Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Hosein Rahnamaei
• Azim Abedini

Faculty member, University of Kashan/Department of Islamic Education

Abstract

This article examines and compares the place and characteristics of reason in the philosophical-mystical school of Advaita Vedanta and Islamic mysticism. In this research, by using the library research method, while studying related philosophical and mystical texts, the points of view of the two schools about reason and its role in mystical behavior have been extracted. The findings of the research show that in both mystical traditions, reason plays an important role in knowing the absolute truth, but this ultimate truth is beyond the perceptive power of the human intellect. Therefore, both schools place limits on reason. Both traditions consider self-cultivation along with intellectual development to be necessary to achieve a deep understanding and direct experience of the ultimate truth. Of course, the two schools, have important basic differences in the definition of the ultimate truth and the type of its unity with the world. Also, in the role of divine revelation in the discovery of ultimate knowledge, the point that the ultimate goal of Islamic mysticism is brought up under the title of annihilation or nearness to God. But in Advaita Vedanta, is to get rid of the cycle of reincarnation and realize the unity of Atman with Brahman.