Repudiation of Philosophical and Irfani (Mystical) Fundamentals in Imam Riza (Salaam Be Upon Him)’s Monotheistic Teachings Part 1

Repudiation of Philosophical and Irfani (Mystical) Fundamentals in Imam Riza (Salaam Be Upon Him)’s Monotheistic Teachings

Part 1

 

By: Mahdi Nasiri

 

As reported by the reporter of Aayin and Andishe of Fars News Agency, Mahdi Nasiri- a criticizer of philosophy and the Editor in chief of the Semat Quarterly- has written a note on the occasion of the Martyrdom anniversary of Thaamin al Hojaj [the eighth Divine Proof, Imam Riza] (Salaam Be Upon Him) and given it to Fars News:

 

On the martyrdom anniversary of the tenth Infallible Divine Hojjat and the eighth Divine Khaliphah [Allah Chosen Successor] after the Prophet (Salaam Be Upon Him & His Progeny)- Hazrat Ali ibn Musa al Riza (Thousands of Praises & Salaams Be Upon Him)- we cry rightfully on his state of being oppressed, poisoned and martyred by the poison of cruelty and enmity of Ma’moon Abbasi, while away from his home. But it is necessary in these days to remember that Infallible Imam’s and the other Imams’ even more heart-rending state of being oppressed, suppressed and isolated, and that is the deprival of the Ummah [nation of Islam] of receiving the limpid and Revelational Knowledge of these Infallible Hojaj and Bearers of Pouring Knowledge, by the conspiracies of the bani-Umayya and bani-Abbas.

 

[Bani Umayya and bani Abbas were two evil dynasties- after the first usurpers, i.e. AbuBakr and ‘Umar- deviating Islam from its Divine Straight Path; for more information regarding Umayya and his descendants we refer readers to the article “The Najran Pact, Mobaahelah (Mubahilah)” in this site, kindfather.com (reminding that the comments in brackets are as usual by the site kindfather.com)]

 

The bani Umayya and bani Abbas- by establishing false intellectual and cultural streams and by coinage of forged coins of wisdom and intellectuality- obstructed the spread of the True intellectuality and Hikmat [wisdom …] through starting the translating movement of Greek philosophical and mystical texts and in short, through the founding of the Greek Bayt of Hikmat [House of Wisdom] against the Prophet (SBUH&HP)’s Bayt of Etrat [the AhlulBayt (SBUT)].

 

This fact- that today the ideas and thoughts of Aristotle, Plato and Plotinus have even penetrated into the Shi’a world and so have waned the intellectual, reasoned and wise Knowledge of the Ahl-al-Bayt (Salaam be Upon Them) in the fields of Tawhid [Monotheism] and other principles of belief- is the result of that very same Umayyad and Abbasid conspiracy. Thus in these days it is appropriate to cry not only for the oppression imposed on the noble bodies of our Imams but also for the suppression and isolation imposed upon  their limpid and Divine Knowledge and teachings, and to seek to revive and promote these teachings and Knowledge as much as possible.   

 

In this limited talk and time, we seek to point to that part of Imam Riza (Salaam Be Upon Him)’s teachings which are related to the rejection of philosophical and mystical fundamentals and thoughts and expresses the separate path of the AhlulBayt’s school of thought from the school of Greek philosophy and mysticism regarding the important and fundamental issues of Tawhid and Ma’refat of [knowing] Allah.  Obviously, expatiating upon it, should be left to other opportunities.

 

[A very important historically proven fact to ponder about is the sad fact that Shaytaan (Satan) has established a sunnah to try to destroy the True teachings of Prophets (SBUT). The first step of his dark sunnah has been that after each Prophet he targeted the Allah Chosen Successors of that Prophet to a point that they were forsaken and killed by the followers of Shaytaan. In this site (kindfather.com) we have presented many articles showing that Allah has always appointed Successors after Prophets and in every case satanic usurpers have usurped the Divinely bestowed position of God Chosen Successors; we refer readers to articles such as: “Ghadir, from creation to eternity”, “Wilayat of Mohammad and AhlulBayt (SBUT), From creation to eternity”, “AhlulBayt (Salaam Be Upon Them, SBUT), the Promise of Enjil (Gospel)”, “Truth behind other so-called Christian occasions” and … .

 

As the direct result of the usurpation of the position of Divine Successors the Pure Knowledge of Prophets- protected and interpreted by their God Appointed Successors- was forsaken. And that has exactly been the next step of Shaytaan’s dark sunnah; i.e. when humankind- misled by Sheytaan- decided to disobey and abandon Prophets and their Successors (SBUT) and disregard their Pure Divine teachings, a dark vacuum of knowledge- i.e. in regard to the Pure Divine Knowledge- was created; thus humankind- directed by Shaytaan- gradually filled the vacuum with human thoughts, myths, philosophies, mysticism, Gnosticism, personal desires and … and in this manner the inauspicious doors to distortions, self interpretations and … of the Word of God were opened, and ignorantly these distorted words and interpretations have been called as: divine knowledge; which in reality is merely impure human knowledge based on fallible human’s’ worldly desires and thoughts, while the True and Pure Divine Knowledge is that which is taught by Allah Himself to His Chosen and Infallible Prophets and their Successors, Anbiya and Awsiya (SBUT).

