Character and School of Mulla Sadra Mulla Sadra A Historical Perspective

By Ayatollah seyyed mohammad khamenei

It seems that Mulla Sadra's scholarly reputation had not penetrated the realm of the royal family or the mass public. Mulla Sadra insisted on academic secrecy and enjoyed a private life. His writings were studied only by a particular group of enlightened scholars. For these reasons, his legacy is absent from historical and popular works of his time.In order to understand Mulla Sadra from a historical perspective we need to examine some of his letters to his teachers, Mir Damad and Sheikh Baha'i. Mulla Sadra, unfortunately, did not date these letters, but we can deduce their approximate date based on the content of the letters. The following letter is believed to be Mulla Sadra's first letter to Mir Damad for three reasons:First- His remarks, opinions, and yudgements on the famous philosophical works, Shifa', and al-Isharat.Second- His desire to continue to benefit from his enlightened teacher's knowledge through correspondence. Mulla Sadra sought the permission of Mir Damad to pose philosophical questions and opinions in this manner.Third- Mulla Sadra explained his preoccupation with the family life and the reason for his lack of correspondence. The following is an excerpt from his first letter to Mir Damad:

My mind has been preoccupied with various employments during the course of my pilgrimages to the holy city of Mecca. My ardent desire has, however, always been to seek knowledge and to use the remaining of my time to arrive at this objective. I have sought to correlate knowledge with Divine Inspiration and in this way pass through the various levels (of enlightenment). My limited and unable mind has gathered sparks of knowledge in the course of this time. I have striven to understand difficult and disputed issues in the works of Shifa, and al-Isharat. I have explicated my views, research and yudgements in the form of a summary in this letter.

In the same letter Mulla Sadra mentioned that one of the scholars from the city of Kashan had been corresponding with him. As a result, several philosophical questions had remained unanwsered. Mulla Sadra sent these questions along with the outcome of their correspondentce to Mir Damad.

We can deduce several biographical factors from this letter. Mulla Sadra could not have been living in cities such as Kashan or Qum where correspondents would have been unnecessary. He must have been sending his letter from a place with a mailing route, such as, Shiraz. In this letter we can also see that Mulla Sadra had initiated his literary works and commentaries on Ibn Sina and other philosophers. It seems that Mulla Sadra had begun teaching and writing during a time when he was away from Mir Damad. It is also worthy to note that in his Commentary on Ayat al-jCursi (Surah 2, al-Baqarah, v. 255, in the Holy Quran) which he wrote between the years of 1020-1028 AH. (1599-1601 AD.), Mulla Sadra showed a greater confidence in his deductions and yudgements. It is a well established work and based on my past essay on this issue, I attribute this work to his latter years. This first letter is probably written in the second part of the llth lunar century (15591-1597 AD.). If we were to approximate the date of his return to Shiraz around the year 1581 AD_V it would be reasonable to say that Mulla Sadra spent 6 years in Isfahan studying philosophy and other sciences. Based on this, he probably married around the age of thirty two or thirty three, once he returned to his town, Shiraz.

In his second letter to Mir Damad, Mulla Sadra, wrote about his seven to eight years departure from his mentor. Mulla Sadra finished his Commentary on Ayat al-Kursi around the yeaj 1606 in Qum. As we jiientipned before, writing this coopmentary took eight years. If he began this woric in 1592 AD arid finished it in 1600 A.D., we can reasonably assume that his departure from Isfahan was around 1590 or 1592 AD.. This does not, however, mean that Mulla Sadra spent all eight years in Qum, he could have traveled back to Shiraz during this time. It is even possible for him to have spent approximately ten years in Shiraz writing his commentary on Ayat al-Kursi, during his first trip back to Shiraz. Mulla Sadra, however, began and ended this commentary in Qum, based on the information provided in the introduction and the final notes of this treatise.

