Mulla Sadra's Life, works, and Philosophy

            Prof .S.M.Khamenei

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...".¹ 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 doubt 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 al that lime, 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 successors of her father) to have atlaincd 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 AH.lunar), who was one of the leaders of Dahabieh, and one of the students of Mulla Muhammad Sadiq Ardistani (1134 A.I I. 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 leaching in Kashan. Nasrabadi writes aboul 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 most1.Ma'adin al-hihnah, introduction, P. 16.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.

As we saw not much has been recorded in writing about Mulla Sadra's children. It has always been a tradition in history to view the real men of human society and their achievements heedlessly and not to pay them the respect they truly deserve. Those who have provided the bases for the establishment of society, science, culture, and civilization have been cruelly kept in the periphery of history and not at its core. Likewise, there has not much been written about the biography of the children and heirs of the great philosopher, Mulla Sadra, who in fact created a new horizon in the history of philosophy. Those historians who observe everything superficially always pay attention to the indiscreet characters of the scence of society. They conceive of kings, court clowns and prostitutes, and coquettish, noisy, and flattering servants as the great men of history and its main characters. What is more, they consider the kings' slaughter of human beings, tyrany, vinosity, womanizing and such calamities as the most important historical events in man's process of development.

Like children who value the sound of an empty drum higher than the voice of knowledge and art, these historians, due to their inner blindness, have perceived the sea and measured its depth through hearing the sound of its waves hitting the shore. They have known the nobility and height of the mountain through listening to the frivolous echos of sounds, and wherever there has been silence, meaning, depth or eminence, they have perceived nothing and moved past them leaning on their walking sticks blindly and ignorantly. In fact, they have not learned anything from such magnificence and luminosity to record them in their mute and silent papers.

It has always been the tradition of history to devote its chapters to the fame and infamies of kings and to seek its food at their dinner tables. As long as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, this will be the case with history and historians.

If no diaries or history books under the names of memorandum (tazkereh), the biography of scholars (qisas al-ulama'), or any other name had been written, or if there had been no great men rebelling against such historians and writing books on the luminous stars of the domain of science to record and protect their names, lives, and works, nothing would have remained of such an invaluable treasure of the glorious historical past of science. If such was the case and we didn't have access to what has been left to us, although not as much as it should have been, our scientists today would be like people of unknown origins, not knowing where they have come from or who they have descended from.

Abstracts

A Comparative study of the "Principiality of Light" in Suhrawardi and the "Principiality of Existence^" in Mulla Sadra

By :Dr.R.Akbarian

As the title suggests, this paper presents a comparative study of the commonalities and differences between the Illuminationist philosophy and Transcendent Theosophy. The writer has tried to make a comparison between the significance of "light" in Suhrawardi's philosophy and that of "existence" in Mulla Sadra's school of thought. To accomplish this task, he has also made some references to Ibn-Sina's ideas and the differences between his ideas in this regard and those of these two philosophers.

The author believes that in certain cases Suhrawardi considers the Peripatetic principles as being valid; however, he does not favor their fundamental principles. The most important book of this philosopher, hikmat al-ishmq, is a philosophical book, whose principles have been devised through using a series of intellectual reasons based on necessary propositions. The Illuminationist philosophy, on the one hand, is in conformity with the school of the principiality of existence in denying the metaphysical difference between existence and quiddity, and on the other hand, it stands against this school in emphasizing the mentally-posited nature of existence and the principiality of quiddity.

Mulla Sadra and Otheologia

By : S.Rahimeyan

In this paper the writer presents an overview of the place of Otheologia in transcendent philosophy. Like other Islamic philosophers, Mulla Sadra believes that this book belongs to Aristotle, and considering the fact that the real author of this book is Plotinus, it would be more realistic to say that this paper discusses the impacts of Plotinus on Mulla Sadra's school of thought.

Mulla Sadra considered the writer of Otheologia a divine sage and a prominent philosopher, whose thoughts were more commensurate with and closer to those of his comparing to the thoughts of all other philosophers before and after Islam. It is interesting to point out that according to the writer of this article, Mulla Sadra himself had become sensitive to the glaring differences between the contents of this book and the contents of Aristotle's other works, and that might be why in certain cases he attributes this book to Aristotle with doubt.

Throughout the article, the writer has referred to eighteen cases where we can see the traces of Otheologia'^ influence on Mulla Sadra's philosophy.

Pluralism and Revelation in Mulla Sadra and Paul Tilisch

By: Dr.Alae Toorani

In this article, after providing a definition for religion, the writer argues that it is about four centuries that the western world has oppressed God, religion, and the holy prophets. The oppressors have replaced God by man, the holy prophets by intellectuals and geniuses,and the religions by the social- philosophical schools. Moreover, in order to wipe out the difference between the divine religions and human schools of thought, they have made some maneuvres, the last of which has been a kind of pluralism.

