پژوهشنامه متین
پیاپی 25 (زمستان 1383)

One of the main issues pertaining to the principles of daily prayers and fasting is the time of the morning prayers and refraining from eating and drinking to prepare for fasting. The issue becomes complicated when it overlaps with the moony lights. The present article is an attempt to study the issue in the light of the verses and traditions and finally elaborate on the ideas of Imam Khomeini about the daybreak during the moony lights.

Given the change in our approach to the West and the condition of the contemporary world, it is necessary to take an appropriate stance concomitant with the Islamic values and Iranian-Islamic identity. As the leader, founder and ideologist of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini advanced an approach, which was more or less congruent with our culture. This approach rejects the West on the basis of its main features and such theoretical principles as humanism, materialism, secularism, nationalism, individualism and power-centeredness and in lieu of that introduces the idea of revival of the East and uprising of its peoples against the West by trusting in God and themselves. On the basis of this plan, the West is the sunset of sacred truth and the East the sunrise of truth and manifestation of the divine light. In this plan man returns to his true self, which is divinely and Godly and thus moves towards true perfection and felicity.

One of the topics of the theology which is discussed in the discipline of Usul is the word of monotheism or the phrase La ilaha illallah (There is no god, but God). The present article is an attempt to explain the concept of exception, the meanings of the letter “la” as well as the possibility of the elimination of its news in order to shed light on the questions and queries about the word monotheism (unity). Attempts have been made in this article to advance the viewpoints of the ulema particularly those of Imam Khomeini about the said questions and queries.

The Declaration of Human Rights, which is the outcome of predominant political philosophy of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries – though rooted in the natural rights –lays strong emphasis on the freedom of expression and faith and seeks the implementation of these rights in the world societies. The formation of the Islamic Revolution in recent years with an ideological, religious nature raised the following question: Is Islam and consequently the Islamic Revolution compatible with the freedom of thought and faith? Probably the historical record of the church in the medieval ages justifies such a question. The present article is an attempt to shed light on the Islamic law’s stance on the said two categories of freedom and also to elaborate on the viewpoints of the founder of the Islamic Revolution on these issues?

Man is a curious, questioning being who seeks answers to his questions. He is always after questioning knowledge, scholars, the known, intentions, results and values of knowledge and these conditions peak up in him when he finds knowledge with two contradictory attributes, that is, light and veil. Hence he wants to know how a truth that is considered “clear in its essence and clearer for others” can become a veil, indeed the greatest veil. The present article discusses various categories of knowledge, that is, the general and absolute knowledge and specific and specialized science, which is experimental knowledge based on experiment and test. Also reference has been made to the ideas of some scholars who consider knowledge coextensive with being and light. The main focus of this paper is the gnostical ideas of Imam Khomeini who considers knowledge a feature of primordial nature, attributing it to the illuminated aspects of the being of creatures. Imam Khomeini also maintains that all beings concomitant with the limits of their existence are the manifestation of the All-Knowing (Alim), a Name of the Lord. He also maintains that knowledge and awareness are the keys to the creatures’ praise for the Lord and the secret of man’s eternalization and celestialization. He maintains that true knowledge can be acquired through the heaven and any grade of this knowledge is concomitant with the grades of heaven (deeds, attributes, essence). He also maintains very suave points from the Alaq Chapter of the holy Quran on the value and status of knowledge.

The factors responsible for the occurrence of the Islamic Revolution may be divided into two categories: the structural and the voluntary factors The structural factors may be also called the long-term and mid-term factors while the voluntary factors may be called the short-term and expediting factors. The present article is an attempt to discuss the significant voluntary factors, hich led to the Islamic Revolution. Also such factors as the role of Imam Khomeini as the leader, the role of the ideology of the revolution and the role of the popular mobilization in the revolution are discussed.

The present study is an attempt to comparatively study the viewpoints of Imam Khomeini and Ghazzali on the gradation of human beings as a fundamental anthropological principle of the political ideas of these two revivalist thinkers. Attempts have been made in this article to test the following hypothesis: While the political idea of Gazzali can be analyzed within the paradigm of traditional political thought, Imam Khomeini’s political thought goes beyond the paradigm traditional political thought.