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Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute
Abstract:   (18 Views)
The mystics' perspective on the ineffability of the Divine Essence has been interpreted in two ways: some have considered the "Essence qua Essence" (dhāt bi-mā hiya dhāt) as transcendent beyond any attribute or description, regarding all descriptions of the Essence as referring to the "Essence according to its determinations" (dhāt bi-ḥasab al-taʿayyunāt). Others have claimed that the "Essence in respect of its absoluteness" (dhāt bi-liḥāẓ maqām al-iṭlāq) only rejects the attributes of conditioned entities (muqayyadāt), and that describing it with absolute attributes whose content involves no restriction, limitation, deficiency, or descent for the station of absoluteness is valid. More precisely, absoluteness itself as a divisive category (maqsam) has attributes that do not pertain to any of the determinations and conditioned entities, whether unconditional in a particular sense (lā bi-sharṭ qismī), conditional upon negation (bi-sharṭ lā), or conditional upon something (bi-sharṭ shayʾ). Naturally, these attributes are absolute attributes qua absolute, not absolute attributes qua determined. In this paper, using an analytical-descriptive method, we have evaluated the evidence for the second interpretation and demonstrated that this interpretation is neither consistent with the words of the mystics nor correct in itself.
Article number: 7
     
Type of Study: Research | Subject: عرفان
Received: 2024/05/13 | Accepted: 2024/09/10

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