Abstract

The problem of good and evil is one of the most fundamental philosophical and theological issues that has long been raised in the religions and schools of thought of ancient Iran. This study seeks to examine, through a descriptive-analytical method, the evolution of the concept of the duality of good and evil from Zoroastrian mythology to the views of mystics of the Islamic era. In ancient Iran, particularly in Zoroastrianism, Zurvanism, Manichaeism, and Mazdakism, evil was regarded as a realized and essential entity standing in opposition to good, and each of these religions offered a different solution for justifying the existence of evil. Drawing upon ancient Iranian texts and Persian and Arabic mystical works, the author demonstrates how this ancient duality was reinterpreted in the thought of Muslim mystics, especially in the works of al-Hallaj, ʿAyn al-Qudat Hamadani, and Suhrawardi. In these interpretations, Iblis, as the symbol of evil, is regarded not as an independent being opposed to God, but as the manifestation of the Divine Names of Majesty and the epiphany of the eternal wrath and wisdom. The conclusion is that mystics, by synthesizing the Iranian heritage with the monotheistic teachings of Islam, offer a reading in which the duality of light and darkness returns to the oneness of the Divine Light, and evil is ultimately considered an inseparable part of the Divine consummate wisdom.