The Soul in the Afterlife: Individual Eschatological Beliefs in Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism and Islam

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The Soul in the Afterlife: Individual Eschatological Beliefs in Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism and Islam The Soul in the Afterlife: Individual Eschatological Beliefs in Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism and Islam Thesis in order to acquire the Doctoral Degree in Philisophy at the Faculty of Humanities of the George-August-Universität Göttingen submitted by Arash Emadinia From Isfahan (Iran) Göttingen 2017 1 “… and who believe in the Revelation sent to thee, and sent before thy time, and (their hearts) have the assurance of the Hereafter. They are in (true) guidance, from their Lord, and it is thess who will prosper” (Qurʾān 2:4) “Say: ‘o People of the Book! Come to common terms as between us and you...” (Qurʾān 3:64) 2 „Hiermit versichere ich, dass ich die vorliegende Dissertation selbstständig angefertigt habe und dass ich keine anderen als die angegebenen Quellen und Hilfsmittel benutzt habe. Des Weiteren versichere ich, dass anderweitig keine entsprechende Promotion beantragt wurde und hierbei die eingereichte Dissertation oder Teile daraus vorgelegt worden sind.“ Arash Emadinia 3 Abstract The expectation that the soul continues life after leaving the material body is one of the important features of several Middle East religions. These religions state that the fate of the soul depends on the principles of right and wrong behaviours – ‘morality’ – and the quality of the true or false opinions – ‘beliefs’ – that a belief system recognises for the salvation of individuals. This system is generally called ‘moral eschatology’. These eschatological beliefs are not created in vacuum. This means that they can be influenced by the beliefs that they confront through their history and can be affected by other beliefs in their neighbourhood. Comparison with other religions reveals resemblances between different eschatological beliefs. These resemblances are generally explained by such terms as ‘borrowing’ or ‘syncretism’ which may implicitly deny the ‘independent’ status of individual religions. This may happen because the terms ‘borrowing’ and ‘syncretism’ suggest that the borrowed features have been adopted in their original form without being adapted to the ‘borrowing’ belief system. The similarities between faith systems categorised under the same religious groups, like Abrahamic religions, seem easy to explain, but some remarkable resemblances between religions that have different backgrounds and histories, like Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism and Islam, need to be explained. These three belief systems bear resemblances in spite of their different backgrounds and origin. They confronted one another in late antique times in a distinct geographical area which is called Sasanian Iran, that is to say, modern Iran and Mesopotamia, mainly modern Iraq. The most important sources of these religions were compiled in late antique times, between the 3rd and 11th centuries CE. These sources sometimes bear similar ideas like the continuation of the life of the soul, the soul-taker (life-taker), interrogation, embodiment of deeds in the Afterlife, Paradise, Hell and an intermediate state between Paradise and Hell etc., that need to be explained. The resemblances between these three faith systems are here partially by adapting a linguistic theory which is called ‘Sprachbund,. This theory states that the resemblances between languages could be due to three reasons: 1. Genetic retention or original ideas; 2. Parallel development; and 3. Borrowing. According to this theory, when two or more languages share significant traits that are not found in languages from the same families spoken outside the geographical area in which these languages have confronted one another, a ‘Sprachbund’ has been formed. When we refer to religions with different histories and background, but with similar eschatological ideas, like Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism and Islam, it seems that this theory may help us to explain the resemblances. As mentioned above, all these three belief systems have different backgrounds: Zoroastrianism with an Indo-Iranian background, Islam, one of the so called Abrahamic religions, and Mandaeism, a religion with gnostic roots or pagan origin. At first sight, it seems that in late antique times, both Mandaeism and Islam ‘borrowed’ some of the Iranian eschatological beliefs, apparently Zoroastrian beliefs, after confronting each other in Sasanian Iran. However, the term ‘borrowing’ may implicitly deny the ‘independent’ status of both Mandaeism and Islam. It may be more acceptable to say that both Mandaeism and Islam accepted some of the Zoroastrian individual eschatological beliefs, in such a way that they all achieve or serve the Islamic and gnostic overall world view and beliefs. Apparently, in late antique times in Sasanian Iran, the idea of ‘high existence’ or ‘Life beyond’ material life was introduced to the Arab and gnostic communities, and was accepted by their thinkers. However, this acceptance was conducted in such a way as to achieve their own purposes. 