The kernel of religion and religiousness from Islamic mysticism’s viewpoint

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Abstract

The kernel of religion and religiousness« is a philosophical and theological issue that emerged in the west during Renaissance. Two theories of “religious experience” and “philosophia perennis” are very important in this realm. The kernel of Religion, on the basis of the former, is an experience that causes the owner of it to be considered as a religious man, and the husk of religion consist of a set of doctrines or beliefs which is not needed when the kernel is reached. Religion, according to the latter, consist of two realms: exoteric and esoteric. The esoteric domain of it is the Unity that manifests within the human in the form of philosophia perennis; and the husk, according to this theory, is a set of traditional doctrines that lead the human beings to the kernel. In the Islamic Mysticism, religion is a unique truth that is of three manifestations: exoteric, esoteric, and the most esoteric. The esoteric domain of religion, according to the Islamic Mysticism, is the Oneness of Being and the kernel of religion and the exoteric manifestations, although considered as the husk, are the tenuity of the esoteric truth, ergo never are receptacle of evanescence.

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