Transcendent Philosophy: An International Journal For Comparative Philosophy And Mysticism
Volume 26 Number 37
December 2025
Articles in This Issue
The Relationship between Ethics and Islamic Jurisprudence from the Perspective of Philosophy of Religion
Author(s): Seyed Salman Safavi – London Academy of Iranian Studies
Published: December 2025, Pages: 9-36
Type: Article
Open Access
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The relationship between ethics and Islamic jurisprudence is one of the important topics of Islamic studies today. This article analyses this relationship. Jurisprudence and ethics have a complex and intertwined relationship in Islamic thought. Jurists disagree about the centrality of ethics in Sharīʿa (Islamic Law) as a criterion for deducing religious rulings. Religious rulings often include moral values but are not always directly morally based. The main goal of Sharīʿa is the realisation of justice and moral virtue, so ethics should be considered a basic criterion for deducing jurisprudential rulings. The hadith of the Prophet Muhammad: "I was sent to perfect good morals." (al-Ṭabrisī, 1153/1408 AH, vol. 10, p. 500) proves the necessity of the central ethics of religious rulings. In traditional jurisprudence, moral values are not always the direct criterion for deducing rulings. However, in modern schools of jurisprudence such as "objectives-based Islamic jurisprudence" (fiqh al-maqāṣidī) and “cause-based Islamic jurisprudence” (fiqh al-taʿlīlī) (moral values are recognised as an important criterion in ijtihād. These approaches try to harmonise jurisprudence with Sharīʿa's goals and the time's requirements and regulate the rulings to achieve a ruling that is beneficial to society and eliminate corruption. The most important moral principle in deducing jurisprudential rulings is the principle of justice, which is the main axis of the goals of the Sharīʿa and the general spirit of Islamic rulings. The balance between jurisprudential rulings and moral values requires a deep understanding of the social context and purposes of the Sharīʿa. This view emphasises that human dignity, justice, and intrinsic human rights can be a solid basis for the rulings of civilisation-building jurisprudence in today's world.
Alienation and the Quest for Meaning
Author(s): Samuel Bendeck Sotillos – _
Published: December 2025, Pages: 37-64
Type: Article
Open Access
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The widespread estrangement felt by human beings in the present day has led to what has been called an “epidemic of loneliness.” Although a plethora of studies have explored this theme in an attempt to address the problem, effective solutions have proved elusive. Some will no doubt claim that alienation has always been with us, yet what we are witnessing right now is on a scale that is arguably unprecedented. The vacuum created by the loss of connection to a transcendent reality has directly contributed to the dissolution of society, family, and personal relationships. If we broaden the scope of this phenomenon to include metaphysical and cosmological factors, we can better understand the mental health consequences of loneliness as stemming from the spiritual crisis of the modern world, and the corresponding loss of meaning in people’s lives. In order to heal the trauma of secularism, which has led to the burgeoning loneliness and alienation we see today, we need to go to the root of this affliction by offering a radical response that is grounded in the sacred and its manifestations in humanity’s spiritual traditions. In exploring this phenomenon, a metaphysical framework has been adopted to help illuminate this serious affliction.
Ḥāfeẓ: “The Protector of Friendship”(حافظِ دوستی)
Author(s): Seyyed Shahabeddin Mesbahi – Majd Institute, Shiraz, Iran
Published: December 2025, Pages: 65-84
Type: Article
Open Access
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This brief note explores the perspective and methodological approach of the eminent fourteenth-century Persian poet, Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfeẓ of Shirāz, with a particular focus on his conceptualization of “friendship” and, by extension, the paradigms of “peace and conflict resolution” as situated within his broader intellectual corpus. The author contends that the foundational lexicon of Ḥāfeẓ’s Divān constitutes an integrated constellation of interrelated concepts which collectively articulate his overarching worldview—one fundamentally predicated upon the principle of “true friendship.”(doostī-ye rāstīn).