We also know from this letter that Mulla Sadra took many pilgrimages to the holy city of Mecca. It seems that most of his pilgrimages were taken during the latter part of his life and through well- established routes from Shiraz to the Persian Gulf towards Bahrain or Basrah. Based on this, it was probably unlikely for him to travel north towards Isfahan to visit Mir Damad. It is reasonable to assume that Mulla Sadra spent his earlier years, up to the year 1600 AD., in Qum or Kahak.

We can also assume that Mulla Sadra at the age of thirty, 1589 or 1591 AD., finished his ten to twelve years studies in Qazvin and later in Isfahan. Mulla Sadra probably made occasional trips to Shiraz for his father's funerals and other events, such as an invitation by the people of Shiraz. We can also deduce from this first letter that Mulla Sadra had remained an a'rif (gnostic) in Shiraz and even before that in Isfahan. Many scholars limit his spiritual phase to Qum and Kahak.

The second and third letters also contain some information that needs to be examined. In the second letter, Mulla Sadra stated, "I have been deprived from seeing you for the past seven to eight years". In his third letter to Mir Damad, he stated, "In the past ten to twelve years...". Mulla Sadra in both of these letters complained about the ignorant scholars and the intellectuals of his time. He also mentioned his spiritual exercises and the inspirations that he had received during the period of his seclusion and invocation (zikr).

We can trace the origin of both of these letters to one city (such as Shiraz), after his departure from Isfahan. Mulla Sadra's third letter was written approximately four years later. He may have been forty and some years old while writing this letter and it seems that he had become physically weak due to exhausting spiritual exercises.

I have tried, thus far, to present an approximate date of Mulla Sadra's biography in the different cities based on the available letters. Although it is important to have an approximation of these dates, but more important is to investigate his spiritual journey and his school of philosophy. To understand Mulla Sadra's life, his spiritual journey and personal characteristics, we need to examine the four distinct stages of his life: First stage: His academic journey from Shiraz to Qazvin and Isfahan.

Second stage: The period of teaching and studying philosophy and other traditional sciences. His relation with other people as a student of sciences. This period can be titled, the period of blossoming.

Third stage: The period of disappointment and despise. He was disappointed by the behavior of theologians and philosophers and the pseudo- scholars who pretended to have knowledge. During this period Mulla Sadra turned towards seclusion and sought knowledge of the self.

Fourth stage: The period of spiritual purification and inspiration. Allowing the message of God and the Holy Quran to enter his heart and finding his way to the Throne which healed, saved and guided him.

I will later examine these stages and their relation to the stages stated in his magnum opus, al-Hikmat al-muta'aliyah fil-asfar al-aqliyyat al-arba'ah (The Transcendent Theosophy Concerning the Four Intellectual Journeys of the Soul).

 

Abstracts

Translated by : Jamshid Pejman Novin

 Particular Theology in Avicennan Philosophy (Part II)

By : Amir Shirzad

Ibn Sina (Avicenna) after proving God's unity (tawhid) mentioned the issue of multiplicity and matter under the title of "fa'adih". He believed that if a genus or a differentia has different members, that thing must be due to matter and if there is no matter, then it cannot have any members.

From the point of view of Ibn Sina, the Necessary Being (wajib al-wujud) is one unity (wahid).  Ibn Sina believed that the Necessary Being cannot have a single unified

meaning along with different (variant) objective (meaning that two or more Necessary Beings would create a conflict of objectives). The reality of being needs to be the same in all things and meanings. Necessary Being exists equally in all things. If things were to have essential variances among themselves, either in corporeality or category, in kind or in accident, this would cause conflict with the Necessary Being, which is necessarily One and United (among all things).

