ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Fundamentals of Knowing God in Greek Philosophy and Divine Religion Introduction In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful The history of Islamic contemplation and culture has witnessed diverse conjunctions with different human knowledge especially the exotic reflections. As we know, the spread of the geographical domain of Islam was accompanied with the attachment of various tribes and nations.

Consequently, different thoughts and reflections entered the domain of Islam. Amongst them were the thinking of Indian, Iranian and Greek philosophers and gnostics and the beliefs of Zorastrians, Jews and Christians. The transfer of Greek philosophical books into Arabic gave momentum to the above matter. In the meanwhile, the Muslims who saw themselves alien to the numerous thoughts and beliefs showed various reactions against these types of beliefs.

These reactions can be summarized into three important pivots and inclinations: A. Some of the Islamic scholars did not pay attention to these exotic elements since most of them did not consider as permissible, any kind of research and investigation in Ma’arif (gnostic knowledge) and beliefs; not even with regard to the divine works. They use to remain silent in front of the questions related to beliefs and believed in the literal meanings of Qur’an without any examination and analysis.

They suggested this as the only way of solution. The above tendency has been in vogue mostly among the Ahlul Sunnat[^1] and one can count the Hanbalities and Ahlul hadith as those following this view. The slogan of this group was “Asso’aal Bed’ah” i.e. asking questions about religious belief is heresy and forbidden. From among those who belonged to this group, one can name persons like Malik-bin Anas, Muhammad bin Idris, Shafa’ee, Sufyan Sun and in particular Ahmad bin Hanbal. B.

Some others showed a passive reaction before the alien thoughts. They form a wider spectrum. Some reacted through submission and acceptance, and others who enjoyed relative freedom and had the ability to do “ Ijtihad ” by taking possession over the alien elements and adorning them over the foundations of religion gave entry to them in the head stock of Islamic culture.