Mulla Sadra's Life, works, and Philosophy

 Prof.S.M. Khamenei

3- Umm Kulthum

Mulla Sadra's first child (his eldest daughter) was called Kulthum or Umm Kulthum. She was born in 1019(A.H. lunar) in Shiraz. Some believe that Umm Kulthum was her nickname^[1] and that her real name was Badriyyah. They have also described her as adibah(literary lady) and zahidah (pious lady). It would be no exaggeration to consider her a philosopher (hakimah) and gnostic ( 'arifah) as well, since it was a tradition among scholars and noble families to teach different sciences, literature, and philosophy to girls.

Mulla Sadra's school and household followed this tradition too, since he was a strict follower of the prophetic and Ahl-al bayt's traditions. The training of girls in this tradition has a long history; for example, Sakinah (a), Imam Husayn's (a) daughter, was one of the most prominent literary women of her time. It has explicitly been written in some biographies that "she learnt philosophy and other different sciences from her father and then continued her studies under the supervision of her husband (Mulla  'Abd al-Razzaq)". She is even said to have had some debatcs with scholars in formal meetings.^[2]

Some believe that Umm Kulthum was Fayd Kashani's wife; however, according to certain sources,she was Mulla  'Abd al- Razzaq Lahiji's wife.^[3] On the basis of available evidence, we can say that they married in 1034 or 1035 (she was 15 or 16 years old at that time), but Fayd's married life started in about 1038 (A.H. lanar) and this date is more compatible with the age of Zubaydah, Mulla Sadra's second daughter, who was almost 15 years old at that time. If it is proved that Mulla  'Abd al-Razzaq lived for 70 years (1002-1072.H.H.Luner), he was a little older than Fayd and, apparantly,he must have married the elder daughter. It has been quoted from the Mawalid wa wafayat (Risalah fi) (The Treatise of the Dates of Births and Deaths), by Fayd's son (the manuscript is available in Ayatullah Mar 'ashi Library) that his mother's death was in Kashan, 1097 (A.H.lunar), while Umm Kulthum's death has been recorded in 1090 (A.H.lunar), and this confirms the earlier claim.^[4]

4- Zubaydah

Zubaydah, or according to some unreliable sources, Zaynab, was Mulla Sadra's second daughter. It is said that she was most probably born in 1024 (A.H.lunar) in Qum.

In line with most historians, we believe that she is Mulla Muhsin Fayd's wife and  'Alam al-Huda's mother. However, in some books it is written that it was Umm Kulthum who was Fayd's wife and Zubaydah was Fayyad Lahiji's wife.

There are a host of praising attributes used in describing this benevolent lady such as "philosopher, theologian, scholar, worshipper, and pious".^[5] Like her sister, she must have deeply benefited from her father's ocean of knowledge and perfections of which Fayd is only one example.

One of the most noteworthy points in the history of Islamic and Iranian culture is woman's contribution to scientific and spiritual perfections specifically scholars' daughters. This point not only represents the importance of women's social roles and their human and civil rights in Islamic laws, but also indicates the equality of men and women in Islam and Islamic culture, as well as providing evidence that those who are trained in this school pay equal attention to the education and perfection of their sons and daughters.

The Holy Prophet (s) himself had a daughter such as Fatimah Zahra (a), in whom he confided his divine knowledge. The commander of Faithful Ali (a), trained his daughter, Zaynab, at the side of his sons. Imam Husayn (a) had a daughter such as Sakina, who used to protect scientists, literary men, and poets. It has been narrated that nobody could compete with her in criticizing Arabic poetry and prose.

The elegant history of Shi 'i is abundant with knowledgeable, scientist, literary, jurisprudent, theologian, philosopher, and gnostic women. This is because one of the old traditions of Shi 'i scholars was to train and educate their daughters. It has also been frequently said about scholars, jurisprudents, and philosophers that they sent their daughters to school along side with their sons or taught them themselves.

It is a pity that wrong social traditions and the misunderstandings of those who claimed to know religion perfectly led them to put aside this longstanding and praiseworthy Islamic tradition and deprive women from learning and studying hikmah, philosophy, and literature, and have a return to the age of darkness and ignorance. It didn't take a long time before the invasive western culture imposed itself upon the old culture by force and violence. Though the western culture awarded the freedom of education to women, which was admirable, as a gift coming from abroad, the westerners introduced it as a product of atheism and anti-religious movement in the west. They pictured Islam as a religion against any kind of training or education for women and their learning and teaching of philosophy, literature, and other sciences. It has always been the policy of western missionaries and violators of Islamic and eastern cultures to unload the nations' memories from their glorious ancient past and load them with their fake but ornamented ideas. Of course, they introduce these ideas as divine gifts and claim that their own culture and traditions bear the message of liberty for different nations. Through these deceptions, they will be able to exploit them and ravage their wealth.

