The Concept of God According to Sa’id Nursi

The concept of God is a fundamental concept for every religion, especially Islam. The concept of God in Islam is different from other religions, even emerging from the time of the Greek philosophical tradition and Eastern and Western mystical traditions. Not a few Muslims state that all religions are the same God. This is a problem for the religions of this world. Therefore, Sa’id Nursi clearly stated that the concept of God according to Islam is different from the concept of God according to other religions. The method used by the writer is descriptive and analytical. In this case, Badi'uzzaman has a perspective on the concept of God. God, according to Badi'uzzaman, is one immanent and radiates his light into the universe, thus creating the greatness of the universe and its contents, which is often called Tauhīd. Nursi understands monotheism as the basis of ideology and epistemology viewing the universe. So, Nursi's concept of divinity emphasizes the monotheistic aspect, in contrast to the esoteric and exoteric sides.

Christian mystical experience in the panorama of transformations of non-classical ontologies of being-in-time

Trajectories of intersection and divergence between philosophical and religiously mystical versions of the ontology of being-in-time are studied in the article. It is concluded that the soul is constituted in qualitatively different time than “I”. If the soul is the junction of times, then “I” lives in the place of time breaking. The exit from time to eternity is preceded by the transformation of temporality by the junction of time in the modus of the present. In mystical traditions, such a transformation can be carried out in opposite directions: both the expansion of the present and the compression of the moment. A paradoxical roll-call is stated between the experience of the present in Christian mysticism and the theme of the present in non-classical philosophy. They agree that “I” can stay in the modus of the present not with his own efforts, but only in co-existence – joint existence. In Christian experience, this is the co-existence of synergy with God. In modern post-philosophy, God is replaced by the figure of the Other. Implications of such a substitution are being investigated. The uniqueness of the Christian version of the relation between time and eternity is seen in the provision on the gradation of qualitatively different times: both “timeless time” and “creature eternity”.

Jesus and Spirituality: Reading the Fourth Gospel in the Light of the Indian Culture

The Gospel of John is considered as one of the significant literary masterpieces that appeals to Indian spirituality and ideals in multifarious ways. The Gospel has unique features as a universalistic rhetoric that encompasses feelings and aspirations of Indians. The character of Jesus in the Gospel and His assimilative power to contemporary realities reverberate the situational aspects of Indian communities. In the current article, first of all, an attempt is made to explore the character of Jesus and the impression of the Johannine spirituality in relation to Indian realities. We also attempt to place the Fourth Gospel in Indian context in order to derive an interpretative dynamism that takes into account both the Jesus of John and the diverse religious and cultural aspects of today’s context. The character of Jesus and the spirituality reflected in John have much in common with the mystical traditions of the Indian religions.

The Picture of Language in Seeing the Nature of God in Kabbalah and Tantra

In this paper I aim to show how a meaningful correlation can be made between the two mystical traditions of Kabbalah and Tantra by drawing upon ideas from the philosophy of art and aesthetics, especially as it relates to the intersection of images and words. A common leitmotif is that both of these traditions nominate a perception of God which through its manifold expression can be realized as a work of art. It represents a creative response to envisioning or “seeing” the divine realm, one that is renderable by the artist-writer on the material support of the enunciation. As an intentional account of his experiential consciousness of being with God, the artifact is aesthetically designed for the edification of the reader. A comparative connection between the two traditions can be found in this depictive and linguistic endeavor.

Something Out of Nothing

This chapter argues that it’s possible for something to be brought into existence by something that is non-actual. Segal distinguishes his argument from arguments for causation by omission, and draws a comparison between his argument and Zeno causation. Finally, he connects the topic to Jewish mystical traditions.

Echoes of Eriugena in the Old English Boethius

This article identifies a passage from Eriugena’s Periphyseon as a source for an interpolation in the Old English Boethius. The interpolation introduces an unambiguous reference to the Neoplatonic idea of reditus, the return of all created creatures to God. This is not the first such evidence of Neoplatonic ideas in Old English texts and the article explores the significance of this new identification as further evidence for the presence of eastern mystical traditions in early English monastic and courtly circles, challenging the idea that English mysticism began in the Middle English period.

