A Critical Analysis of Spiritual Humanism as the Anthropological Basis of Separating Spirituality from Religion with Emphasis on the Works of Allameh Tabatabaei

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Graduated in Education Teacher Training, Department of Theoretical Foundations, University of Tehran and instructor of the Department of Education, Isfahan University of Technology, Golpayegan Technical Engineering Campus, Isfahan, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Mysticism and Religions, Iranian Institute of Hikmat and Philosophy, Tehran, Iran.

3 Professor, Department of Education Treacher Training, Department of Theoretical Foundations, Faculty of Education and Islamic Thought, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

One of the most important anthropological bases of separating spirituality from religion is humanism, which puts man in the place of God and does not accept any external authority such as revelation and divine religions. This basis, which also results in spiritual humanism, has its roots in the concept of monism, in which spirituality is defined as something completely worldly and universal, with the lack of distinction between material and spiritual affairs and with the monotheism of the Supreme God and the inner God, there is no difference between the visible and the unseen world, the holy and the unholy, and things such as self-divinity, changing the value system, and negating the unseen world are among its possible consequences. This study, using an analytical-critical method and relying on library data, is trying to criticize this basis with an emphasis on the works of Allameh Tabatabaei. The spiritual journey and the achievement of original and genuine spirituality and dignity in the works of Allameh Tabatabaei, who is an interpreter of the Qur'an and Islamic teachings, is only achieved in the shadow of recognition and acknowledgment of the poverty and dependence of human existence on its creator and continuous communication with him in the form of servitude and having piety. Therefore, man's independence from God and his turning away from divine revelation and heavenly religions will have no result other than the absence of his original identity and being trapped in the valley of alienation. Of course, true spirituality and spiritual life will also be formed with such an idea.

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