soul

The pure life is what the majority of the souls, living on the universe, are trying to achieve. Each of them is having or insisting on his or her own definition from the pure life. In the Muslim society, it has been observed, as, eliminating soul illness as one of the tools which will reach to a pure, life, that is the reason of human, creation, but in this path recognition of the soul illness is easy but healing, it, is sometimes taking for granted.

Trying to understand the reality of the soul and its result (Self Knowledge Theology) has always attracted philosophers’ attention and has been regarded as one of the concerns of philosophical thinking. In this article, it is specified that the peripatetic philosophers, whether Greek or Islamic, have considered the soul as a chapter of naturalia and try mostly to comment on the soul’s powers and activities; they have not had any epistemological view of it. In contrast, Sheikh Eshragh closes the psychology to the theological discussions and looks at it from the epistemological point of view. His discussion is not about soul’s powers, but he provides a way to save the soul from the prison of the body and emancipate the human being from the darkness of material world. In the illuminationist philosophy, the theory of intuition was proposed for the first time (The substantial form), so it has discussed the nature of the soul from this viewpoint. Suhrawardi’s psychology isn’t a consequence of theoretical discussion, but it results from introspection and self-awareness that is possible only through the asceticism and controlling the dragon of carnal soul. It is soul which shows not only the Light of Lights, but it becomes divine and finally through this path he founds his luminous system. The system of being is realized through the epistemology of soul.

To explain Mulla Sadra’s viewpoint of the relationship of practical wisdom and Sharia, one needs to turn to the explanation of human soul and its perfection (happiness). It should be mentioned that the nature of practical wisdom and its principles are specified based on the definition that is offered of happiness. According to Mulla Sadra, true happiness lies in human soul’s acquisition of rational truths and becoming a subject to the divine forms and the highest possible state for it is understanding divine presence; this is considered to be the ultimate goal of Sharia and divine laws. In fact, Mulla Sadra introduces practical wisdom to be part of Sharia and this is why Sharia and practical wisdom are thought by him to be pursuing the same objective. Generally speaking, relationship of Sharia and practical wisdom is envisaged as an extension of the “mode of absolute generality and specificity”; because according to Mulla Sadra, practical wisdom, as the act of teaching the method of advancement of the stations and stage of God-wayfaring and path of servitude, is part of Sharia. One may seek for the cause of this in the richness of Islamic doctrines in the domain of practical wisdom and explanation of its patterns in religion and Sharia; however, richness of Islamic doctrines and Sharia does not make us needless of the explanation and presentation of effective solutions for application of practical wisdom. This is in fact exactly what Mulla Sadra has neglected in this area.     

Muslim philosophers and theologians have disputed over the animal afterlife. Most Muslim scholars hold that the Quran, Islamic narrations and rational arguments affirm the resurrection of animals in the afterlife, though there is a dispute concerning how they will be resurrected and whether they will be rewarded or punished as humans will. Beside the controversies and disputes, several reasons suggest that they have their own afterlife. To prove the animal afterlife, it is necessary to prove primarily that they have soul. Mulla Sadra has attempted to prove that animals have soul, based on the immateriality of the faculty of imagination ( al-Khayal ). Likewise, most of the reasons provided for the immateriality of human soul could be employed for the animal afterlife. The second stage is to explain the purpose of animal afterlife. Two goals could be mentioned regarding this issue: first, the compensation of evils harming them requires the afterlife. Second, some Quranic verses and Islamic narrations establish the fact that at least some animals have the intellectual faculty and thus have responsibly for their actions. Though these Quranic verses and Islamic narrations are not explicit, they can be a probable evidence for the animal afterlife. Finally, two points must be noted: first, though there are several arguments in favor of animal afterlife, there is no general agreement on it in the Islamic world. Second, the above arguments are not general, but they include merely those animals that have the faculty of sensation and have been inflicted by evils.

The process of self-awareness and awareness of the surrounding world for Muslim scholars has been categorized into divisions such as experiential and acquired awareness. However, the ontology of awareness, meaning the discussion of whether awareness is immaterial or material, as well as the material or immaterial nature of the origin and end of awareness, has been a particularly challenging topic among Muslim theologians. Some Muslim scholars, denying the existence of a factor beyond the human body for his movement and life, considered both awareness and the process of awareness-formation in humans and the factor-shaping awareness in humans to be within the same body. They engaged in critiquing the perspectives and foundations of philosophers, especially Avicenna on this matter and, utilizing specific principles in their philosophical physicalist psychology, regarded awareness as a material entity. In this discussion, after examining the foundations of this group of Muslim theologians regarding the material nature of awareness and their criticisms of considering awareness as immaterial, wewill focus on the philosophical and epistemological consequences arising from the materialistic view of awareness in their thought.

SUBJECT & OBJECTIVES: Throughout history, the concept of human identity has been a challenging topic in philosophy, with the responses of philosophers influencing various branches of science. In contemporary Western philosophy, there has been a shift towards viewing humans solely as physical beings. However, Islamic philosophy takes a different approach, rooted in rationality and the teachings of Islam. The Misbah Yazdi is a prominent Muslim philosopher who greatly contributed to the field and shed light on many philosophical issues. He derived the concept of human identity from Islamic philosophy, enriching it with Islamic teachings and offering a solution to the puzzle of human identity.  He defined human beings based on their soul, rather than simply considering humans as a combination of body and soul. METHOD & FINDING: This research applies a qualitative approach with a critical analysis method. The primary finding of this article is to elucidate the key differences between Islamic and Western philosophy, focusing on Misbah Yazdi's perspective. CONCLUSION: The fundamental disparity between Islamic and Western philosophy concerning human identity lies in the concept of the soul. According to Islamic philosophy, the soul defines an individual's uniqueness, providing them with a clear and stable personality and identity. In contrast, Western philosophy leaves the identity of human beings shrouded in deep ambiguity. Misbah Yazdi presents a distinctive approach to this topic, offering insights and solutions that warrant further exploration.