mulla Sadra's Life,works,and Philosophy
Prof.S.M.Khamenei
According to what Fayd himself has written, he studied human sciences and logic under his father and uncle for some time. Considering the fact that his father, Shah Murtada, passed away in 1009 A.H, at the time of hayfaz malazi Islam, if we believe that Fayd was born in 1007 A.H, he should have started his studies under his father at birth and continued them until he was two years old. Naturally, this is not acceptable, and even the year of 1004 A.H does not seem to be correct, either.
Through such calculations, Fayd's years of life would be more than what we find in other writings or documents [1](eighty-four), since according to his son, Mohammed al-Huda, Fayd passed away in 1091
A.H, and if he had been born in 1004 A.H, he should have been 87 years old at his time of death.
Apart from his martyred brother, Murtada (born in 1010 A.H), Fayd had four other borthers: Zia al-Din Mohammed (b. 986 A.H), Mohammed Mumin (b. 989 A.H), Sadr al-Din Mohammed (b. 998 A.H), and Abdulqafur (b. 1008 A.H). It seems that he had two sisters between his second and third bothers, and another one between his third and fourth brothers. If we consider the numerical distance between 986 and 989 (3 years) as the natural age difference between his brothers and sisters, we can conclude that Fayd was born in 1004 A.H and not after that.
* * *
By the way, when the young Fayd saw an old mystic who had a youthful heart and was a knowledegable teacher, he fell in love with him and never left him alone until the time of his death. And received his greatest blessing from the hands of this gracious teacher. Fayd writes:
... I was honoured by visiting the master of the people of gnosis and the
1. On his grave stone in Kashan
sun of the sky of certitude; the one who was the highest of all and the unique leader of the time in the knowldge of the innermost. I stayed at his presence and got involved in the purification of the soul and ascetic practice until I developed mastery over the knowledge of the innermost. Finally, I found the honour of being his son in law by marrying his daughter. At this time, I asked Mulla Sadra to grant me the permission to go back to
The above sentences reveal that after finding Mulla Sadra, Fayd did not go after any other teacher. He had found his master and, therefore, did not see any reason for seeking a partner or rival for Mulla Sadra. He saw himself as living with the ocean and, therefore, needless of going after drops of water. Hence, he made home at Mulla Sadra's presence and stayed with him for more than eight years. Finally, as mentioned before, he married Mulla Sadra's daugher and became a member of his family. After Mulla Sadra's returning to
mission (Asharah Kamilah}.
In his treatise, al-insaffi bayan al-farq bayn al-Haq wal-ittisqf, which seems to be related to his middle years (or pehaps last years) of life, Fayd speaks of his motits for choosing and following the mystic way of lite, which is in fact the reason for his commitment to Mulla Sadra and staying at his presence. At the beginning of this treatise, Fayd writes:
However, this treatise is on the ways of learning the secrets of religion, and is specifically written for experts. Due to its being void of cruelty and injustice, the treatise was called Rlmlat al-insaf. The man who has been guided to the way of Mustafa Muhsin ibn Murtada..., When I finished the study of religion and obtaining insight in beliefs and the quality of worship as preached by the Infallible Imams, since, according to the words of the Pure Truth, I did not have to imitate anyone other than the Infallibles, it occurred to me to try to acquire the knowledge of religious secrets and the sciences of Rasikhin (Infallible Imams). This
2.
Risalah Sharh-i Sadr, by Fayd.
3. By reference to Moses's living with Shuayb.
. could lead my soul towards perfection; however, my wisdom had no way in such learnings, and my soul was not at the necessary levels of belief. At the same time, I had no more patience for ignorance, and this tortured me at all times. Therefore, I vainly got involved in a study of theologians' controversial disputes and remained in ignorace through ignorance (a kind of ignorance which I was diligently maintaining)! For some time I studied the disputes among those who pretended to philosophy, and for some other time I followed those who professed sophism. I even went through the foolish ways and words of those who had created some unfounded schools of thought and presented baseless theories. I sometimes summarized the words of the four-fold schools of thought in certain books and treatises, and sometimes mixed their ideas with each other without confirming all of them. However, I could not find the cure for my pains in any of them. As the famous saying goes: They deceived me, robbed me, dominated me, and lied to me. To whom should I take my complaint?' At last, I found refuge at the presence of God.
There are certain points in the above sentences which illuminate Fayd's character and life. First of all, we understand that, as he himself says, he learned exoteric sciences, particularly, jurisprudence, hadith and the related convictions when he was very young. Fayd lived a blissful life, with one of the blisses being his youth. Some seminary students spend their youth almost doing nothing, and some others spend it on the acquisition of the preliminaries of sciences. They have their greatest achievements during the third or fourth periods of their lives. However, Fayd, who had been involved in the learning of religious sciences since childhood, mastered jurisprudence and hadith when he was an adolescent, and then started the learning of other sciences.
If we assume the year 1003 AH as his birth date, we can infer that the twenty years (until he came to
The second point is that he acquired theology, philosophy and sufism after his period of mastering jurisprudence, hadith and preliminary sciences. This is due to his saying that when he finished his learning period, developed spiritual insight of convictions and sayings, and reached the level of exertion, he understood that jurisprudence, the extrinsic knowledge of hadith and its superficial recording, protecting, and carrying do not indicate the perfection of the soul. Rather, they merely represent a kind of superficial perfection and do not reveal Rasikhin's religious secrets and sciences, (what the Infalible Imams know). Neither do they incerase the faith of ordinary people.
