نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
عنوان مقاله English
نویسندگان English
Plato’s theory of the “chariot of the soul” and his doctrine of the soul’s rebirth, especially as presented in the Phaedrus, constitute one of the most prominent philosophical formulations of reincarnation in the ancient Greek tradition. According to this view, the soul existed prior to the emergence of the material body and, after death, may return in other human or animal forms—a cycle that continues until reaching the realm of Forms. This article, adopting a hadith-theological perspective and an analytical-comparative method, critically examines this Platonic view in relation to three foundational concepts in Imami theology: bodily resurrection (maʿād jismānī), barzakh, and rajʿa. It explores the scope of their ontological divergences and differing eschatological purposes. The findings demonstrate that the Platonic conception of cyclical rebirth is incompatible with Imami theological principles, including the simultaneity of soul and body creation, the exclusivity of worldly life to a single experience, the denial of return to the world after death, and the necessity of both bodily and spiritual resurrection. Furthermore, in Imami thought, barzakh is a linear, forward-moving stage leading to the Day of Judgment, not a realm for choice or repeated existence; and rajʿa is an exceptional, limited occurrence for a specific group, fundamentally distinct from philosophical reincarnation. The innovation of this study lies in its documented critique of the reincarnational reading of Plato’s “chariot of the soul,” achieved through simultaneous engagement with ancient philosophical analysis and authoritative Imami texts. It also offers a comprehensive conceptual framework for distinguishing clearly between philosophical reincarnation, Imami barzakh, and rajʿa—a framework that can enrich comparative studies between Western philosophy and Islamic theology and prevent conceptual conflation in this domain.
کلیدواژهها English