Philosophers and their Philosophies
Author(s): William Morris – Next Century Foundation, United Kingdom
Published: December 2025, Pages: 85-127
Type: Article
Open Access
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This essay journeys through the minds of philosophers past and present, seeking the wisdom most useful for a world losing its moral and spiritual bearings. Beginning with modern thinkers — from MacIntyre’s moral virtues and Chomsky’s political realism to Nussbaum’s human dignity and Žižek’s existential atheism — the work sets a contemporary baseline before turning to earlier masters such as al-Farabi, Kant, Kierkegaard, Gibran, Descartes, and Safavi. Each is examined not merely as a historical figure but as a living conversation partner, their insights weighed against the demands of today’s fractured world. The essay argues that the philosopher’s task is not abstract speculation but moral navigation — finding an ethical compass that reconciles freedom with responsibility, justice with mercy, and intellect with love. After a broad comparison, the author concludes that the teachings of Seyed Salman Safavi, whose synthesis of Sufi spirituality and philosophical reasoning places mercy, unity, and self-transformation at the heart of moral life, and Søren Kierkegaard, whose insistence on subjective truth, faith, and the courage of possibility restores dignity to the human spirit, together offer the most complete response to the confusion of modern times. The message is clear: philosophy’s true purpose is not to win arguments but to heal the human spirit — to bring order, compassion, and meaning to a world adrift in chaos.
From Nihilism to Meaning: “Bridging Viktor Frankl’s Existential Work with Christianity and Sufi Mysticism for Intercultural Dialogue and Geopolitical Peacebuilding.”
Author(s): Paul Gutteridge – Honorary Fellow, Edward Cadbury Centre, University of Birmingham
Published: December 2025, Pages: 128-145
Type: Article
Open Access
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Existential nihilism, marked by a profound crisis of meaning, increasingly characterises contemporary many Western societies. This can manifest as individual despair, social fragmentation, and geopolitical tension. This essay integrates Viktor Frankl’s existential psychology (Logotherapy) with insights from Christianity and Islamic Sufi mysticism, to address nihilism effectively. I build upon Carl Jung’s symbolic spirituality, Alfred Adler’s community-focused psychology to Frankl’s existential work. I aim to demonstrate how Frankl’s framework uniquely integrates psychological rigour with spiritual meaning. Mystical traditions from Christian and Sufi practices—particularly contemplative prayer and dhikr—can add to Frankl’s existential approach, viewing suffering as transformative rather than meaningless. The essay centres on a dialogue between Frankl’s existential therapy and the teachings of Sufi thinkers like Rumi and Al-Ghazali. Drawing on my background, I suggest that such existential-spiritual engagement offers vital tools for fostering understanding, social cohesion, and peacebuilding. Abraham Kuyper’s helpful concept of sphere sovereignty and recent findings on rising Church attendance among young adults in the UK, highlight possible responses to nihilism. I suggest practical pathways for contemporary psychotherapy, interfaith understanding, diplomatic engagement, and community resilience - advocating for talks grounded in shared human experiences of meaning, transcendence, compassion, and unity.
Mystic Archetypes and Modern Minds: Nietzsche, Jung, and the Dionysian Path to the Übermensch
Author(s): Sara Saeidi – SOAS, University of London
Published: December 2025, Pages: 146-159
Type: Article
Open Access
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This paper investigates the convergence of mysticism, archetypal psychology, and tragic philosophy through a comparative analysis of Friedrich Nietzsche and Carl Gustav Jung. Focusing on Dionysus as a central mythic archetype, it examines how Nietzsche’s notion of ecstatic becoming and existential rupture resonates with Jung’s concept of the mystic archetype, in which ego dissolution facilitates individuation and the attainment of psychic wholeness. Drawing on Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy and Thus Spoke Zarathustra, alongside Jung’s Psychology and Alchemy, the study explores the transformative roles of madness, suffering, and symbolic death in the mystical journey. Two primary questions guide the inquiry: To what extent can mysticism, traditionally framed as a religious phenomenon, be reconceptualized as a universal psychological and existential process? And how do Nietzsche’s Dionysian intensity and Jung’s process of individuation illuminate this contemporary understanding of mysticism? The analysis identifies structural correspondences between these secular perspectives and classical mystical traditions, including Sufism and Christian mysticism, emphasizing shared motifs of ego death, symbolic rebirth, and union with a greater reality. By framing mysticism as a symbolic and psychological architecture rather than exclusively a theological construct, the study positions it as a vital lens for apprehending the human drive toward meaning, integration, and transformation. Ultimately, the paper contends that Nietzsche and Jung reclaim mysticism as a profoundly human endeavour, wherein myth, psyche, and existential insight converge, not in pursuit of religious orthodoxy, but in the quest for authenticity and wholeness in the modern world.
