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The Spiritual Journey is of pivotal importance to Sufis. Various mystics have conceived of this journey in different ways. For one early Sufi, al-H&dotbelow;akim al-Tirmidhi, this journey is conceived as an inward one through the concentric circles of the Heart. The focus of this thesis is on Tirmidhi's maqamat al-qalb, the "Stations of the Heart" as described in his work the Bayan al-Farq Bayn al-S&dotbelow;adr wa al-Qalb wa al-Fu'ad wa al-Lubb (The Elucidation of the Differences Between the Chest, the Heart, the Inner Heart, and the Intellect). To appraise Tirmidhi's elucidation, the discussion begins with a mentioning of the concept of the Heart in the Near East before Islam (in the Ancient Egyptian, Hindu, and Jewish traditions) and Tirmidhi's Muslim precursors and contemporaries who also dealt with this topic. / Explication of the Bayan al-Farq itself is centered on the text itself, which follows an initial discussion of the usage of the terms s&dotbelow;adr, qalb, fu'ad, and lubb in the Arabic language as well as a discussion of how the terms are used in the Qur'an. / Central to the subject matter of the Bayan al-Farq is not only Tirmidhi's elucidation of the differences between these layers of the Heart, but also his concepts of light and knowledge ( nur and ma'rifat).

The question of perception constitutes one of the most complex and important sections of philosophical psychology. Unlike the Intellectual perception (al-idrak al-$ sp{c}aql bar i)$, which met with more or less agreement among philosophers, particular perceptions (al-idrakat al-juz'iyah) and more specifically, sensory (al-idrak al-hissi) and imaginal perception (al-idrak al-khayali) were felt to be problematic. How do these kinds of perception occur and what is their reality? Is there any difference between particular and universal perceptions? This study deals with these problems from the standpoint of Sadr al-Din al-Shirazi (Mulla Sadra), one of the greatest Islamic philosophers in the 16th and 17th century, whose work in this field is barely known. Comparing Mulla Sadra's contribution with that of his predecessors from both the Peripatetic and Illuminationist Schools, namely Ibn Sina and al-Suhrawardi this thesis attempts to explain what Mulla Sadra has offered as new ideas and new analyses in this regard. "The immateriality of perception," "unification of the subject and the object" and "the role of the soul in particular perception" are the main issues that are dealt with in this thesis.

By examining first the life and works of Muhammad ibn Murtada al-Fayd al-Kashani (1007/1598-1091/1680), we hope this will serve as an introduction to some of his viewpoints. We will consider his theories of muraqabat al-nafs (self-supervision) and muhasabat al-nafs (self-accounting) as expounded in his book al-Mahajjah al-Bayda', which was written as a work to enhance Ihya' al-'Ulum by al-Ghazali, (450/1058-505/1111) from a Shi'ah perspective. We will also compare the views of al-Fayd and al-Ghazali as expressed in their respective books. / Self-supervision and self-accounting are two main terms of ethical terminology that enjoy a rich history in Islamic philosophy. Al-Fayd's views on the subject, as a philosopher and an ethicist of the School of Isfahan are studied in this work. The sources of al-Ghazali and al-Fayd are discussed, and differences between the approaches of al-Fayd and al-Ghazali are also covered.

Sadr al-Din Qunavi (605/1207-673AH/1274 CE)--stepson and pupil of Ibn $ rm sp{c}$Arabi (d. 638 AH/1240 CE)--played a pivotal role in the development of Islamic intellectual history. His contributions in the medieval period helped alter the course of mystico-philosophical tradition, which was then flourishing from Asia Minor and Persia to the major learning centers of the Arabic-speaking world. His importance was largely due to the complex mystical doctrine he expounded in the light of Ibn Sina's critique of knowledge. The age-old dilemma of knowledge was encapsulated in a famous declaration by Ibn Sina--the rationalist philosopher--who asserted that man is incapable of knowing intellectually "the realities of things," let alone the First Being. This did not imply that the realities were either unknowable in every sense, or that they did not exist. The question is in what sense and how are they knowable? It was Ibn Sina's special calling, Qunavi argued, to show the proper role and scope of reason in this quest. Philosophical knowledge may be represented chiefly through demonstrative logic, the only paradigm available to Ibn Sina. Qunavi on the other hand, set out to develop an exegetical grammar more suited to the movements of spiritual dialogue and paradox. For him, an intellectual knowledge of the "realities," in essence, rested on the relation between two distinct realities (subject and object). Yet all agreed that God's knowledge of Himself was the root of all knowledge. It had to transform utterly the distinction between the two realities. God's self-revelation is furthermore an unfolding book divulged through the infinite possibilities of linguistic construction. Mysticism's technical vocabulary had, therefore, to distinguish itself from, though without displacing, the bare skeleton of demonstrative logic.

The primary purpose of this thesis is to offer an approach to building a culture of leadership based on the Prophet Muhammad's teaching of love in Islamic schools. Since people are strongly motivated by values they deeply adhere to, the paradigms used as rationale for this study embody views of leaders as motivators and values transformation as their main task. The thesis holds the view that the Prophet Muhammad's teaching of love needs to be cultivated in an Islamic school community. The thesis presents discussion on transrational values as the contributing factor to this view, and the main argument centres on the discussions of the Prophet Muhammad's teaching of love and its applications in developing a culture of leadership in Islamic schools.