4 It seems that the inspiration drawn from Iranian (Zoroastrian) ideas like the idea of ‘Barzakh’ (high existence or life beyond) continued after the advent of Islam, when the Arab conquerors were confronted more directly with Zoroastrians, especially through the conversion of Zoroastrians to the new faith by. Some typical Zoroastrian ideas like the embodiment of deeds (Daēnā) and the Zoroastrian idea of the intermediate stage between Paradise and Hell (Hammistagān) may be good examples of this. It should be noted that both being ‘inspired by’ and ‘accepting’ the new ideas were in accordance with the maintenance of their Islamic or gnostic natural features, so we see that in spite of the acceptance of some new ideas by Arab and gnostic thinkers the dominant features of both belief systems have been maintained. With regard to the theory of ‘Sprachbund,’ we can conclude that that Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism and Islam formed a ‘Religionbund’ through which they share a number of remarkable individual eschatological beliefs. Key terms: Middle East religions, soul, morality, beliefs, moral eschatology, borrowing, syncretism, inspiration, independent status, Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism, Islam, Sasanian Iran, Indo-Iranian, Abrahamic religion, gnostic, Sprachbund, Barzakh, interrogation, embodiment of deeds, Daēnā, Hammistagān, Religionbund 5 Abstrakt Die Erwartung, dass die Seele nach dem Verlassen des materiellen Körpers weiterlebt, ist eines der wichtigen Merkmale mehrerer Nahost-Religionen. Diese Religionen behaupten, dass das Schicksal der Seele von den Prinzipien des rechten und des falschen Verhaltens abhängt – ‚Moral‘ - und der Qualität der wahren oder falschen Meinungen – „Glauben“ -, dass ein Glaubenssystem für die Rettung von Individuen ausschlaggebend ist. Dieses System wird allgemein als ‚moralische Eschatologie‘ bezeichnet. Diese eschatologischen Überzeugungen entstehen nicht in einem Vakuum. Das bedeutet, dass sie von solchen Überzeugungen beeinflusst werden können, mit denen sie durch ihre Geschichte konfrontiert sind, und von anderen Überzeugungen in ihrer Nachbarschaft betroffen sein können. Der Vergleich mit anderen Religionen zeigt Ähnlichkeiten verschiedener eschatologischer Überzeugungen. Diese Ähnlichkeiten werden in der Regel durch Begriffe wie ‚Kreditaufnahme‘ oder ‚Synkretismus‘ erklärt, die implizit den ‚unabhängigen‘ Status einzelner Religionen infrage stellen können. Dazu kann es kommen, da die Begriffe „Entleihung“ und ‚Synkretismus‘ darauf hindeuten, dass die entlehnten Merkmale in ihrer ursprünglichen Form angenommen wurden, ohne an das Glaubenssystem des ‚Kreditnehmers‘ angepasst worden zu sein. Die Ähnlichkeiten zwischen Glaubenssystemen, die unter eine religiöse Gruppe wie etwa die abrahamitischen Religionen fallen, scheinen sich leicht erklären zu lassen. Einige bemerkenswerte Ähnlichkeiten zwischen Religionen, die unterschiedliche Hintergründe und Geschichten haben, wie Zoroastrismus, Mandäismus und Islam, müssen jedoch erklärt werden. Diese drei Glaubenssysteme weisen trotz ihrer unterschiedlichen Herkunft Ähnlichkeiten auf. Sie trafen in spätantiken Zeiten in einem ausgedehnten geographischen Gebiet aufeinander, dem so genannten sassanidischen Iran, der die Fläche des modernen Iran und Mesopotamiens, vor allem aber die des modernen Irak umfasste. Die wichtigsten Quellen dieser Religionen wurden in spätantiken Zeiten, zwischen dem 3. und 11. Jahrhundert CE zusammengestellt. Diese Quellen beinhalten teilweise ähnliche Vorstellungen (wie beispielsweise die Fortsetzung des Seelenlebens, die eines Seelenempfängers, der Befragung, der Verkörperung der Taten im Jenseits, des Paradieses, der Hölle und eines Zwischenzustandes zwischen Paradies und Hölle usw.), die erklärt werden müssen. Die Ähnlichkeiten zwischen diesen drei Glaubenssystemen sind hier teilweise auf die Anpassung einer sprachlichen Theorie, die als ‚Sprachbund‘ bezeichnet wird, zurückzuführen. Diese Theorie besagt, dass die Ähnlichkeiten zwischen den Sprachen aus drei Gründen bestehen könnten: 1. Genetische Retention oder originelle Ideen; 2. Parallelentwicklung; und 3. Entleihung. Dieser Theorie zufolge wurde ein "Sprachbund" gebildet, wenn zwei oder mehr Sprachen signifikante Merkmale teilen, die nicht in Sprachen aus denselben Familien vorkommen, die außerhalb des geografischen Gebiets gesprochen werden, in dem sich diese Sprachen zusammentreffen. Wenn wir auf Religionen mit unterschiedlichen Geschichten und Hintergründen, aber mit ähnlichen eschatologischen Ideen wie Zoroastrismus, Mandäismus und Islam verweisen, so scheint es, dass diese Theorie uns dabei helfen kann, die Ähnlichkeiten zu erklären. Wie oben
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