The Influence of the Mystical Teachings of Nahj al-Balagha on the Existential Philosophy of Mulla Sadra: A Comparative Study
Author(s): Abolfazl Minaee – Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran
Published: December 2025, Pages: 160-195
Type: Article
Open Access
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This study undertakes a profound exploration of the mystical teachings of Nahj al-Balagha, attributed to Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib, and their transformative influence on the existential philosophy of Mulla Sadra, the architect of hikmat al-muta’aliya (transcendent philosophy). Through an exhaustive comparative textual analysis, it examines core mystical concepts in Nahj al-Balagha—including tawhid (unity of existence), fana (annihilation of the self), suluk (spiritual journey), and tazkiya (ethical purification)—and their resonance with Mulla Sadra’s metaphysical doctrines, such as harakat al-jawhariyyah (substantial motion), tashkik al-wujud (gradation of existence), nafs al-kamilah (perfect self), and his epistemology of mystical intuition (kashf). Drawing on 34 authoritative sources, encompassing classical Islamic texts, Persian and Arabic scholarly works, and contemporary interpretations by luminaries like Allama Tabataba’i, Ayatollah Javadi Amoli, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and William Chittick, this study elucidates points of convergence, divergence, and influence. The analysis reveals that Nahj al-Balagha’s mystical insights provided a spiritual and intellectual foundation for Mulla Sadra’s synthesis of rational philosophy, theological doctrine, and mystical intuition, profoundly enriching Islamic metaphysics. This dialogue not only bridges spiritual and philosophical discourses but also offers enduring insights into existential questions of being, selfhood, divine unity, and ethical practice, with significant implications for contemporary philosophical, theological, and interfaith discourse.
Languages of the Self: Convergences in Approaches of Ibn ‘Arabī and Abhinavgupta
Author(s): Muhammad Maroof Shah – Department of Sheep Husbandry, Kashmir
Published: December 2025, Pages: 196-219
Type: Article
Open Access
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This paper argues that Śaivism and Sufism, when approached through their mystical–metaphysical dimensions, transcend exclusivist theological boundaries and reveal a profound convergence of insight. Drawing on the metaphysical frameworks of Abhinavagupta and Ibn ʿArabī, it examines key notions such as Infinity, All-Possibility, Divine Relativity, and Māyā to uncover a shared vision of transcendental unity underlying their doctrinal diversity. The study shows that a properly metaphysical interpretation of these principles clarifies the Śaiva understanding of manifestation, divine self-limitation, and the problem of evil, while harmonizing apparently conflicting dualist, monotheist, and non-dualist readings. By recovering the traditional metaphysical foundations common to both traditions, the paper underscores the need for a comprehensive comparative study of Abhinavagupta and Ibn ʿArabī to illuminate the evolution of the Rishi–Sufi synthesis in Kashmir.
The Concept of Identity in Allameh Tabataba’i and Søren Kierkegaard
Author(s): Maryam Bayat – Ph.D. Student, Department of Philosophy of Education, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran, Mohammad Najafi – Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy of Education, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran, Sayed Mahdi Imam – Associate Professor, Department of Islamic Philosophy and Theology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran
Published: December 2025, Pages: 220-245
Type: Article
Open Access
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Identity has been a central theme in both Islamic philosophy and Western existential thought, though articulated through different conceptual frameworks. This article undertakes a comparative analysis of the notion of identity in the philosophy of Allameh Muhammad Husayn Tabataba’i (1903–1981), a leading contemporary Shiʿi philosopher, and Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855), the Danish existentialist thinker. Drawing upon Tabataba’i’s seminal works—Bidāyat al-Ḥikma, Nihāyat al-Ḥikma, and Risālat al-Wilāya—the study explores how identity is rooted in metaphysical dependence on God, emphasizing the inherent poverty (faqr dhātī) of human existence and the path toward self-realization through divine proximity. In contrast, Kierkegaard’s writings—particularly The Sickness Unto Death and Fear and Trembling—present identity as an existential task of becoming a self before God, where despair and anxiety serve as stages toward authentic existence. Through a systematic comparative methodology, the article highlights convergences between Tabataba’i’s metaphysical ontology and Kierkegaard’s existential theology, while also underscoring their divergences in epistemology, anthropology, and soteriology. The findings suggest that both thinkers envision true identity as inseparable from the divine, yet articulate distinct philosophical paths: one through metaphysical gradation of being, the other through existential faith and individual subjectivity. This dialogue not only deepens the understanding of Islamic and Western approaches to identity but also opens new possibilities for contemporary comparative philosophy and interfaith discourse.
