معرفت

The Significance and Status of Love

Ayatollah 'Allamah Mohammad Taqi Misbah

Abstract
The present paper which is a commentary on Imam Sajjad's Munajat Al-Muridin (the intimate communication of devotees) by professor 'Allamah Misbah deals with love and attending to it. Some degrees of love which are essential for faith in God are obligatory and some others are recommended. The devotees are those God-seeking individuals who want to draw nigh to God. One of the signs of love towards God is that lover likes to frequently hear his/her beloved's name and is interested in those things attributed to God. The other one is love towards God's saints and prophets. The signs of God's beloved are: repentance, purity, self-sacrifice in the way of God.

Key words: love towards God, God's beloved, signs of love, signs of beloved

Two Realms of Appearance and Hidden in Jalal Al-Din Mowlavi's Worldview

Mohammad Fanaii Ashkewari

Abstract
One of the most important pillars of mystical worldview is attention to two realms of appearance and hidden aspects of actuality. Accordingly, any real being, including world, man, and even the Most High God have these two aspects. Outward sciences try to know the appearance of world, but mysticism is man's attempt to understand the hidden aspect of existence. This doctrine is one of the pillars of Mowlana Jalal Al-Din Balkhi's mystical thought and the key to understand his works especially his masterpiece "Masnavi Ma'navi (spiritual ode).
The present paper tries to explain Mowlavi's viewpoint on the matter through extracting related couplets from "Masnavi Ma'navi" and interpreting them. The research findings show that Mowlavi believes that world, man, knowledge, religion, Quran, Man's act, and any other reality has appearance and hidden aspects and real knowledge means achieving these hidden aspects. Mystical religiosity and religiousness mean discovering the geography of the hidden aspect and living in it.

Key words: appearance, hidden aspect, invisible, martyrdom, knowledge, mysticism, exoteric commentary, sacred law, reality.

Ibn 'Arabi and Reviewing Ttwo Doubts about Him: the Claim of Being the Seal of Friends and Seeing the People of Rajab

Ismail Nejati

Abstract
Ibn 'Arabi is one of the very famous pundits of theoretical mysticism in the true religion of Islam because according to some sayings he is the one who has brought theoretical mysticism into the realm of spiritual journey; so he is the turning point of Islamic mysticism and all scholars, whether for or against this intellectual system, have focused on him. His works, like those of other outstanding thinkers, have been written with great care and some of them are textbooks.
Meanwhile, some phrases in the works attributed to him have ambiguities. These phrases are sometimes interpreted as blasphemy and resulted in his anathemas and sometimes rejected as his sayings and or considered as correct ones. The present paper tries to discuss two ambiguous phrases attributed to him and find the answers given to these ambiguous phrases by the pundits and researcher of this field. The research method is rational, narrative, and critical using library resources. The research findings show that those scholars who agree with Ibn 'Arabi have strong reasons, that there are distortions and alternations in the texts attribute to him, and that the expression "the seal of friends" implies an idiomatic meaning in the realm of theoretical mysticism and does not mean heresy or blasphemy.

Key words: Ibn 'Arabi, the seal of friends, the people of Rajab, authority, Rafidite, Shi'a.

The Quality of the Most High God's Manifestation in Islamic Mysticism

Ali Sadeqi

Abstract
The issue of how the Most High God is manifested in the degrees of determinations, that is, how He comes from immanence degree to manifestation degree is discussed in Islamic mysticism and sayings of mystics. The present paper tries to explain how this thing comes from a degree which has no determination to a degree that is observable to us. It mainly aims at systematically expounding and explaining the researchers' famous view on the issue which finally can be presented as follows: in essential determinations, like first determination, the manifestation and real existence belong to the Divinity and in determinations which are in the circle of the most holy emanation the creature is present and Divinity is hidden; that is, creature is the veil of Divinity and if this veil is taken away, then the existence of Divinity will appear.

Key words: disclosure, manifestation, appearance, theophanic form, unity, plurality.

Man's Perfection from Mulla Sadra's Viewpoint and Rreviewing its Harmony with the Holy Quran's Doctrines

Mahmud Khyrollahi

Abstract
Expounding man's perfection is the most important principle in the field of knowledge and cognition. The philosophy of man's creation is deeper than that of other creatures because man's is a complete and comprehensive being vis-à-vis whatever exists in material world and Divine world. Man is essence of protected Tablet and right path between paradise and hell. Man's divine dimension is one of the divine mysteries and a manifestation of divine vicegerency that can exert control in material world and Divine world according to the manifestation of "the Apparent and the Concealed".
The present paper tries to study man's perfection from Mulla Sadra's viewpoint and evaluate the harmony between his viewpoint and the Holy Quran. A brief review of man's perfection domain will more encourage us to take strong steps in the way of our perfection and happiness.

Key words: Quran, Mulla Sadra, soul, intellect, perfection, system, creation.

