Manichæism as a World Religion of Salvation and Its Influence on Islam

What is it about?

Māni’s creation a new prophetic world religion of salvation out of the Mazdaean religion of ancient Iran and called himself its final prophet. This article demonstrates the decisive impact of Manichaeism as a religion of salvation on the Qur’an. This impact is evident in the Qur’anic conceptions of the prophecy, wisdom and knowledge, and in its adaptation of the idea of the salvation of the soul through light. Just as Māni had claimed, Mohammad in the Qur’an is the Seal of the Prophets but is formally designated as the Messenger (rasul) of God. Moving beyond Mohammad and the Qur’an, the subsequent independent influence of Manichaeism on the emergence of Sufism in Khorasan is traced alongside the development of light symbolism in the Sufi conception of the journey of the soul in the realm of light as the final stage of mystical union with God, and in the formulation of the Sufi doctrine of the Mohammadan Light (nur-e mohammadi).

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