A Comparative Analysis of Ibn Sina and Plato’s Views on Love and its Relation with Beauty
Author(s): Shamsolmolok Mostafavi – Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Published: December 2025, Pages: 246-265
Type: Article
Open Access
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Throughout the history of philosophy, many thinkers have reflected deeply on the nature of love, and some have achieved remarkable insights. Plato, the renowned Greek philosopher, regarded the pursuit of the truth of love and its relation to beauty as a divine mission for philosophers. In his view, love is the desire for eternity, manifested in various levels of longing — from the lover’s attraction to the beloved, to the appreciation of beauty that progresses from the tangible to the rational, and ultimately to absolute beauty, which is the very essence of truth. In comparison, Ibn Sina, the Peripatetic philosopher, in his Risala fi al-‘Ishq (Treatise on Love), considered love a natural inclination of all beings toward what is good and beautiful. For him, love also exists in levels, the highest of which connects with the supreme level of being — God, the Almighty, who is the manifestation of goodness and beauty. This paper compares the perspectives of these two great thinkers on love and its relationship with beauty. It demonstrates that sublime truths reveal themselves to sincere seekers in similar forms, where speech becomes so unified that implication and statement may replace one another.
Discourse Analysis of Luqmān the Wise in the Works of Saʿdī of Shiraz
Author(s): Sayyed Sadr al-Din Safavi – London Academy of Iranian Studies
Published: December 2025, Pages: 266-295
Type: Article
Open Access
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This article examines the representation of Luqmān the Wise in the works of Saʿdī of Shiraz through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The main objective is to demonstrate how Saʿdī employs the character of Luqmān as a medium for conveying moral and educational concepts, as well as for social critique. The analysis focuses on three dimensions: narrative structure, power relations, and linguistic strategies. In this context, the concept of ḥikma (“wisdom”) goes beyond mere knowledge: it encompasses insight, experience, and the proper application of knowledge for the attainment of virtue and human flourishing. The study concludes that Saʿdī skilfully employs Luqmān as an ideological subject to promote practical ethics, critique power relations, and create a discursive balance between Sharīʿa and Sufism. In Saʿdī’s works, Luqmān is not merely a historical figure, but a living legend through which an ethics of resistance against tyranny and materialism is continually rearticulated. This discourse analysis thus uncovers the hidden layers of power, ideology, and resistance within Saʿdī’s writings.
Book Review: Samuel Bendeck Sotillos (2025). Psyche and the Sacred: Integrating Mental Health and Spiritual Well-Being. Boulder, CO: Sentient Publications. ISBN: 978-1-59181-350-7.
Author(s): Elnaz Zahed, Psychotherapist – _
Published: December 2025, Pages: 296-306
Type: Book Review
Open Access
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This review examines Samuel Bendeck Sotillos’s Psyche and the Sacred: Integrating Mental Health and Spiritual Well-Being (2025), a wide-ranging critique of the epistemological foundations of modern psychology and a sustained argument for recovering what the author calls a perennial “science of the soul.” Sotillos contends that contemporary psychology, shaped by Enlightenment secularism, scientism, and the dominance of biomedical and diagnostic paradigms, has severed itself from its original concern with the psyche as soul. The book draws extensively on the wisdom of Christian mysticism, Sufi metaphysics, Vedāntic philosophy, Buddhist psychology, and Indigenous cosmologies to demonstrate that the integration of mental health and spiritual well-being is not a novel innovation but a restoration of an older, cross-cultural anthropology. The review highlights the book’s interdisciplinary and clinical relevance, especially its critique of the DSM/ICD frameworks, its reframing of the Enneagram and entheogenic practices within sacred traditions, and its challenge to the prevailing focus on symptom reduction at the expense of meaning and transcendence. It also notes limitations such as the book’s composite structure, thematic repetition, and lack of engagement with empirical outcome research in spiritually integrated psychotherapy. Nevertheless, Sotillos’s work is positioned as an important intervention in current debates on the decolonisation of psychology, the ethics of psychedelic therapies, and the need to recover metaphysical depth in therapeutic practice. The review argues that Psyche and the Sacred deserves the attention of clinicians, scholars of religion and psychology, and educators seeking to cultivate culturally and spiritually responsive approaches to mental-health care.