 

Mental Being, A New Perspective

By : Reza Akbari

Mental being has always been an issue of paramount importance and interest to Muslim philosophers. The first philosopher to raise mental being as an independent philosophical case is Fakhr al-din Razi. Others including Khwaje Nassir Tusi, Katebi Qazwini, Taftazani and Mulla Sadra have also used various reasons to prove the existence of mental being. In his famous book of Asfar, Mulla Sadra introduces three philosophical reasons:

a) Istibsar i.e. envisaging possible beings which are non-existing as well as impossible beings

b) Celestial revelation; he considers mental being a heart-felt reality revealed to him through inspiration.

c) Tanbeeh i.e. envisaging things which have once been possible but are presently impossible such as miracles

 

Sadr al-Muta'allehin's Philosophical Innovations

By : seyyed Mohammad Entezam

Mulla Sadra perceived motion (harakat) as an external gradual change of a thing (ashya') from potentiality to actuality. The issue of motion is on the one hand potentiality (quwah) and on the other hand actuality (fi'l); for a thing that has potentiality in every way does not need motion, and the thing that in every way possesses actuality does not have external existence. The main question is in what category does motion belong to. Prior to Mulla Sadra, motion was categorized in four different ways according to quantity (kam) and quality (kayf). Philosophers of the past had commented upon motion in the category of substance (jawhar), but it was Mulla Sadra who was able to prove such a phenomenon. Past philosophers had perceived motion in the category of substance as impossible. In their opinion motion requires a substratum and an active object. They believed that if material substance (jawhar maddi) were to be like motion then we could not have an object and apply motion to it. Mulla Sadra, however, believed that since the trans-substantial motion (harakah jawharyyah) occurs in being and not quiddity, it does not require a revolution in essence. Mulla Sadra asserted that this change occurs gradually and the relation and connection of things is the reason for its (motion) unity and individuation.

Several proofs were presented by Mulla Sadra in relation to trans-substantial motion. The first illustration was to prove the alteration and transformation of motion through generation (kawn) and corruption (fisad). This transformation and corruption

(such as the transformation of a sperm and an egg into a being) occurs gradually. This transformation and alteration cannot be anything but motion. Another proof asserted that since motion is a gradual phenomena, it must have a cause that is close and representative and possesses the same characteristic. Natural and material essences are the only things that possess these characteristics. Based on the principle of general resemblance, cause must possess the same characteristics as motion and be able to bring about motion in accidents.

The proof of the trans-substantial motion also brought upon a new analysis of time (zaman). In Transcendental Theosophy time was to be the fourth dimension of material beings. Mulla Sadra solved many cumbersome issues in philosophy by solving the aforementioned issues. Foremost amongst these issues were; the issue of corporeal resurrection, the relation of alternating and stationary things, and finally the relation of the creation with the Necessary Being.

 

Kamal al-Din Mahmoud Bukhari and The Riddle of The Incommensurable Root (Mu'amma Ye Djadri Assamm)

By : Ahad F.Ghara Maleki

The second half of the tenth century (in the lunar calendar, 16th Century A.D) marks the transfer of the Shiraz School of Philosophy to Isfahan. During this time, Muslim scholars began to research and teach logical riddles and fallacies. Foremost among these scholars was Kamal al-Din Mahmoud Bukhari, whose work was compiled and commented upon by his son, Asamullah. The explanation and categorization of fallacies, the analysis of logical riddles in addition to creating new riddles are among some of the scholarly achievements of this era.

The increasing popularity of Isfahan School of Philosophy and the diminishing popularity of Shiraz School of Philosophy was affected by the social and political atmosphere of the time. The works of Mir fazulallah Astarabadi, Kamal al-Din Mahmoud Bukhari and the treatise of Fakhr al-Din Hosseini are some of the best of that era. Astarabadi's treatise, Si Muqalitat (The Thirty Fallacies), is divided into three sections. The first section is about five fallacies in language, the second section is on twenty logical fallacies and the last section investigates five proofs on fallacies. The Riddle of the Incommensurable Root is discussed as the eleventh fallacy in the second section. In Kamal al-Din Bukhari's thesis, Muqalitat (Fallacies), explicates this riddle in two sections. The first section is concerned with general fallacies and the second section is concerned with specific fallacies. The second section deals with the different sciences and their specifications. The first section is further divided into two sections, the coincidence of contradictories (ijtama' naqizin) and the removal of contradictories (irtafa* naqizin). Fakhr al-Din Hossein's thesis, Adab Monazerah (The principles of Disputation), is based on the most important elements of argument and dispute. The treatise in its fifteen sections investigates The Riddle of the Incommensurable Root and in the eighteenth section explicates logical riddles..