Mulla Sadra says, "Islam is the last religion, and is higher and more complete than others. Being the last religion implies being the most perfect. Since Islam is a collection of all religions, it comprises all perfection and is beyond time and history; it is all religions without being any of them; and it includes all the perfections of other religions and lacks their defects".

The essence of religion is beyond history; however, its existence is determined through historical periods. Such a claim is another interpretation of the issuMffieternity(,v<7rmad)and atemporality (dahr), which have been referred to in Transcendent Theosophy. Moreover, as emphasized in different verses and traditions, according to the philosophy of the prophet's mission and the sending down of the holy book, it is a common and general principle that each prophet has come for a specific period, while Islam has emerged for all human kind and times. Nevertheless, pluralism does not agree with this interpretation of religion, nor does it agree with Islam's being the last religion, the rightfulness of religions, and the superiority of divine religions over non-religions. Consequently, philosophical pluralism brings about a kind of polytheism, and religious pluralism results in a kind of decline in the divine position.

An Epistemological Approach to Platonic "Ideas"

By : M.Zamani

This paper is devoted to a study of the theory of Platonic "Ideas" and its important role in epistemology. The writer has first discussed the theory of "Ideas" almost in delail with reference to Plato's different Dialogues and presents the different interpretations of this theory. In what follows, the writer refers to the origins of this theory in the ideas of Plato's predecessors. Finally, he introduces the most important criticisms targeted at Platonic "Ideas".

A critical study of the Religion-Ethic Relation in Kant's Philosophy

By :Dr.Y. Shaqoul

Kant's endeavours in the field of practical philosophy or ethics are considered to be like his Copernican revolution in the speculative field. As he did so in the field of sepeculative philosophy, he tried to pose a new approach in ethics which comprises the positive points of his predecessors. In his view, this ethical theory is universal, necessary, and humanistic. In this approach the moral agent, like the very deed itself and it's end, is more important than other elements. This moral agent-rational being- is both self-obligative and self-legislative; therefore, autonomy is the most important basis of his ethics.

Ibn-Sina's Innovations Concerning the Theory of Emanation

By : S . M . Imam Jomee

 The major goal of this paper is to provide an answer to the question of on what 4 / philosophical model Ibn-Sina's views of ihe theory of emanation are based. In other words,the writer aims to discover the philosophical school and thought procedures upon which Ibn-Sina has based his theory. Is his model an Aristotelian one or a Plotinistic one? The writer believes that Ibn-Sina has followed his own specific philosophical model in studying the different problems of the issue of creation and the process of the emanation of the multiple from the one, and ultimately formulating an innovative theory.

In this paper, the author has tried to arrive at a convincing answer through exploring the issue of emanation from a new perspective.

The Relation between Purity and Knowledge in Mulla Sadra's Philosophy

By :GH.Sobhani Fakhr

The present article reports Mulla Sadra's view of the relation between the purity of the soul and knowledge. The writer explicity slates that in Mulla Sadra's view, it is impossible to attain real knowledge without first purifying the soul. Besides, it is emphasized that according to Mulla Sadra, the knowledge which has been aquired through intellectual delibrations, in comparison to the knowedge which has been obtained through the purification of the soul, is like seeing the sweet comparing to tasting it. The purity of the soul, which is the basis of knowledge, is nothing but abstaining from secularism in all its different forms. Basically, the purity of the soul in itself is a non-existential affair whose value depends on its relation to knowledge and divine wisdom.

The Relationship between Motion and Perfection and its Conformity with Hegel's Philosophy of History

By :M . Navidi

This article consists of one introduction and five parts which are explained in brief in the introduction to the topics of problems. In the first part, the issue of motion is extensively discussed according to Mulla Sadra's view. In the second part, the writer tries to provide a convincing answer to the problem of whether there is any relationship between motion and perfection on the basis of Sadrian principles.

The topic of the third part, which is itself divided into two other parts, is the philosophy of history in Hegel's view. In the fourth part, the writer makes a comparison between the concepts of motion and perfection in Mulla Sadra's philosophy and those in Hegel's philosophy of history, and the final part of the study is devoted to the conclusion of the presented discussions.

Khayyam and the Problem of Determinism and Free Will

By :A .Nik-Sirat

The main purpose of this paper is to present a short overview of Khayyam's ideas concerning the problem of determinism and freewill in general, and the relationship between God's eternal knowledge and man's free will in particular. In order to present a clear picture of Khayyam's views, the writer has briefly referred to the important theological and philosophical approaches in this regard, too.