In his notes on the dates of births and deaths of his relatives, Fayd's son,  'Allamah  'Alam al-Huda Muhammad, writes about his mother in this way: "my dignified mother... died in 1097(A.H. lunar), if the lady referred to here is Zubaydah (as written by the author of Mustadrak-i a 'yan al-shi 'ah), her death must have naturally been in the same year.

Abstracts

Mulla Sadra's Relevence to

Modern philosophy

Dr. Reza Davari Ardakani

The present article briefly refers to two points, one positive and one negative, shared by both Mulla Sadra and Kant concerning the issue of knowledge. It also draws on a big difference between their ideas in this regard.

The great difference between them is that, according to Mulla Sadra, knowledge is firstly acquired by means of the active intellect. Secondly, the knowledge of objects conforms to the very objects themselves. However, Kant not only believed that knowledge is the product of man's intellect and limited to everything whose matter is perceived through the senses and experience, but also conceived of the conformity between knowledge and external objects as a dogmatic proposition. Therefore, in Kant's view, one can never obtain the knowledge of world and is only able to confirm its existence.

The Existence of Copula (rabit)

Dr. G.H.Ebrahimi Dinani

This article is devoted to the study of the nature of copula and the ways to recognize it. It also aims to provide an answer to the question of whether there is anything in this world which is free from any kind of relation and belonging.

Those who have a realistic view of this world reply that what is exposed to man's thought inevitably enjoys some kind of relation. The reason is that if we can conceive of an existent free from any kind of relation, that existent undoubtedly becomes a part of our knowledge and requires a kind of relation between the knower and the known.

Islamic philosophers have divided existence into two types: copula and dependent, and the issue of the relation between the subject and the predicate has raised a great number of discussions among researchers.

In Mulla Sadra's Transcendent philosophy all the existents of the possible world, from the sovereignty to the dominion, are the same as relation and have absolute dependence upon the Truth.

The existence of a relation could be dependent on both sides (categorical relation) or it could be dependent on one side (illuminative relation). It should be taken into consideration that the relation, while being a reality, is not capable of having an independent existence. In Mulla Sadra's opionion, the world of possibles has a kind of illuminative correlation with the absolute being of the Truth.

The Subject of Metaphysics

Dr. M.J.Rezai

The writer has divided the article into four parts:

A) Determining the subject of metaphysics

B) Defining the subject of metaphysics

C) Demonstrating "existent qua existent" and the "separate existent" as the subject matters of              metaphysics

D) Demonstrating the existence of the subject of metaphysics

In the first part, the writer has tried to analyze Ibn Sina's ideas with respect to determining the subject of primary philosophy. According to Ibn Sina, "the subject of metaphysics is neither God nor the final four causes of objects; rather, the subject of metaphysics is "the existent" qua existent since it has existence, and God and the four causes are among the problems of metaphysics.

In the second part, the writer states that the existent is a self-evident concept and cannot be defined. And, in the third part, he presents the necessary reasons for demonstrating that "existent qua existent" and the "separate existent" are the subject matters of metaphysics and criticises it at the same time. In the fourth part, he argues that confirming the existence of a subject for metaphysics, that is, the existent, as well as its conception, is a self-evident issue.

Therefore, confirming the principle that "there is a reality" is neither demonstrable nor deniable, since bringing reasons necessitates accepting this principle a priori.

Epistemology and the Transcendent Philosophy

Dr.A.Shirvani

The present article reviews the place of epistemology in the Transcendent Philosophy. In this regard, the author deals with mental existence and its history. There are two claims in the discussion of mental existence:

1. The Division of existence into concrete and mental types

2. The essential agreement between the concrete and mental existence

The author is of the view that the proofs for mental existence, as presented in the Transcandent Philosophy, only confirm the first claim and are inadequate for explaining the second one; however, Mulla Sadra does not agree with this idea.

By referring to issues such as the principiality of existence and the non-principiality of essence, trans-substantial motion, the abscence of essence in the truth of the concrete existence, imkani faqri,and the copulative nature of things other than God, and the personal unity of being, the author concludes that we can comprehend being not through acquired knowledge, but through knowledge by presence. He emphasizes that what is attained by acquired knowledge only consists of the concomitants and effects of being.

The Soul in Mulla Sadra's Philosophy

Prof. S.M.Khamenei

This article presents the different ideas concerning the soul in the history of philosophy. Accordingly, four centuries ago, there were only two well known ideas in this regard; however, Mulla Sadra posed the third one. He believed that unlike Plato and Illuminationists' views, man's soul is material and corporeal in its origination, permeates from the matter of the body, and constructs a form for itself. Besides, contrary to what the Peripatetics said, the soul is not a static and motionless substance; rather, it is a substance which, like time, has motion and time is basically a result of its motion.

