الرهبانية المسيحية والتصوف الإسلامي و تاثيرهما على الجوانب المختلفة للحياة الإنسانية: دراسة تحليلية من منظور إسلامي

Abstract

 Impact of Christian Monasticism and Islamic Mysticism on Various Aspects of Human Life: An Analysis from Islamic Perspective

The science of Islamic belief "علم العقيدة" has been considered as most significant disciplines among different branches of knowledge as it played an essential, rather cardinal role in human life. This scholarly work intends to look into development of Monasticism in Christianity and Mysticism in Islam in different phases and its impact upon human life. Qualitative and descriptive research methodology has been applied for analysis of data. The research has particularly addressed four noteworthy aspects of the theme: firstly, Historical development of Monasticism in Christianity, secondly; Development of monastic tendencies in Islamic mysticism thirdly; Reflections of Monasticism upon various aspects of human life, and finally; Analysis of Monasticism in the light of Quran and Sunnah. The review of literature disclosed that monasticism is one of the main contributions of Christianity which later on influenced Islamic mysticism. Through centuries of contact it has left an immense influence upon Muslim societies which has changed the real picture of Islam. In the beginning, it was considered the source of self-purification but unfortunately lately it has developed into more mundane phenomenon. Recently it has been utilized as a source of income for spiritual masters and has produced complex mixture of superstitions for the community. Despite of that it has been argued that the real form of Mysticism could not be overlooked thus the Islamic mysticism has been divided into three categories by Muslim scholars: legislated (شرعي), heresy (بدعي), and infidelity (كفري). In this short paper the main focus will be on the impact of Christian monasticism on Islamic Sufism in general and that of Islamic Sufism on social life in particular.