This study undertakes two major issues concerning the authenticity of Nahj al-Balaghah, namely, the compilation and composition of the book. Shii scholars, with almost no exception, have credited the compilation of Nahj al-Balaghah to al-Sharif al-Radi In contrast, Sunni scholars and Orientalists hold different opinions about the matter. The early scholars among Sunnis and their western counterparts mostly credited Murtada with Nahj al-Balaghah, while later scholars generally vacillate between the two brothers. This study attempts to resolve misconceptions concerning the compilation of the book. It also suggests that in all probability Radi is the compiler while there is hardly any evidence to credit Murtada. / The problem of the composition of Nahj al-Balaghah, namely, the attribution of its contents to Ali ibn Abi Talib is more problematic. Unlike the Sunni scholars, the Shiis believe that the contents of the book represent Alis discourses. This thesis examines the most important arguments of both opponents and proponents of the authenticity of Nahj al-Balaghah and suggests that since a large portion of the book is present in the earlier sources, the generalization of some Sunni scholars in doubting the entire book cannot be sustained. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Human cognitive development is a matter of interest for different disciplines among which are philosophical epistemology and cognitive psychology. Shi razi (Mulla Sadra), a Muslim philosopher, deals, among other issues, with the problem of human cognitive development through his 'Irfani -philosophical methodology on the basis of the principles of his philosophy. These principles are the principality and gradation, tashki k, of existence and substantial motion through which Shi razi relates cognitive development to the existential progress of the human being. Piaget from the Western tradition of cognitive psychology focuses his work on the problem of human cognitive development, investigating the issue through a semi-experimental methodology and interpreting his findings on the basis of the principles of genetic epistemology, namely, the analogy between cognitive and physical organisms in terms of assimilation, accommodation and equilibrium. These two perspectives are studied and compared in this thesis with respect to their underlying principles, their scopes and methodologies. Finally, a multi-disciplinary approach is proposed for the study of human cognitive development.

This thesis represents the result of a close study of the early Arabic sources concerning the long and violent conflict between Muhammad and the three Jewish tribes of Medina: the B. Qaynuqa, B. al-Nadir and B. Qurayzah. It is discovered that in his actions against these tribes the Prophet was not acting from a simple anti-Jewish bias but in order to protect himself and his community from these potentially very dangerous centers of opposition. Thus the elimination of the Jewish tribes from the oasis is the result of Muhammad's efforts to break up centers of opposition and thereby make secure his own community. In his long struggle with the Jewish tribes Muhammad skillfully isolated the three tribes--from each other as well as from their Arab allies-- and eliminated their dangerous presence one by one, beginning with the weakest of the three tribes. The justifications set forth by Muhammad for actions against the Jews are almost without exception political in nature (although the Jewish opposition was primarily religious in nature), and redress was usually called for under the traditional tribal law. On the rare occasions when the tribal law would not support his actions, Muhammad used revelation as justification.

This dissertation addresses the relationship between modern art in Iraq and the region’s antique past, particularly as it was constituted through archaeological, artistic, museological, and critical developments within the context of Iraqi cultural nationalism. I argue that Iraqi modern artists in the last four decades of the twentieth century harnessed the iconographic, symbolic, and aesthetic tropes associated with ancient Mesopotamia in service to the larger project of participating in and contributing to a locally constructed modality of modern time. Although it is generally acknowledged that modern Iraqi artists drew from an adopted antiquity, the intellectual utilization of “Mesopotamia” as an aesthetic and historical category within the context of modern art formation and assertion has not been adequately explored for significance and meaning. In a series of three case studies, I explore the modern category of “Mesopotamia” as it was employed in the aesthetic, stylistic, and narratological practices of three Iraqi artists – Mohammed Ghani Hikmat (1929-2011), Dia al-Azzawi (b. 1939), and Faisel Laibi Sahi (b.1947). These artists – representing three successive generations – are emblematic of the primary ways Iraqi artists of the latter half of the twentieth century sought a relationship with an ancient past that not only exemplified provocative and enduring artforms, but also civilizational achievement and resilience. Furthermore, their practices point to a new understanding of modern time that was taking shape in the discursive structures of Iraqi art beginning in the 1960s. The artists that occupy the pages of this study engaged a vision of time that moved away from the linear models of European historicism and embraced a localized perception of temporality that was shaped by spatial paradigms of coexistence wherein civilizational categories operated on the coterminous plane of heterochronicity. This marks a shift wherein claims of contemporaneity, a self-conscious positioning of Iraqi modernism on a parallel trajectory with European modernism, gave way to an exploration of internal temporal relationships that allowed for synchronic interactions with history even within diachronic narratives of progress. Each case study operates within individual spheres of interpretation whilst also sharing broader characteristics of analysis. In the hands of my chosen artists, time became a medium of expression and antiquity became the formal and subjective substance of that expression. My study utilizes theories of time coupled with various methods of visual deconstruction to investigate this claim. Part One considers the career of sculptor Mohammed Ghani Hikmat by reading his relief sculptures and their preparatory sketches through the lens of narrative space-time, examining the artist’s techniques of visual storytelling to determine how his use of ancient sculptural models created heterochronic spaces of encounter. Part Two takes an archaeological and geological perspective of time, as one that is simultaneous, stratified, and rooted in the land, to think about the print works of Dia al-Azzawi within the intertwined contexts of art, antiquity, and oil. Part Three reflects on the affective artistic production of Faisel Laibi Sahi by identifying his use of ancient iconography as a mechanism whereby he heightens the emotive address of his paintings and drawings. In all three studies, I employ iconographic and semiotic methodologies to perform detailed visual analyses of a wide range of artworks. Additionally, I survey a cache of archival documents that elucidate various discursive spaces in the Iraqi modern intellectual milieu to ascertain attitudes toward antiquity and its role in contemporary cultural spheres. Thus, this dissertation pulls multiple strands of time, modernity, and visuality together to investigate the ways Iraqi modern artists transformed the notion of “Mesopotamia” into a viable aesthetic and a powerful representational model.