Studying the Method of Religious Knowledge from the Viewpoint of Mīrzā Mahdī Iṣfahānī
Journal Title: جستارهایی در فلسفه و کلام - Year 2016, Vol 48, Issue 97
Abstract
Mīrza Mahdī Iṣfahānī, the founder of Tafkīk School (separatism) and one of the contemporary figures opposing philosophy in the present era, has falsified the method of the theologians, philosophers, and mystics concerning acquiring religious knowledge and believes that he has provided a new way that is compatible with religious law (sharī‘a). Separating Divine knowledge from human knowledge, he believes that the Divine knowledge that is acquired through paying attention to luminous intellect, innate knowledge, and by referring to the external meanings (ẓawāhir) of traditions is totally distinct from human knowledge, which is achieved through logical argument. In justification of this viewpoint, Mīrza Mahdī Iṣfahānī has presented new meanings for intellect, science, and reasoning and calls the knowledge acquired in this method as Divine knowledge in contrast to human knowledge. Nevertheless, in practice, Mīrza Mahdī has not abided by this viewpoint and when explaining and proving what he claims, he has employed the very logical argument that he has called it human. On the other hand, despite his recommendation as to understanding religious text with a clear mind, Mīrzā’s impressions are totally based on his separatist (tafkīkī) preconceptions and, as a result, in many instances he has drifted away from the external meanings of the traditions and has interpreted the traditions according to his own viewpoints and contrary to their external meanings. It is attempted in this writing to critically examine Mīrzā Mahdī’s viewpoint on religious knowledge method and disclose the incompatibilities existing in Mīrzā’s viewpoint in theory and in practice.
Authors and Affiliations
Jawad Raqavi
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP204734
- DOI 10.22067/philosophy.v48i2.32683
- Views 71
- Downloads 0
Contingency Proof in the West
Contingency Proof is one of the oldest proofs of the existence of God, which enjoys numerous theological and philosophical expositions. What is examined in this article is the conventional form of this proof in the West,...
Platonic Ideas from the Viewpoint of Aristotle and vicenna
Theory of ideas (muthul) in fact delineates the infrastructure of Plato’s philosophy and metaphysics. It can be stated with certainty that by presenting this theory, Plato intended to justify the generation of the mundus...
Examining the Approach of the Holocaust Purporters in their Juridical Protection of the Massacred Jews
The Zionist Jews have started widespread attempts and set up extensive propagations in countries over the world in order to attach importance to the Holocaust. They believe that the massacre of the Jews and the occurrenc...
The Quiddity and Existence of Matter
Belief in matter of matters or the prime matter is one of the earliest human beliefs in the field of philosophical thinking. From among the Muslim philosophers, the peripatetics have confirmed it and come up with certain...
Viewpoints of ‘Abd al-Wahhāb Sha‘rānī about Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ‘Arabī’s Opinions
‘Abd al-Wahhāb b. Aḥmad Sha‘rānī (898-973/1492-1565) is to be considered as one of the most important advocates of Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ‘Arabī (560-638/1164-1240). He has written significant books in defense of and under the...