Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Alireza Ale Boyeh ¹
• Ali Bahari ²
• Seyyed Mahmoud Mousavi ³

¹ Assistant professor of the Islamic Sciences and Culture Academy, Iran

² PhD student in Philosophy of Religion, Baqirul Uloom University Qom, Iran

³ Philosophy and Kalam, Philosophy and Ethics, Bagheral Uloom University, Qom, Iran

Abstract

The hiddenness of God is a new challenge in the philosophy of religion. In short, the believers of this view say that if there is a god, he should not hide himself from the eyes of humans and should be clear in such a way that humans can communicate with him. If God exists and guides mankind, why hasn't He hidden Himself from the eyes of humans or at least given more signs of His presence to humans? Is it not possible for us to have more proofs of the existence and presence of God as well as the truth of religious propositions so that no one can claim that he has sought to find the truth of religion and has not succeeded? Couldn't it be possible for us to have options such as seeing purgatory, communication with the souls after death, and talking with religious leaders in a wider way than now, so that our religious doubts disappear and our certainty increases? How can "divine concealment" be combined with his guidance? Is it possible to combine the two and not fall into the trap of conflict? In this article, the conflict between God's guidance and His disappearance is examined in a descriptive and analytical way, and to solve the problem of His disappearance, His guidance is interpreted as "necessary" and "possible".

Keywords

• Divine concealment
• God'
• s guidance
• belief in God
• existence of God
• atheism