The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1603 page)

(1571–1640 (AH 979–1050)).
Shi‘ite philosopher. During his life, there was contest between those who did and did not want a philosophized account of
Shi‘a
Islam. Mull
adra was clearly of the former, achieving a profound reconciliation of Islam with Aristotelianism and
gnostic
systems—though as a result he underwent periods of forced and voluntary exile. In …
al-Asf
r al-Arba‘ah
(The Four Journeys), he described the process by which a spiritual journey can be made back to the Source without becoming fused with it:

(i) detachment from the world and the body;
(ii) penetration of the divine names (and attributes) of the
Qur’
n
;
(iii) 
fan
'
(annihilation of one's own attributes as a self-possessed individual); and
(iv) the return in utter independence (because wholly dependent on God) to bring guidance to others (
jalwah
)

.

 
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(1823–1900).
Historian of religions and pioneer of the comparative study of religions. His main interest was in Indian religions, and after translations of
Hitopade
a
(see
PAÑCATANTRA
) and
Kalidasa's
Meghaduta
, he moved to Oxford where he became professor of comparative philology, and where he remained for the rest of his life. He was a prolific author, with interests ranging from the production of both editions and translations of Eastern religious texts (he edited the series
Sacred Books of the East
, 1879–94, and began the series
Sacred Books of the Buddhists
in 1895) to arguments about the origins of religion and mythology. In his view, mythology began in the human sense of the overpowering might of natural phenomena (hence the name for those who followed his views, ‘nature mythology’), with these powers early being personified and deified. He held that religion is the human capacity to perceive the infinite, and that all religions consequently contain to some degree the eternal truths of belief in God, in the immortality of the soul, and in a future retribution.

 
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(Pañj
b
, ‘basic sacred formula’). Concentrated and essential Sikh teaching, one of the first compositions of Gur
N
nak
, which is placed at the head of the Gur
Granth S
hib (
di Granth
), preceding even the
Japj
. It contains the essence of Sikh theology.