, this study has examined the Qur'an's view on the apostles of Jesus Christ (a.s.). Among the verses of the Qur'an, the four verses of Chapter al-Ma'idah (No. 5) regarding the apostles' request for a heavenly food have raised important questions among the commentators on the status of the apostles. The results show that the request for a heavenly food itself was not blamed, but only the quality of the question and its words were criticized by Jesus (a.s.), who corrected the mentioned words and asked God to send them a heavenly food.

The word promise generally means a promise to do something at a specific time or place in the future that the word "Va'd" is used for good news and the word "Vae'id" is used for bad news. According to theological discussions and verses of the Holy Quran, God fulfills His promises and His promises are never broken. Paying attention to divine promises is a method for encouraging people to obey God's commands and abandon divine prohibitions. Using a comparative-analytical approach, this study has examined the divine promises in the Qur'an and the books of Chronicles, especially the promises that God has made to David and Solomon (a.s.). The findings show that God's promises to David were fulfilled based on the Qur'an; but the Qur'an does say anything about the fulfillment of God's promises to Solomon. Of course, according to the history, they are also realized.

Prayer is one of the most important acts of worship in Judaism and Islam. Ease and difficulty is one of the aspects of prayer that can be studied comparatively to clarify the superiority of Islam and its comprehensiveness. In this study only the ease and difficulty of prayer has been considered. Using a descriptive-analytical method and referring to the jurisprudential texts of both religions and paying attention to the criteria and factors of ease and difficulty, this paper came to the conclusion that unlike Islam, the prayer in Judaism is a difficult and arduous act of worship, since the proper conditions and rules that have been set in Islam for prayer and its pillars, have made it an easy act of worship. Therefore, the superiority of Islam in this aspect, i.e. ease and difficulty, has been proven. Since a comprehensive religion must consider all aspects of human needs.

One of the most important issues in the theology of religions is the problem of evil. The Satan and its role in the world is one of the topics of the realm of evil. Jewish, Christian, and Islamic scriptures, i.e. the Qur'an and the Testaments, have paid special attention to the issue of Satan. Using a comparative-analytical approach, this study is proposed. The purpose of this article is to examine the role of Satan from the perspective of the Holy Qur'an and the Testaments. Satan is introduced in the Holy Qur'an and the Testaments as the enemy of man and the prophets (a.s.), as well as the tempter of man. In the Old Testament, two other roles are stated for Satan including, a slanderer and an agent of God. In the Old Testament, Satan often has no evil character and is God's agent. The Holy Qur'an also has introduced the roles of the infidel, the guardian and the servant for the devil that cannot be seen in the Bible. The similarities can be explained by the common revelatory origin of these sacred texts. The differences could be caused by distortion in the Old Testament.

Salvation, which means salvation in the hereafter, has always been considered by the divine religions. Christian salvation, as a fundamental doctrine, is based on doctrines such as the Trinity, grace, sacrifice, the Cross, holy Spirit, Christ as the incarnate God and savior and giver of new life so that human actions have no role in its creation and destruction. Using a descriptive-analytical method, we found that belief in monotheism is the standard measure of faith that anyone should have faith. Accepting this level of monotheism requires accepting other levels of monotheism as well. Belief in these levels as a whole is a necessary condition for monotheism, and imperfection in some respects hinders ultimate salvation. All levels of monotheism are part of the perfection of monotheism and require righteous deeds.

One of the important issues in ethical researches is the issue of moral responsibility, which its various aspects, including conditions and scope, have been studied. There is a difference between moral responsibility and the moral factor. Although they may have some similarities in some issues, they are two different notions. So, the question of this research is what are the conditions of the moral factor? What is the appropriate definition for it? To avoid confusion between moral responsibility and moral agent. Using a descriptive-analytical method, this paper studies the conditions of the moral factor from the perspective of Shia Imamiyah and Catholicism. The findings show that, the conditions of the moral factor are very similar to each other in Shia Imamiyah and Catholicism.

Modern spirituality is a concept that requires careful consideration of emerging examples. Examining one of these examples i.e. modern satanism, this study has sought to find its characteristics. Using a descriptive-analytical method, and considering the effects of modernism, liberalism and Christian humanism on satanism, this study first examines the characteristics of modern spirituality in new movements and then compares it with satanism in both psychological and sociological studies. Finally, we have outlined spiritual alternatives to satanism that are in line with new movements in Christianity. These alternatives are, paying attention to personal pleasure, especially sexual matters instead of piety, paying attention to individual unconscious knowledge, instead of knowing the metaphysical being, transforming the structure of traditional spirituality, which is more internal, into social dynamics and activities aimed at solving sociological problems, paying attention to individual ethics instead of religious ethics with social approaches.