Mulla Sadra stipulates in Asfar that he has in fact reconciled the opinions of Plato and the Peripatetics concerning the issue of the origination and eternity of the soul through presenting his own idea.

The writer provides a summary of Mulla Sadra's ideas in five parts:

1) What is the soul?

2) How did the soul come into being?

3) The relation between the soul and the body

4) The faculties of the soul

5) The end of the soul

In conclusion, he writes that to complete the discussion one should resort to Islamic mysticism (irfan) This area profoundly attracted Mulla Sadra and he frequently referred to it in the discussions related to the love of existents for perfection and absolute beauty.

The Principiality of Existence and the

Natural Universal

Dr. S.M.Yousef Sani

The discussion of the natural universal is directly related to the discussions related to the principiality of quiddity or existence. Believing in the principiality of quiddity is in fact the same as believing in the existence by essence and the natural independent universal in the outside, while the pricipiality of existence is inconsistent with any belief in the real existent and the natural and original universal.

In this article, the writer does not intend to study the reasons related to the principiality of quiddity or existence;  rather, he intends to justify multiplicity on the basis of the principiality of existence and clarify the relation between the theory of natural universal and the principiality of existence. Following this issue, the author poses these questions: If the reality of principiality in the outside belongs to existence and quiddity is considered as its limit and end and is a mental abstraction, "What is the basis of this abstraction?" and "How is it that this abstraction emerges in mind sometimes as an essential classification and sometimes as the different grades and levels of existence?".

The most important divisions in the gradation of existence are vertical and horizontal gradations. In the vertical gradation, due to the unity of the criteria for difference and commonality, a unitary entity emerges at different grades. On the other hand, at the level of one, where there is no word of intensity or weakness, existence will possess some kind of multiplicity which our mind perceives in the form of different quiddities.

Here the question is why the existence at the level of one, for example the level of inanimate things, is exposed to a kind of multiplicity which has no unity with the issue of the grades and levels of existence. The philosophers have provided different replies to this question which the author has extensively discussed in the article.

The Features of Effusion (fayd) and Existential Activity

in Mulla Sadra's Transcendent Philosophy

(Part 3)

Dr.S.Rahimian

In this part, the author refers to two philosophers who claimed to have demonstratively resolved the dispute over origination (huduth) and eternity (qidam):

1. Mir Damad, relying on the theory of atemporal origination (huduth dahri as discussed in appendix B).

2. Mulla Sadra, relying on the existential analysis of effusion (fayd) and the theory of trans-substantial motion.

Mulla Sadra divides the discussion into two different domains as follows:

1. With regard to the first domain which is the sphere of the immaterials and pure inventions (ibdaiyyat), he believes in the eternity and durability of effusion (fayd) and the effused (mustafid).

2. With regard to the second domain which is the sphere of the material and the corporeal, he believes in the eternity of effusion and origination of the effused.

In the discussion of effusion, after referring to five premises, Mulla Sadra concludes that there is a fundamental difference between the immaterials and the materials with regard to origination and eternity. Though "the durability of effusion" is proved in both immaterial and material beings, in the former it results in "the durability of the effused" while it is not the case in the latter, since time is a property essential to corporiality and gradation is a part of its ipseity.

As a result, on the basis of trans-substantial motion, no existent is immortal in the material world, let alone be eternal.

Thus, Sadra considers the effused as being originated, that is, as being in perpetual origination and decline. In order to clarify his point, he brings many illustrative examples and assimilates the dependance of this world on God to that of speech to the speaker, and that of light to the sun. If the sun stops shinning for even a single moment, darkness will spread everywhere. The sunlight only indicates the appearence of the sun and is not an equivalent to it; likewise, the world is not a part of Him and is purely a sign of the manifestation of the Truth or His very Effusion.

A Comparative Study of the Objective Unity of Being

in Ibn Arabi and Meister Ekhart

Dr.Q.Kakai

The author's main aim in the present paper is to carry out a comparative study of Ibn Arabi's views and those of Meister Ekhart's on the objective unity of Being. He holds that Ibn Arabi considers Being the same as God, and so does Meister Ekhart. In this regard, he refers to certain quotations from their works. The important point here is Ibn Sina's considerable influence upon both of them.However, for some reasons, Ibn Arabi, never cites the name of Ibn Sina, while Meister Ekhart does so.

The Role of Middle Term in Conjunctive Syllogism

A.S.Amiri

In the present article, the author deals with the role of the middle term in the four figures of conjunctive syllogism. In this regard, he refers to the views of logicians such as Ibn Sina, Fakhr al-Din Razi, Muhaqqiq Tusi, Urmawi, Athir al-Din Abhari as well as Mulla Sadra. The author is of the view that many difficulties in syllogisms arise out of linguistic deficiencies.