The Exoteric Commentary of the Holy Quran in Mowlavi's "Fih-e Ma Fih" (what is really in it): the Blinds are the Mine of Quran's Words

Hojjatollah Hemmati

Abstract
Mystics, through observing the principles of "abstinence" and "meditation" and continuing their related practices, experience a state in which divine love and charity absorb all their beings, wipe out their figurative existence, and guide them to the reality of truth and absolute mystery. They sometimes interpret the verses of Holy Quran appropriate to their own intimate taste and state which they themselves call it "deduction" and accordingly provide generous and transcendent interpretation of Quranic verses and Prophet's traditions. Many mystics have paid attention to this method which has turned into a particular interpretive method in mystical circle over the time.
Mowlavi, like other great mystics, has paid attention to the mystical interpretation of Quranic verses and traditions in his works. In "Masnavi Ma'navi (spiritual ode)" and "fih-e- ma fih", he has provided deep interpretations of Quranic verses appropriate to his own mystical and spiritual experience and intimate taste which appear unique and new. The present paper studies Mowlana's interpretive method in his valuable book, "fih-e- ma fih" in order to understand his mystical and spiritual viewpoints on Quran's interpretation and explain his mystical interpretations and understandings from some Quranic verses and Prophet's traditions.

Key words: interpretation, exoteric commentary, deduction, Mowlavi, fih-e- ma fih, mysticism

Exoteric Commentary from Feyz Kashani's Viewpoint

Mohammad Ali Mohiti Ardakan

Abstract
"Exoteric commentary" is one of the issues discussed by Feyz Kashani in interpreting the Holy Quran and in mysticism. He believed that it has a key role in understanding Quranic verses, traditions, and realities of existence. The present paper tries to review his viewpoint on exoteric commentary and explain its main components using a descriptive- analytical method. The research findings show that he considers exoteric commentary as "generalization of suddenly suggested meaning of utterance and applying the utterance to non-suggested meaning". Through expounding the deep relationship between utterance and meaning, he believes that words have single reality and spirit which may have several instances and forms. In this way, he resolves the mystery of Fourteen Infallibles' different commentaries of Quranic verses. He mentions several traditions to explain the possibility of exoteric commentary of Quranic verses and the need for exoteric commentary in interpreting the Quran. According to some of these traditions, we can infer that exoteric commentary can be generalized to outwards of Quran. He believes that the criterion for correct exoteric commentary is using narrative support or rational necessity and that exoteric commentary is exclusive for Infallibles.

Key words: exoteric commentary, Feyz Kashani, outward, inward, utterance, meaning.

Real Mysticism and False Mysticisms

Narges Rahimi, Soqra Salehi

Abstract
Man has always inclined towards spirituality, but the development of empiricism in recent century and man's disillusion by technology has led to more inclination towards metaphysical affairs and spirituality-seeking. As inclination towards spirituality has increased, many pseudo- mysticisms have emerged that try to meet this need and solve the problem of spirituality. However, these pseudo-mysticisms not only could not correctly satisfy man's thirst for spirituality but also increased his spiritual pains.
The present paper tries to introduce some of these newly- emerged mystical schools to prove their falsity and rightfulness of Islamic mysticism. To this end, it compares and recognizes real mysticism and newly-emerged ones through reviewing the most important emerging mystical cults and their principles.
Newly-emerged spiritualities have deceitful appeals and simple literature which make them apparently true, but their principles are weak and based on intellect-rejection, negation of sacred law, humanism, over ambition, and the like. On the contrary, pure Islamic mysticism is the result of revelation based on Quran's doctrines and such principles as man's dignity, monotheism, sacred law, authority- orientation.

Key words: mysticism, Osho, Zen Buddhism, Paulo Coelho, Toltec Shamanism, Yogananda, Krishnamurti.

Paulo Coelho and the Reasons Why His Works Popularized in Iran

Mohammad Reza Anvari

Abstract
Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian novelist whose thoughts have been considered as one of the newly-emerged mysticisms. His works has become the most widely read in two recent decades worldwide. His famous book, the Alchemist, was the best-seller book in 1376 (1997-1998) in Iran. The International Center for Dialogue among civilizations invited him to travel to Iran in 1379 (2000). Using a documentary and descriptive- analytical method, the present paper tries to study the reasons why his works popularized in Iran. Furthermore, it tries to reanalyze his intellectual foundations, the way his works penetrated in Iran, his agents, his propagandistic ways to absorb audience, and the velocity of circulation of his works in Iran.
Some of the research findings show that Coelho's works were translated in Iran in 1374 (1995) and for the first time about 28 publishers entered his works to market. His ten-day travel to Iran greatly influenced the sale of his works. His extensive relationship with readers through cyber space and free download of his works are his other propagandistic tools. It is estimated that his works were very quickly popularized in Iran.

Key words: Paulo Coelho, mysticism, movement, Hejazi, Alchemist