نشریه معرفت ادیان
پیاپی 2 (بهار 1389)

The holy Quran mentions the event of testing prophet Ibraham's faithfulness and readiness to give his son as ar offering to God. It represerts a turning point in the life of this great divine prophet. Due to the equivocation in the Quranic verses about the story of Ibraham's oblation and not stating who was to be offered and the place where theoblation was to take place, at first the name of Ibraheem's son who was to be given an offering was a matter of dispute among Muslim commentators of the Quran, but the dispute ended in the seventh century A.H., and it was found and confirmed in the Islamic tradition that Ishmael was the one whom prophet Ibraham intended to offer asoblation. Today, some of the orientalists claim that the earlier Islamic sources state that Isaac was the one to be offered to God, and that, for some reasons, such as rivalry with Judaism, Ishmael's name was introduced in the Islamic texts and commentaries after many centuries. The present study, which sheds light on the sunnah (Islamic tradition)and the sayings of the Infallibles in this concern, elaborates on the Quranic view about who Ibraham's oblation is.

Many are those who think that Yoga is some kind of exercises ofmeditation, not knowing that Yoga, one of the important philosophicalsystems in India and Samkhya, is coupled together and forms onesystem.Accordingly, without Samkhya, these exercises do not have soundbasis, and if one does not observe it, one's practice is incorrect.Perhaps the most important part of any philosophical system is theway it views true human aspects. Giventhis, we have made acomparison between Islamic anthropology and Yoga Samkhya tobring out the similarities and differences between them, hoping that itwill pave the way to a proper understanding of the truth.According to Islam and Yoga school, man has a metaphysical origin,the knowledge of which plays a major role in ensuring man's safety,but in Islam the word safety implies something other than that whichYoga school implies. Although both schools stress the importance ofsalvation, self-refinement, meditation and practice, there are sharpdifferences between them in as far as condition, type, method andobjective are concerned.

The present essay presents an analytical approach based on documentation to compare the meaning of asbat in the Quran and the meaning it has in the Old and New Testaments. Indications and ample evidence show that most of the views concerning revelation-receiving asbat, especially when applied to prophet Jacob's twelve sons areincorrect, and this can be ascribed to the distortion in the Bible and the effect which the distortion has on Muslim interpreters. The word asbat refers to some of Jacob's chosen grandsons, who were not only Jacob's descendants but his successors, devotees and spiritual followers as, well. Each of these successors and divine leadershadreceived a divine message after prophet Yousif and before Moses in Egypt and were living among the children of Israel.

Eagrness to know one's fate is constituted in man's inherent nature. A review of the history of man's life tells that one of the questions which concerns man at all times is how the end of this world and the life after death will be. When we want to deal with the advent of the promised savior, immortality, death and resurrection, we refer to the"eschatology". This word, which is used to mean the knowledge of the end of Time and how the next world will be, is taken from the Greek word eschatos which means furthest.Judaism, Christianity and Islam say that the end of this world and the beginning of the hereafter is close by. A group of Jews and all Christians think that both the end of this world somehow corresponds with the here-after, whereas a number of Jews and all Muslims believe that they are two separate periods, known as "reappearance age" and"day of judgement".According to the Chritians, the last days of this world are the days in which Jesus reappears, and it will be the birth of a big historic day. On that day, the last decision is made and man will be rewarded or punished for his hergood deeds and evil deeds. So, in Christianity the end of this world corresponds to the day of Judgement. In Islam, theend of the world refers to the time preceding the reappearance of the promised Imam(a.s), and the period of his appearance is a period in which great changes take place. As For the hereafter, it begins with the end of this corporeal world and at that time the Judgemen Day begins. In Judaism, two views are presented: one corresponds to theperspective of Islam and the other to that of Christianity.

Christ's divinity is one of the formal beliefs in Christianity. This ideawas first mooted by Saint Paul, a fanatic Jew who then became theapostle of Christianity to the Gentiles.Many years after Christ's living on earth, Paul claimed that he had metChrist during a revelation and in response to Christ's invitation, heembraced Christianity. Saint Paul preached Christianity for a longtime but his perception of the character of Christ and his message wasinconsistent with the teachings of Christ and the beliefs of earlyChristians. Some centuries after that, some Christain scholars acceptedhis ideas, and in spite of the dissidence of some Christian scholars, hisideas were approved by Christian councils. It is worth noting that oneof Saint Paul's ideas is Christ's divinity.

Eckankar, a semi-religious faith, which has developed from modern mystical schools in the United States, has drawn its values from many different religions and mystical schools to become a faith made from a mixture of all religions. The combination of values whichcharacterizes this sect has made its founder and his representatives claim that this combination of values contributes to bringing this faith closer to religiousity.The present essay tries to exhibit the characterstics, devices and methods which bring this semi-religious sect closer to religiousity and attempts to clarify the contradiction in it.The author compares the values of Eckankar with the main elements observed in defining "religion", and then comments on the claim of Eckankar's religious character. An examination of the objectives proposed by the leaders of this semi-religious faith and of the characteristics which, they say it has, brings to light the belief of the secret religiousity of Eckankar.

The war in Judaism, like many of teachings of this faith, is founded on two central things: people and land. The aim which ancient Jews sought through the wars they fought was occupying new lands and bringing them under their control. One of the Jewish types of wars which they consider legitmate and obligatory is "Eve Massacre", through which the promised land, as the Jews say, can be regained. They consider that some of themost important earlier Jew's battles, such as that which they fought against seven nations are among the obligatory pioneering battles or perhaps the very "mil·khä·met khō·vä".