By resorting to Mulla Sadra's view, the author concludes that we are not compelled to divide the syllogism to its traditional four forms, for on the basis of the Sadrian view, the only condition for the productivity of all forms of syllogism is the repetition of the middle term. Therefore, with regard to the mechanical deduction of the conclusion of premises, it seems unneccessary for us to distinguish the figures of a syllogism from each other.

Mulla Sadra's View Concerning the Names and

 Attributes of the Quran

A.Nukhodiyan Esfahani

The starting point for studies on the revealed books has always been a discussion on their names and attributes. Although some of these books such as the Torah and the Bible had specific titles from the very beginning, others have been generally referred to as Tablets or Books. However, concerning the Holy Quran, we should say that in spite of all the attention and efforts of Islamic researchers, some say that it is not quite clear what the collection of the Divine Revelations was called at the time of the Holy Prophet.

Contrary to the common tradition among the scholars of Quranic sciences, Mulla Sadra believes that the Quran has numerous names and attributes, each of which referring to a level of the reality of the Quran.

Although the Quran enjoys a single reality, it has various levels and stations, and these names have been chosen for referring to them.

Therefore, for each particular level or station there is a specific name.

The key to getting familiar with and developing a fondness for the reality of the Quran is to purify the heart and create existential homogeneity with it. In order to be successful in this regard, one should have God's love and seek help from God's favorites, like Ahl al-bayt.

5- Ma 'sumah

Mulla Sadra's third daughter, and apparently his fifth and last child, was called Ma 'sumah. She was born in Shawwal 1033 (A.H.lunar) in Shiraz. Her father recorded her birth in this way: The birth date of the light of my eyes, Ma 'sumah, May God give her a long life, is Shawwal 1033 (A.H. lunar).

In this regard, Mar 'ashi writes: "The knowledgeable literary woman, Ma 'sumah Khatun, was the wife of al  'Allamah al-Mirza Qawam al-Din Nayrizi. He was one of the most distinguished disciples of her father and wrote some glosses on al-Asfar...".^[6]

Although the source of the above-statement is not mentioned, historical evidence confirms it. According to these preliminary remarks, this daughter of Mulla Sadra, too, was a master of literature and philosophy. This is not surprising because one who has been trained in Mulla Sadra's school of philosophy should be considered a gnostic, wayfarer, and pious person.

There is no questioning about this lady's knowledge and perfections. However, it is not easy to accept that she had a comprehensive study of philosophy under her father, since if Mulla Sadra's death was in 1050 (A.H.lunar), she was 16 or 17 at that time, and if his death was in 1045(A.H.lunar), she was 12 years old. Therefore, like her sisters, she must have acquired some of her knowledge in philosophy and gnosis from her husband (who was one of the rightful substitutes of her father) to have attained such a highly elevated philosophical status.

Qawam al-Din Muhammad Nayrizi Shirazi is said to be her husband. He was one of the well-known students of Mulla Sadra, who wrote some glosses on al-Asfar. Some have referred to him as Qutb al-Din Muhammad (or Ahmad) Nayrizi (d. 1173 A.H.lunar), who was one of the leaders of Dahabieh, was one of the students of Mulla Muhammad Sadiq Ardistani (1134 A.H.lunar). There is a big time interval between his period and that of Mulla Sadra.

In Tadhkirah-yi Nasrabadi, it is written that Mulla Sadra's third son-in-law was Mulla  'Abdul-Muhsin Kashani (the nephew of Akhund Nura Mulla Dia al-Din Kashi). He was Mulla Sadra's student and had some degrees in philosophy and gnosis, and was involved in teaching in Kashan. Nasrabadi writes about him in this way: " Shah Abbas sent a call for him since he had heard about his justice. Kashi was Shah's companion in his journeys. After Shah's death, he spent his time in worship or teaching sometimes in Qamsar and sometimes in Kashan. He left a collection of poems consisting of about 10,000 couplets".

This story does not seem to be true, and it is highly unlikely that instead of the famous scholars of the time, Shah Abbas invited Kashi, who must have been very young at that time, as the "justest man of the time". It is also highly unlikely that Shah Abbas and most of the rulers of the Safavid Dynasty, who spent most of their lives in indulgence, to keep company with men of justice, scholars, and scientists.

Perhaps by Shah the writer means the second Shah Abbas. In this case the narration comes closer to reality. The weakness of this historical quotation, makes his first quotation (that he was Mulla Sadra's son-in-law) dubious, and it can be considered rejected.

In the same source, reference has been made to a fourth son-in law for Mulla Sadra called Muhammad Sami '. However, it is not clear who Mulla Sadra's fourth daughter was and why her name has not been mentioned in any historical documents.