The mystical agnosticism of Nafari

Abstract

The aim of this research is to show that Al-Nafari is a unique mystic in the history of Islamic mysticism, which differed from the general trend prevailing among Muslim mystics, whose spiritual experiences are based on two main bases:

The first is: the mystical path towards divinity in order to find a kind of relationship with it on the basis of union to varying degrees between the servant and his Lord.

The second is: confirming the existence of the Absolute or the Deity at the end of this path, and determining the type of relationship that has been concluded, whether it is solutions, unity of witnesses, unity of existence or absolute unity.

But Al-Nafari, as the research tried to prove, did not accept a clear Sufi path and did not end up confirming any kind of union, and this could be considered a unique agnostic position in the history of Islamic mysticism.

The research has tended to reveal the nature of this mystical agnosticism according to Al_Nafari, based on the investigation of his method of dealing with the concept of truth, as the truth in general is in the horizon of religious experience in general and Sufism in particular, it must be absolutely fixed in order to establish the certainty that is the mainstay of the religious and mystical experiences, but Surprisingly, the research also revealed that

Al_Nafari was against the stability of the concept of truth, and therefor he was not a supporter of certainty, and this means that he represents a special case within the mystical experience, and therefor the research sought to interpret his texts from this new perspective.