 

Let us now look at a few samples of documented proofs showing that the Pure Knowledge of the Prophets Moses and Jesus and their Successors (SBUT) have been replaced with philosophy, mysticism, Gnosticism and … and as the direct result the Pure and authentic monotheistic teachings of these Prophets have been distorted:

 

As cited in the English Wikipedia Encyclopedia: “Contemporary scholarship suggests that various schools of Jewish esotericism arose at different periods of Jewish history, each reflecting not only prior forms of mysticism, but also the intellectual and cultural milieu of that historical period.”

 

“… Kabbalah [Jewish mysticism …] teaches doctrines that are accepted by some Jews as the true meaning of Judaism while other Jews have rejected these doctrines as heretical and antithetical to Judaism. After the Medieval Kabbalah, and especially after its 16th century development and synthesis, Kabbalah replaced "Hakira" (Jewish philosophy) as the mainstream traditional Jewish theology, both in scholarly circles and in the popular imagination …” (Megillah 14a, Shir HaShirim Rabbah 4:22, Ruth Rabbah 1:2, Aryeh Kaplan Jewish Meditation: A Practical Guide pp.44–48)

 

“Medieval Kabbalists believed that all things are linked to God through these emanations, making all levels in creation part of one great, gradually descending chain of being. Through this any lower creation reflects its particular characteristics in Supernal Divinity. Hasidic thought extends the Divine immanence of Kabbalah by holding that God is all that really exists, all else being completely undifferentiated from God's perspective. This view can be defined as monistic panentheism. According to this philosophy, God's existence is higher than anything that this world can express, yet he includes all things of this world within his Divine reality in perfect unity, so that the Creation effected no change in him at all. This paradox is dealt with at length in Chabad texts.” (Wineberg, Yosef; Lessons in Tanya: The Tanya of R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi (5 volume set). Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, 1998.chs. 20–21, as cited in the English Wikipedia)

 

“Light is the foundation upon which rests the superstructure of the Kabbalistic theosophy. Light is the source and center of the entire harmonious system. Light was the first-born of God -- His first manifestation of Himself in the universe.” (Jewish Alchemy: Cabala and the Alchemy of Light. S. Pancoast)

 

As observed the teachings of Moses (Moosa), Aaron (Haaroon) and other Successors  (SBUT) were gradually replaced with different man defined philosophies, mysticism and … to a point that “God is all that really exists, all else being completely undifferentiated from God's perspective … God's existence is higher than anything that this world can express, yet he includes all things of this world within his Divine reality in perfect unity.”

 

This means that God is the only thing that exists and every thing in the world are  emanations of God and therefore of substance of God; i.e. every thing have been “brought forth” from His Essence and thus nothing but Him (like a drop of water from an ocean, the substance of both is the same water)! Such concepts in so called Islamic philosophy and irfan are called Wahdat al wujood wal mawjood (unity of existence of God with all things …).

 

Now let us look at christianity:

 

One of the earliest heresies to arise in the Christian church was Gnosticism, “All his [bishop Irenaeus’s] known writings are devoted to the conflict with the Gnostics. His principal work consists of five books in a work entitled Adversus haereses. Originally written in Greek about 180, Against Heresies …” (Saint Irenaeus, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.)

 

Dr. Elaine “Pagels wrote the book, The Gnostic Paul. This book expounds the theory that Paul the Apostle was a source for Gnosticism whose influence on the direction of the early Christian church was great …She follows the well-known thesis that Walter Bauer first put forth in 1934 and argues that the Christian church was founded in a society espousing a number of contradictory viewpoints. As a movement Gnosticism was not very coherent … Pagels is the main notable modern advocate for a connection between Buddhism and the third and fourth Century Christian sects which were called "Gnostics" by early Christian heresiologists … Some scholars, such as Edward Conze and Elaine Pagels, have suggested that gnosticism blends teachings such as those attributed to Jesus Christ with teachings found in Eastern traditions. Conze has suggested that Hindu or Buddhist tradition may well have influenced Gnosticism. He points out that Buddhists were in contact with the Thomas Christians.” (English Wikipedia Encyclopedia)

 

Here let us stop for a second and ponder about this Qur’anic verse addressing jews and christians:

 

Qur’an 9:30 … they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!

 

We shall continue this footnote by kindfather.com in the next part of this writing … 

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