چكيده لاتين
Soteriology is one of the central themes in religions, reflecting humanity’s enduring confrontation with suffering, impermanence, and the hardships of life. Different religious traditions have, in their own unique ways, invited human beings toward salvation and ultimate liberation. Examining this issue within the field of comparative religion is of particular significance, as it reveals how each spiritual and philosophical system, grounded in its own foundations and methods, guides human beings toward the ultimate goal, namely deliverance from all forms of suffering and distress. The importance of such inquiry lies in the fact that comparative studies not only foster interreligious dialogue and convergence but also broaden the horizons of believers and enable them to recognize truth within a wider global context.
In this regard, Nahj al-Balāghah, a collection of the sayings and wisdoms of Imam ʿAlī, stands as a major source in the Islamic tradition, encompassing various dimensions of individual and social perfection. Hence, it serves as an appropriate text for analyzing the concept and path of salvation in Islam. Conversely, the Dhammapada, one of the most revered and ancient Buddhist scriptures, occupies a central position among the followers of Buddhism and contains a concise compilation of the Buddha’s fundamental teachings on liberation and the attainment of ultimate peace.
The selection of these two texts, due to their profound content and deep influence within their respective religious communities, provides a meaningful basis for comparison and illuminates both the shared and distinctive features of their approaches to salvation. This research employs a qualitative methodology based on comparative analysis, emphasizing similarities and differences among intellectual systems emerging from distinct religious and cultural contexts. Data were gathered through textual study and analysis of the primary sources and categorized according to the conceptual framework of “the notion and path of salvation.”
Given the structural and discursive disparities between the two texts, an asymmetric comparative approach was adopted, allowing for the conceptual analysis of each within its own semantic and doctrinal context. In this process, each text was first examined independently, and subsequently, the findings were synthesized and evaluated comparatively with a focus on the key components of salvation.
A comparative study of the wisdom of Nahj al-Balāghah and the Dhammapada reveals that, despite their emergence in distinct religious and cultural milieus, both emphasize personal responsibility and self-cultivation, viewing salvation as contingent upon individual effort. In Nahj al-Balāghah, the path of salvation is delineated within a revelatory-theological framework grounded in faith in God, righteous action, and belief in the afterlife, while the Dhammapada, with its human-centered orientation, identifies the renunciation of attachments and the attainment of insight and awareness as the path leading to Nibbāna, the ultimate liberation from the cycle of birth and death.
The findings demonstrate that Nahj al-Balāghah adopts a theistic-ethical and gradualist approach, whereas the Dhammapada follows a psychological-epistemological path based on self-reliance and meditative discipline. Despite these differences, both texts converge in emphasizing moral and inner cultivation and the overcoming of worldly attachments. This convergence provides a meaningful foundation for interreligious dialogue and comparative reflection between the two traditions.
