نشریه کلام اسلامی
پیاپی 128 (زمستان 1402)

The scope of divine prophets' knowledge from the perspective of reason can be examined through two approaches: theological and philosophical. The theological approach is teleological, while the philosophical approach pertains to the understanding of the soul and focuses on the existential capacity of the prophets. According to the teleological approach, religious knowledge, rulings, and everything related to the goal of prophets' guidance fall within the scope of prophets' knowledge. According to the philosophical approach to prophethood, specific to Islamic philosophers, prophets possess a high level of perfection in three faculties: intellect, imagination, and practical reasoning, which enabled them to reach the lofty rank of prophethood. Through the perfection of the intellectual faculty, they became connected and linked to the Active Intellect, gaining awareness of the universal truths of the cosmos. Through the perfection of the imaginative faculty, they established a connection with the world of souls and the separate imaginative realm, acquiring knowledge of the realities of the world, and this awareness was the source of their knowledge of the unseen. The result of both approaches is that prophets, in addition to having complete awareness of religious knowledge and rulings, also possessed extensive knowledge of the realities of the material and spiritual worlds. The claim that the prophets' knowledge was, at any given time, equivalent to the knowledge of others is incorrect.

One of the most important epistemological foundations of Islamic humanities is the authority and validity of revelation. From the point of view of Islamic epistemology, experience is not the only way to acquire knowledge and knowledge, but reason and revelation are the most important tools of knowledge and sources of knowledge. This issue has a serious role in human sciences and in describing and prescribing human actions. In this research, the ability and capacity of revelation in producing the foundations and ideas of human sciences is explained based on three basic features of revelation from the point of view of theologians, i.e. infallibility, realism, and maximum scope in relation to the affairs of individual and social human life. This issue is based on This important point that the theories of experimental knowledge, including the human sciences, although they refer to objectivity, but do not fully match with objectivity, but merely represent a corner of reality, creates a wide possibility and field for the entry of sources of religious knowledge in the field of theorizing Islamic humanities. This capability is not exclusive to the position of collecting assumptions, but also exists in the judging stage, both description and prescription. According to the results of this research, the entry of revelation into the field of human sciences does not mean denying the experience and testability of theories, but the revelation propositions that are directly or indirectly able to be experimentally tested will play a role in the production of human sciences.

Based on the common viewpoint of theologians, a miracle is demonstrative in nature, but to reach the level of evidence, it depends on "challenge" (tahaddi). Some have raised a doubt by referring to the term "likeness" in the essence of the challenge, arguing that the "request to bring forth something like" is a request for an impossible task, as producing something truly identical is impossible. The response to this doubt is that what is meant by "likeness" in the process of the challenge is "maximal similarity," and presenting such a likeness is indeed possible .The second doubt is that, due to the absence of temporal and spatial limitations in the challenge process, the inability of the audience in a specific place and time does not necessarily indicate that others, in different times or places, would be incapable of presenting a "likeness." The response to the second doubt is that believers, by observing the inability of all to present a "likeness" within a reasonable time frame, refer to divine wisdom to affirm the prophethood of the miracle performer. For disbelievers, this context also provides an opportunity for reflection on the very existence of God, leading them through reason and innate disposition to the wise Creator. Thus, the evidentiary completeness of the miracle in proving prophethood is established for them as well.

Based on the texts of Imamate, the Imamiyyah believe that the Imams and successors of the Holy Prophet of Islam (PBUH) are twelve individuals from his household, appointed by Almighty God to the Imamate and introduced to the people by the Holy Prophet (PBUH). Faisal Noor, a contemporary Wahhabi writer, in a section of his book “Al-Imamah wa Al-Nass” dedicated to Imam Kazim (AS), after citing narrations that (according to him) indicate the ignorance and unawareness of the companions and household of the Imam regarding his Imamate and the succession of Imam Reza (AS), concludes that there was no text regarding the Imamate of the Twelve Imams and that the hadiths of Imamate were fabricated by Shia narrators years after the era of the Prophet (PBUH) and the Imams (AS). This article, using a descriptive-analytical method, seeks to critique this view and proves that factors such as the prohibition of hadith documentation, the oppressive atmosphere of Imam Kazim’s (AS) era, and the existence of certain doubts about the attributes of the Imam led to the ignorance or deviation of some Shia, rather than the absence of Imamate texts.

Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Behbahani (1303-1395 A.H.) is a prominent scholar in the field of intellectual and narrative sciences who has used these knowledges in theology. His method is the rational method in the issues on which the authenticity and authenticity of the revelations are based, and in the issues that the intellect does not have the ability to understand, his method is the narration, and in other issues, his method is the rational and the narration, with the priority of citing rational evidence. In order to infer and explore the word of truth from quoted sources, he has focused and emphasized on various meanings of reported verbs and statements, especially their binding meanings, and has made an admirable effort; As in those faith issues on which the proof of revelation is based, he has used the independent intellect well. His attention to the opinions of Islamic philosophers and theologians has not affected his independence of opinion and critical view, and at the same time, he has not deviated from observing ethics and fairness in the position of criticism.

Logicians have stated certain conditions for the premises of demonstration in their works. Some of these conditions are such that the demonstration cannot be realized without them. These conditions include the precedence of the premises over the conclusion in terms of essence, knowledge, and time, the truth of the premises, the appropriateness of the premises with the conclusions, their foundation on the self-evident, and the essentiality of the premises. The other category consists of conditions where the demonstration can still be valid even without them. These conditions include the necessity of truth, being predicated on the whole, and being primary. This article shows that the essential conditions for attaining a certain conclusion, and upon which the validity of the result depends, are the truth and essentiality of the premises. The other conditions are either generally fulfilled, easily accessible, or logically irrelevant to the validity of the demonstration.

The debate between the existence and non-existence of "Islamic medicine" has become one of the most prominent disputes in recent years. Among the critics, there are different approaches and each of them have tried to deny the existence of "Islamic" medicine by presenting reasons. In the meantime, a group of deniers have tried to strengthen their view by citing the behavior and speech of Imams (peace be upon them). The three reasons cited by this group of critics of "Islamic medicine" are: "the paucity of medical traditions and the weakness of their evidence", "the hadiths of the Ahl al-Bayt indicating that people are encouraged to acquire knowledge in an absolute manner" and "referring to Imams". Ahl al-Bayt to the doctor during illness. The reasons for the importance and necessity of addressing this issue and analyzing the dimensions of the issue are: "The recent approach of thinkers in the field of religious science", "The background of the Shiite scientific heritage in the science of medicine" and "Civilizational conflict with the West". This article shows from an intra-religious point of view that the three mentioned reasons are unable to prove the claim and the opponents must cite more convincing evidence to prove their claim.