List of Articles Islamic gnosis

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  1 - The Influence of Social Conditions on Mullā Ṣadrā’s Classification of Sciences
  Fatemeh Jamshidi Nasrin Serajipour
  During the Safavid era, at the time of Mullā Ṣadrā and upon the rise of court-jurisprudents and pseudo-mysticism, true sciences such as jurisprudence, philosophy, and gnosis were in seclusion. Mullā Ṣadrā, as a religious scholar who was familiar with the philosophical a More

  During the Safavid era, at the time of Mullā Ṣadrā and upon the rise of court-jurisprudents and pseudo-mysticism, true sciences such as jurisprudence, philosophy, and gnosis were in seclusion. Mullā Ṣadrā, as a religious scholar who was familiar with the philosophical and gnostic ideas before him, tried to eliminate philosophical confusion from the scientific society and oppose this fallacious approach. Hence, he established a new philosophical system in order to bring all previous thoughts together in a consistent manner. In fact, he aimed to clarify the place of true knowledge and the ways of attaining it for society through establishing his own school of philosophy. The classification of sciences is one of the fundamental problems in any philosophical system. However, it is emphasized that each system of philosophy and the collection of its problems are influenced by the social conditions of their time. Similarly, Mullā Ṣadrā’s classification reflects his social concerns and has been developed in response to the social needs of his time and directing them towards true sciences. He has provided a specific classification of sciences in each of the three periods of his scientific life. He followed a peripatetic approach during the first period, an Illuminationist approach during the second one, and a transcendent approach during the third period, which reflected the height of his philosophical maturity. This paper aims to investigate Mullā Ṣadrā’s classification of sciences during each of the three periods of his scientific life and demonstrate how each was influenced by the social conditions of his time, and how each responded to the existing societal needs. Manuscript profile
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  2 - Spiritual Journey Based on Dialectical Wayfaring in Plato’s Philosophy and its Compatibility with Gnostic Journeys
  Atiye Zandieh Leila Eftekhari
  In Plato’s philosophy and Islamic gnostic tradition, the world and Man enjoy two corporeal and spiritual dimensions. Man’s spiritual dimension can have ascending and descending journeys in the worlds of being. In Islamic gnosis, going through the levels of being – the f More

  In Plato’s philosophy and Islamic gnostic tradition, the world and Man enjoy two corporeal and spiritual dimensions. Man’s spiritual dimension can have ascending and descending journeys in the worlds of being. In Islamic gnosis, going through the levels of being – the five divine presences – has been explained by resorting to the four-fold journeys, which include moving from the creature to the truth, traversing the truth, moving from the truth to the creature and, finally, travelling with the truth in the creature. The spiritual journey in Plato’s philosophy can be explained by using the dialectical wayfaring, analogy of the divided line, and the allegory of the cave. Plato generally dealt with this spiritual journey and did not intend to classify its levels. However, his views can be formulated in a way to conform to these four journeys. In this way, spiritual journey in Plato’s philosophy will include the following four stages: moving from shadows to the world of Ideas, traveling through the Ideas, moving from the world of Ideas to the world of sensibles and, finally, traveling with the Ideas in shadows. Therefore, given the differences between these two schools of thought regarding their views of the highest levels of being and the perfect Man, the first, second, and fourth journeys can be more clearly matched with each other. The third journey can also be matched with one of them but not as clearly as the other three. Gnostics’ religious views, their emphasis on ascetic practice and purification of the soul, and the long time interval between these two systems of thought have resulted in a number of great differences between them. Manuscript profile