Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

The Mystery of Life

This book is corrected and edited by Al-Hassanain (p) Institue for Islamic Heritage and Thought

• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Recognition in the Domain of Thoughts
• The Possibility of Recognition
• The Devices and Tools for Discovery and Gaining Knowledge
• The Importance of Adjusting and Refining the Senses
• The Factors that Influence Recognition and Identification
• The Process of Recognition
• Different Forms of Knowledge and Recognition
• Supreme Forms of Knowledge
• The Various Forms of Practical Relationship between the Mind and the Phenomenon to be discovered 
• The Activities of the Mind
• Various Relationships between the Mind and the Subject
• The Relationship between the Mind and the Observable Facts in Discovery
• The Relationship between the “Self” and “Other than the “Self” in Cognition 
• Pillar 1: The “Self” and the Factors that Influence the Process of Gaining Knowledge
• Pillar 2: Other than the Self, or the Realities about the Universe
• A Criticism of Idealism
• Responding to a Point of Criticism
• From Science to Philosophy: A Look Inside
• The Definition of Science
• The Levels of Science
• Factors that Make Man Seek Science
• Scientific Laws
• The Definitions of Philosophy
• The Principles of Philosophical Systems
• The Criterion for a Subject Being Scientific or Philosophical
• A Scholar's Philosophical Rise
• The Essence of Supernatural Knowledge
• The Analytical Method or the Combination Method?
• The Differences between Science and Philosophy
• The Classification of Philosophy
• The Advantages of the Collaboration between Science and Philosophy
• The Humanities
• The Philosophy of Science and the Humanities
• Philosophical Doubt
• Science and Philosophy in Intelligible Life
• Anthropology: A New Scope
• Theories on Human Nature
• The Human Nature in the Qur’an
• Human Characteristics
• Human Nature
• Man's Internal Potentials
• Interpreting Opposite Potentials
• The Identity of the “Self” (the “ Ego” )
• Self-assessment
• Taking Oneself Seriously
• Good Intentions for the Self
• Self-alienation
• 1. Negative Self-alienation
• 2. Positive Self-alienation
• The Qualities of Existence Dependent upon the Self
• Finding the Roots of Man's Weaknesses
• Conscience
• The Definition of Conscience
• A Scientific and Philosophical Study of Conscience
• The Criticism on the Originality of the Conscience
• The Importance of Conscience
• The Characteristics and Consequences of Conscience
• The Relationship between Recognizing Oneself and Recognizing God
• Man's Four Relationships
• Spiritual Moderation
• The Relativity of Spiritual Moderation
• Spiritual Expansion and Contraction
• The Relativity of Spiritual Expansion
• The Basic Origin of Spiritual Expansion and Contraction
• Conscious and Unconscious Expansions and Contractions
• The Expansion and Contraction of the Divine Conscience
• The Consequences of Expansions and Contractions
• The Reasons Why Anthropology Has Failed
• The Problems with Contemporary Psychology
• Life: The Hows and Whys
• Asking about the Philosophy of Life
• Motives for Asking about the Aim of Life
• The Necessity of Recognizing the Ultimate Aim of Life
• Various Viewpoints on the Aim of Life
• The Aim of Life as Seen in the Holy Qur’an
• The Characteristics of an Objective Life
• The Six Kinds of Life
• Education: The Basics
• The four principles of education are
• Principle 1: The Fundamentals of Education
• The goals of education are
• The Basics of Education
• Principle 2: The Teacher and the Trainer
• Principle 3: The Student and the Trainee
• Factors Resisting Education
• Principle 4: The Contents of Education
• How Do Cultures Evolve?
• The Four Principles of Culture
• Two Different Forms of Culture
• Two Aspects of Culture
• Diversity of Cultures
• Acquiring Cultures
• Factors that Can Preserve Cultures
• Why Cultural Elements Lose Their Harmony
• Can Culture Undergo Evolution?
• The Fundamentals of Western Culture
• Man and the Universe: What Should Man Do? 
• Knowledge of the Universe by means of the Seven Factors
• Perceiving the Universe by means of the Seven Aspects
• Changing by means of the Seven Aspects
• Changing Others by means of the Seven Aspects
• The “What There Should Be” and “What There Is” System  
• The Relationship between Values and Scientific Research
• The Relationship between “What There Should Be” and “What There Is”
• An Analysis of the Relationship between “What There Should Be” and “What There Is”
• The Relationship between “What There Should Be” and “What There Is” in the Qur’an 
• The Relationship between Ideology and World-view
• What Is Ideology?
• What Is World-view?
• Life, Rising Up
• The Factors that Can Elevate Man's Evolutionary Life
• Intelligible Life, the Fundamental Domain
• The Definition of Intelligible Life
• The Role of Wisdom in an intelligible Life
• The Feasibility of an intelligible Life
• A Closer Look at the Aspects of Intelligible Life
• Man and Freedoms
• The Right to Freedom and the Right to Free Will
• The Classifications of Freedom
