Some Methodological Considerations for Extracting Spiritual Topics from Islamic Philosophy

Document Type : Original Research Article

Author

Professor, Department of Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Imam Sadiq University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Travelling to different periods of Islamic philosophy, with contemporary questions, allows us to reconstruct the web of spiritual topics in Islamic philosophy. This work, which demands a joint effort—paying attention to modern spirituality and Islamic philosophy—requires methodological instructions to improve the results. Having a comprehensive understanding of contemporary spirituality and using interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary research method are two primary guidelines since both serve to classify questions, which is essential for a fruitful discussion. The unification of philosophical schools in the Islamic tradition, the negligence of the entanglement of philosophy with interpretation, theology, and mysticism, and verbal similitude, which traces the connection between the new era and the old only through the path of similar words, are the most important things to avoid. The inclusion of several contemporary problems in one traditional topic, the spread of one new problem in several traditional topics, the historical development of problems, and the high capacity of metaphors and allegories in Islamic philosophy—including “bird,” “light,” and “mirror”—need to be taken into account to conceptualize and extract propositions related to spirituality from Islamic philosophy.

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References

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