Document Type : Original Article
Author
shahid beheshti univercity
Abstract
Religious tolerance is a significant issue among western thinkers, due to the widespread immigration and subsequently the subject of multicultural societies formation. They pay attention to the political, epistemological, moral and legal foundations of religious tolerance, especially the approval of equality of religions principle and the need to observe human ethics and protect the civil rights of all existing religions’ followers. Raising this issue in the Middle-East -whose people are currently suffering from terrorism, violence and bloody wars under the pretext of religious differences- is more necessary than in any other part of the world. There are valuable experiences in Islamic mysticism for the realization of multicultural societies free from violence and a peaceful life for people with different beliefs together, which can be considered as an effective pattern. Among Muslim mystics, Rumi has exhibited the highest level of religious tolerance in both theoretical and practical terms. In this article, Rumi's tolerant thought and practice is studied with regard to their political, social, epistemological and moral principles. In order to reduce the scope of religious conflict and sectarian strife of his time such as the Crusades and the sectarian wars of the five Islamic religions that pervaded their world at the time, Rumi as a great thinker introduced the idea of tolerance, forbearance and patience. Also to achieve that political goal, he stressed epistemological principles, including the principle of equality of monotheistic religions, the right of all followers of different religions, and the need to observe the principle of human morality and in practice, he treated all followers of monotheistic religions with affection and tolerance. Among the four political, epistemological, moral and legal foundations in Rumi's works, despite the relatively comprehensive investigation we conducted, we did not find any evidence of his speech and behavior that is based on a legal principle.
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