نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
عنوان مقاله English
نویسندگان English
The relationship between reason and revelation, and the delineation of the proper domain of each, has always been one of the fundamental challenges in the history of Islamic theology, prompting various theological schools to engage with it intensely. Within this broader context, Imami theology, in the course of its historical development, underwent a complex and eventful transition from early interactive models toward more sophisticated systems of reasoning; analyzing this process of transition reveals the internal dynamics of this school of thought.Using a historical-analytical genealogical method, this study seeks to answer the following central question: what paradigmatic transformations did the epistemological status and relationship of reason and revelation in Imami theology undergo over the course of its development from the era of the early scholars to the School of Ḥilla?The findings of the study show that Imami theological thought was initially grounded in a model of the “interwovenness of reason and revelation” — derived from the approach of ithārah (stimulating or eliciting) and tanbīh (awakening or admonition) — in which revelation was regarded as the catalyst and educator of reason. The first rupture emerged with al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā’s theoretical shift in defining reason as “necessary knowledge,” whereby reason became inclined toward a more self-sufficient foundation. This tendency later led — especially in the views of Ḥimṣī al-Rāzī — to the logical problem of circularity and infinite regress in the proof of prophethood.Finally, Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī, by introducing a functional distinction between “instruction” (taʿlīm) and “admonition/awakening” (tanbīh), transformed the epistemological structure of theology into a linear, two-stage chain. This not only resolved the crisis of circular reasoning in theological argumentation, but also established the paradigm of the “methodological autonomy of reason,” while preserving the authority of revelation, and in doing so paved the way for a closer synthesis between theology and philosophy.
کلیدواژهها English