• In the Society: From Economics to Politics
• Work
• The Definition of Work
• The Value of Work
• The Domains of the Value of Work
• Various Kinds and Aspects of Human Work
• The Relationship between Work and Human Life
• Values
• Ownership
• The Natural Roots of Ownership
• The Limitation of Personal Ownership
• Unity among People
• The Various Forms of Unity
• Differences among People
• The Various Forms of Unity
• Social Order and Cooperation
• The Principles of Social Order and Cooperation
• Power and Right
• Power in the hands of selfish man
• Power in developed man
• A Study of History
• What Is the Philosophy of History?
• Causality in History
• Is History Motivated Internally or Externally?
• Is There a Single Motivating Reason for History?
• The Necessity of Distinguishing the Necessary Factors from the Determining Factors in History 
• Various Viewpoints on the Factors Motivating History
• Does History Advance on an Evolutionary Path?
• Civilizations: The Principles and the Presumptions
• The Difference between Civilization and Culture
• What Elevates a Civilization
• The Basic Reasons Why Civilizations Fall
• The Unconditional Philosophical Principles of Civilizations
• Principle One: The Self-love of Life
• Principle Two: The Economy
• Principle Three: Free Will and Freedom
• Principle Four: Stagnant Civilizations Gradually Deteriorate
• Principle Five: The Law of Causality
• Conditional Philosophical Principles in Civilizations
• The Relationships between Civilizations
• Men and Women: A Serious Study
• The Identity of Men and Women
• Theoretical Wisdom in Men and Women
• Men and Women in the Family
• Three Issues Concerning the Differences between Men and Women
• Inequality of Men and Woman Testifying
• God: From Seeking God to Faith in God 
• The History of Belief in God
• Void of Reasons for Defying God
• Classifying People based on Their Belief in God
• Factors Inhibiting Obvious Recognition of God
• Essentiality Reasoning
• Faith
• The Necessity of Faith
• Man's Mental States during Worship
• Is Religion a Personal Matter?
• The Origins of Defying Divine Commandments
• Devotion
• The Characteristics of Valuable Devotion
• Having God in Mind
• The Conditions for Calling and Remembering God
• Divine Justice
• The Rule of Kind Favors
• The Consequences of the Rule of Kind Favors
• The Relationship between God and His Creatures
• The Relationship between God and His Creatures in the Qur’an
• Fatalism and Free Will: Which Is the Truth? 
• The Characteristics of Will
• The Difference between Tendency and Will
• The Difference between Will and Determination
• The Quanta of Will
• Is the Will Free?
• The Levels of Free Will
• The Three Fundamental Principles in Proving Free Will
• The Steps toward Making Free Will-based Actions Come True
• Two Kinds of Will, Decision and Supervision in Actions based on Free Will
• A Look at Human Rights
• Seven reasons have been presented for the compilation of the Human Rights. We will now comment on some of them
• The Reasons and Motives for Setting Human Rights in Islam
• The Ad Valorem Theorems in the Human Rights Declaration
• The Points in Common between the Western and Islamic Views on the Human Rights
• A Brief Study of the Qur’an
• What is the Qur’an?
• The Qur’an: A Miracle
• How God's Divine Beauty Can Be Recognized
• The Divinity of the Qur’an
• 1. The Sense of Absolute Dominance and Control
• 2. The Void of Contradiction in Qur’anic Verses
• Thought and Reasoning in the Qur’an
• How the Qur’an Sees the Universe: Carefully Calculated
• The Stories in the Qur’an
• The Rise and Fall of Cultures and Civilizations
• Fear of God as Seen in the Qur’an
• Forget Judgment Day, and There Will Be No Good or Bad
• The Universe on Judgment Day
• The Necessity of Knowing the Qur’an
• The Qur’an and Creation
• The Book of Justice and Fairness
• The Book of No Contradictions
• The Qur’an, the Book that Confirms and Verifies Prophets
• The Qur’an, the Panacea for Mankind's Pains
• The Qur’an, The Book for Mankind
• Positive Mysticism
• The Characteristics of Positive Mysticism
• The Characteristics of Negative Mysticism
• The Ecstatic
• The Conditions and Obstacles on the Path of Mystic Endeavor
• Mysticism and the Four Relationships
• Mystics and the Order and Harmony of Life
• Mysticism, Work and Effort
• Mysticism and Power
• Mysticism and Politics
• Mysticism and the Society
• Mysticism, Wisdom and Science
• Mysticism and Jihad
• Criticizing Nonsense
• Religion, Rule of Life, and the Truth
• Mystic Change
• Arts and Aesthetics
• Four Various Viewpoints on Art
• The Philosophical Viewpoint on Art
• Pursuant Art, Pioneer Art
• Modernism in Art
• Artists
• Various Types of Beauty
• The Truth about Beauties
• The Virtually Internal Pole of Beauties
• The Virtually External Pole of Beauties
• The Differences between Observable Beauty and Intelligible Beauty
• The Definition of Beauty
• What Does Whitehead Tell Us? A Critique of a Book 
• The History of Ideas
• Philosophy and the Truth
• The Laws of Nature
• God
• Religion
• Defying the Ultimate Reason
• Man
• Moral Ethics
• Freedom
• Art
• Human Civilizations
• Islam