The 13th-century Kurdish Ishraqi philosopher al-Shahrazuri mentions the popularity of belief in reincarnation, a doctrine toward which he himself appears to have been sympathetic. While such beliefs seem to have been widespread in Kurdish regions, insider accounts discussing their precise details and variations are rare. Al-Shahrazuri's writings provide one of the few exceptions.
Perhaps the most interesting question concerns the role this belief was intended to play. For al-Shahrazuri, at least, the doctrine appears to function as a rejection of eternal hell and as part of a fundamentally optimistic vision of humanity's ultimate destiny. The transmigration of morally deficient souls into animal bodies serves as a means of purifying their imperfections. Once these defects have been removed, the soul ascends to a higher state. The final stage is the "world of the intellect," where every soul is ultimately destined to arrive, reflecting al-Shahrazuri's remarkably hopeful view of human potential, very different from the Islamic view.
Shahrazuri (13th century) writes:
There is no nation and no people among whom the doctrine of metempsychosis has not taken a strong hold, even if they differ regarding its modalities, details, and forms, since such differences do not affect the affirmation of metempsychosis itself.
If you reflect on the earlier principles, namely that every soul possesses a general perfection, this consists in becoming abstracted from matter. Divine mercy requires that every perfection potentially present within a soul should eventually reach actuality through the successive regenerations that occur in that world. Even if this were achieved only through the mutual connection of souls and the emanation of lights, that alone would suffice to eliminate defective dispositions, whether intellectual or practical.
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