The material and the ideal in the context of typology of the world`s mystical doctrines

The phenomenon of mysticism is one of the most controversial issues in modern humanities. We still lack generally accepted typology for mystical traditions of the world. The paper studies the issue of correlation between material and ideal beings, which constituted the basis of the most common typology of mystical doctrines. The research of mystical traditions, formed in Christianity, Islam and Buddhism is carried out on the basis of the comparative analysis methodology. The author comes to the conclusion that one may trace two stages in the mysticism’s development. The first one, ascetic, which favors the conflict-based opposition of spirit and matter, calls for renouncing the material and caring for it. At a later stage, the need to overcome the dualism of the spiritual and the material matures within the mystical teachings. There are two possible ways of development depending on the perception of the Absolute reality. Only the path of unification of “created” and “uncreated being” is possible in Christianity and Islam, which are based on the idea of the transcendental Absolute. In Christianity, it is achieved through the concepts of “deification of the flesh” (Orthodox Hesychasm) and “unity in Christ” (Catholic mysticism of love), and in Islam with the help of the “doctrine of love” (Sufism). Therefore integrative mystical traditions arise in transcendental and immanent mysticism. The basis of Buddhism is the idea of an immanent Absolute, which embodies the Integrity of being. In this way the holistic mystical traditions of Mahayana and Vajrayana are developed in the immanent mysticism. Thus, the mystical phenomenon has a historical measurement and its development must be considered in the context of evolution of a spiritual life of mankind.

Responses to Critics: What Makes Mysticism Critical? (Or, What Makes Critique Mystical?)

After summarizing the content of my book, Kant and Mysticism (Palmquist 2019), I warn against four preliminary misconceptions. The book never argues that Kant viewed himself as a mystic, fully acknowledges Kant’s negative view of mysticism, offers no comprehensive overview of mystical traditions, and aims to initiate a dialogue, not to have the final word. I then respond to the foregoing essays by the five critics.

Classifications of Knowledge in Classical Islamic Mysticism: from Eastern Sufi Sources to the Writings of Muḥyī l-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabī

The following article aims at analyzing various classifications of knowledge that are found in the literature of classical Islamic mysticism. The discussion focuses on two main corpora: Sufi writings, composed in the central and eastern parts of the Islamic world, and works by the Andalusī mystics or theosophists Ibn Masarra (d. 319/931), Ibn Barraǧān (d. 536/1141), Ibn Qasī (d. 546/1151), and Muḥyī l-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabī (d. 638/1240). The article examines the discrepancies between the Eastern-Sufi and Andalusī taxonomies of knowledge, in an attempt to highlight the typological differences between these two mystical traditions of classical Sunnī Islam.

Qur’anic Ethics

Qur’anic ethics stands at the centre of Muslim exegesis of the Qur’an both in the past and the present. The belief exists that the Qur’an recommends crucial teachings for the good life that, in turn, serve as means of salvation in the afterlife. Dīn, one of the key ideas used in the revelation vouchsafed to the Prophet Muḥammad, carries with it the resonance of righteousness. Although the word dīn is translated as ‘religion’ in modern times, to the first listeners of the revelation it had a normative resonance related to human conduct. An overlapping semiotic framework provides for a nuanced and at times detailed ethical outline of practices in the Qur’an. Some attempts were made in the past to flesh out a Qur’an-based ethics, but it did not reach fruition. All Muslim ethicists would, of course, insist that the Qur’an forms the basis of their ethical deliberations. What some mean by a Qur’anic ethics is the centrality of Qur’anic teachings to the study of ethics while all other considerations ought to be deemed secondary. This is not how ethics unfolded in Islam historically speaking, for often Greek and mystical traditions of the ethical overlapped with those teachings derived from the Qur’an. In modern times this effort to find an exclusively Qur’an-based ethics was again attempted with mixed success or perhaps should be viewed as a work-in-progress.