 

 

The Corporeal Resurrection in Transcendent Theosophy (Part II)

By : Mohammad -reza Hakimi

Mulla Sadra's philosophy has elements of Peripatetic Philosophy as well as the true foundation of Illuminationism. Mulla Sadra was able to combine his intellectual intuition with gnosis and derive the meaning of "being" (wujud). He further joined this meaning with thesophical principles and based it on a logical foundation. It seems that the issue that Mulla Sadra was most preoccupied with was the corporeal resurrection. Mulla Sadra finally solved this issue in his celebrated book, Asfar. He laid the foundation for this principle and with precision unraveled his intentions.

What determines his Transcendent Theosophy is the following eleven principles: The principality of being (asalat al- wujud), unity of the gradation of being (wahdat tashkiki wujud), motion in the category of substances or trans-substantial motion (harakat jawhary), simple or non-composite reality (basit al-haqiqih), the principle of the unity of the soul (qa'adih wahdat al- nafs), the unity of the intellect and the intelligible (wahdat aqil wa ma'qul), the immateriality of the faculty of imagination (tajarud quwwah khi'yal), and the three grades of being and their ascending relations (a'walim sih ganih wujud). Mulla Sadra has asserted that these principles were established to prove the corporeal resurrection of man. He mentioned that some of these principles were invented by him and others were merely confirmed by him.

Sheikh Sadra in his book al-Hashr (Tarh al-kawnayn fi hashr al alamayn) also wrote about resurrection. In this treatise he gave a detailed account and proof of every step of creation from birth to resurrection; he even mentioned the resurrection of nature and of the first species. Mulla Sadra emphasized the three grades of being and the spiritual journey.

Trans-substantial Motion in Connection

with the Formation of the Rational Soul and its Relation with the Body (part II)

 

By : Mansour Imanpour

The relation of soul and body can be examined through the rational soul. The Peripatetic Philosophers see this relation as a relation of cause (ta'thir) and effect (ta'athor). In their opinions the soul is originated due to the contingency of the body, yet there is no causal relationship between the two.

Ibn Sina (Avicenna) believed that the soul merely employs the body. This explanation, however, did not clarity the relation of the two. How can these two different entities create this thing we call man? Mulla Sadra was the first philosopher who clearly unraveled this issue using trans-substantial motion as his basis. He believes that the soul at the outset of creation is contingent and belongs to an ambiguous. quiddity.  In the course of various stages the soul takes its specific form.

In the opinion of Mulla Sadra, the soul is not in conflict with the body, it is rather a continuation of the body's existence. After the body proceeds from an inanimate stage to a vegetative and finally to an animal stage it becomes more complete. After this last stage it is ready to accept the blessing of God the Almighty. The unification of the soul to the body completes the corporeal phase of the body and begins its spiritual phase. The spiritual phase is augmented through the trans-substantial motion. Once the unification of the body and soul is intensified, intellect is manifested and becomes one with the body and the soul.

 

An Exposition about the independence of the intellect

By:Mohammad Tahir Yusufi

This right in Islam, Independence of the Intellect, in a way takes the place of the European instinctive and natural rights. This issue deals with rights and laws in Islam and requires an in-depth analysis. It is as important as the discussion of ethics and rationality in European philosophy. This discussion has three parts; first, do actions and things possess attributes such as good (hosn) and evil (qubh) and are these attributes essential or accidental. Second, if things do possess these attributes, is the intellect capable of perceiving them. Lastly, If the intellect can determine these attributes, is it a command by the legislator (shara') and discoverer (kashif). This issue is discussed more in philosophy than in jurisprudence. It was also first dealt with by the theologians (muttakkariimun) before it entered the realm of jurisprudence and law.

Overall the belief in discovering corporeal attributes is based on human perception. Man believed that the basis of intellect is not corrupted by the changes in societies and the reign of different governments. The natural and instinctive belief is of such nature. Islamic doctrine has not taken this route and cannot be compared with physiocratic methodology.

There are at least three different interpretations about the relation of the intellect and the Divine Law (as they relate to essence and accidents, good and evil):

1) Maturidis, who believed that things have essence and accidents instinctively, but do not accept the relation of the intellect and the Divine Law.

2)  Muta'zilites,  who  believed  in  the existence  of essence,  accidents,   and  their perception by the intellect.

3) Ash'arites, who did not believe in the existence of essence and accidents in things, they believed that these things are dependent upon the Divine Command.

 

The Tehran School of Philosophy and Gnosis (part II)

By:Abbas Taremi

Mulla Abdullah Modarres Zonuzi (1855-1928 A.D.) was born in Isfahan. At an early age he began his studies in jurisprudence, theology, logic, philosophy and occult sciences (ulum qaribah). After the death of his father (1878 A.D.) he began advanced studies in jurisprudence. He then traveled to the School of Gnosis in Tehran. Shortly after he went to Isfahan and studied intellectual sciences (ulum aqliyyah) for three years. He continued his studies on intellectual sciences under renowned teachers for another five years in Isfahan as well as in Qazvin. After the completion of his studies he went to Tehran and taught courses in both intellectual and traditional sciences. He has written treatises concerning the resurrection of the body, logic and commentaries on Mulla Sadra's Asfar.

Mulla Zonuzi is a distinguished scholar of Transcendent Theosophy of Mulla Sadra. He has established some new principles and explanations of Mulla Sadra's philosophy. Some of his insights and analyses on principality of being and quiddity were novel and unique in his day. He believed that from this point of view cannot be part of the three principles and cannot equate it to the "non-condition as a division" (la bisharti maqsami).He had very modest and warm personality. He had a distinct love for the the leader of the faithful, Ali (Peace be upon him) and sought intellectual and moral salvation through Ali and his purified family.

 

The Realm of Imagination According to Jalal al-Din Rumi and Ibn Arabi

 By:Qulam Hossein Ibrahim Dinany

 This article will compare the mystical (irfani) characteristics of Rumi and Ibn Arabi and their description of the realm of imagination.

Rumi's mystical journey was a difficult and a dangerous one. He, after years of meditation and spiritual purification ascended to a high mystical stage at the age of forty. Jalal al-Din had a special devotion towards his teachers and believing men. He believed that one's relation with the Truth (haq) is not possible without discovering and annihilating (fana) oneself in the perfect man (in'san ka'mil). Rumi in his book of poetry (Mathnawi) illustrated two modes of devotion, one is a spiritual love and the other is an enlightened (or relieved) mind. In his opinion, man's universe and kingdom is made of his actions, words and attributes which are all part of the realm of imagination. In his Mathnawi, Rumi expounded this concept with clarity and wisdom.

Ibn Arabi was exposed to the "secrets of the inner heart " (mukashifah) at an early age. He considered the realm of imagination as the vastest world in which even the most impossible and absurd acts become possible. In a way a corporeal being can exist in two places simultaneously. In this realm it is even possible to imagine the form of the Necessary Being (wajib al-wujud). Imagination can interfer with sensible and intelligible faculties, this can be considered mystical knowledge and a discovery by the imagination. This kind of change and alteration is possible only in the realm of imagination . Man's desires take form in the realm of imagination and not in the realm of feeling. In the hereafter, since the intrinsic aspect of man takes the place of his physical appearance, there will not be a distinction between imagination and feeling.

With all the vastness and capability that the realm of imagination presents, it has still some limitations. Moral issues, as well as issues of relations (nisab) and additions (izafat) cannot be formulated or addressed in this realm. In this realm one cannot make a mistake, for mistake is based on (disobeying or wrongly performing) a command, and a command is not part of the realm of imagination.