Therefore, to reach the ""perfection of the soul', obtain "certain faith' and acquire 'Rasikhins' religious secrets and sciences, Fayd, like Ibrahim (On whom be peace), tries hard, goes to different places, begs to this and that school of thought for knowledge , but finally returns to his first place and finds out that he has wasted his life.
Knowing that one is ignorant is one of the highest levels of humanity, and Fayd had reached this level. On the other hand, he had no patience in face of ignorance, and knowing about his ignorance continually tortured him.
What is more, he was convinced neither by the ideas of famous theologians of the time in Isfahan and other parts of Iran, nor by the philosophy of those who pretended to philosophy, nor by reading about the categories of the sophists of that period, who were quite welcomed in Iran and Ottomans' statess. His thirst was not satisfied in this way and his ignorance, which had left a deep scar on his soul, was not cured.
He refers to a group in this period and calls them Vmn endiyin' (foolish and willful people). We do not know from which tribe they were; however, it seems that they were deceitful brokers and charlatan performers who created knowledge out of nothing, and without relying on any kind of wisdom, tradition, or revelation, spoke of religion like theologians, of wisdom like philosophers, and of the revelation and intuition of realities like sophists; they employed the concealment of Satan, left people wandering in the wilderness of perplexity, or contaminated their minds with false ideas.
Abstracts
Mulla Sadra's Philosophy: Eclecticism or Innovation?
By:Dr.S.M.Mohaqqeq Dammad
Mulla Sadra's place in the process of the development of philosophical thought is such that if we consider his system of philosophy a result of eclecticism and combination of different thoughts and ideas, he plays the role of a spectator in this regard. However, if we consider his school of thought as being based on new and innovative ideas, he plays the role of the innovator in this process, rather than one who simply witnesses the process of development without having any effect in this respect.
An accurate study of Mulla Sadra's books and comparing them with those of his predecessors reveal that he has introduced a specific system of philosophy which is absolutely unprecedented and innovative. In fact, it is impossible for a distinct system to have been- devised through the collection and combination of different ideas issued by different schools of thought. In other words, Mulla Sadra's philosophical system possesses some innovative bases which have never been introduced by any other philosopher before.
The Reality of Knowledge in Mulla Sadra's View
By:Dr.N.Arab Momeni
In this paper, after presenting some of Mulla Sadra's reasons for rejecting the relative and qualitative nature of knowledge, it has been tried to explain his view of the reality of knowledge as meaning the creation of a shadowy existence for the quiddity of things in the world of souls. Reference has also been made to his idea of vision and other senses.
Certain issues have been discussed extensively in the past; for example, equating the reality of knowlege and perception with existence as separated from matter, the
difference between Mulla Sadra and Ibn - Sina's views of perception, the process
and stages of perception in Mulla Sadra's eyes, Mulla Sadra's innovative theory and the problem of correspondence, the union of the soul with the active intellect and archetypes, and knowledge by presence and the problem of correspondence. However, like all other Muslim philosohers, he believes that knowledge certainly represents the reality. In this critical article, the writer has undertaken to refer to the above - mentioned issues and determine their role from a Sadrian perspective.
A New Perspective on the Theory of the Ideas
By:F.Khalegiayan
The monistic feature of metaphysical systems, arising out of a kind of human intrinsic feeling, has occupied the minds of thinkers since long ago. In fact, such systems have always sought for a constant and subsistent thing beyond all existing differnces and restlessness.
Plato's philosophy is based on the following ideas: sensible objects are
appearances rather than realities; they are merely the subject of conjecture rather than knowledge; and the subject of knowledge is the world of intelligibles.
The specific theory of the Ideas is closely related to Plato's theory of the quality
of man's knowledge and, considerning the fact that it views the world merely as
appearance and seeks the truth in a higher and intelligible world, provides the
essence for gnostic thought.
In the process of the development of this idea, Mulla Sadra presents a new
interpretation of the Ideas on the basis of the gradation of existence and the
difference in perfection and imperfection. His interpretation could also be
considered a natural outcome of his theory of the principiality of existence.
Is Islamic Philosophy Identical with Greek Philosophy?
By:Dr.M.Bidhendi
In this paper the writer has first tried to explore the different views in Islamic philosophy, and then propogate the claim that there exists an invaluable and
systematic reality called Islamic philosophy, which began by Kindi, Farabi, and Ibn-Sina, was further developed by Shaykh Ishraq and Mulla Sadra, and still continues to exist.
Islamic philosophy is a historical reality, one which, like other existing schools of philosophy; has been influenced by Greek philosophy in many respects; however, it has posed some novel questions and, at the same time, suggested a series of innovative answers to the existing problems.
Issues in Epistemology
By:M.Shareate
Generally speaking and irrespective of their types, knowledge and perception have no intention other than the discovery and expression of the realities beyond themselves. These features originate from their essence and represent the concept of correspondence from the viewpoint of the knower and perceiver. Therefore, they should inevitably speak of a corresponding being in a receptacle of the receptacles of nqf's al-dmr (the level and limit of the essence of things) from which it has been derived. This very issue is the very realization of the validity criterion for all sciences. Such representativeness or expression of corresspondence, which has arisen out of the innermost of the meaning of knowledge and is inseparable from it, is an inevitable issue, whether in affirmative affairs or in imaginative ones.
In other words, if either correspondence or non-correspondence alone dominate human perception, the sanctity and value of knowledge will not only be questioned, but also totally eliminated, since universal non-correspondence is a gate that obviously gives way to annihilation. The form of universal non-correspondence means the dependence of reality on thought, which leads to nowhere but accepting the relativity and rejection of truth.
This kind of scientific correspondence is the one whose universality and correctness have been generally discussed by epistemologists merely in the field of imagination.
The Fundamental Differences between
Philosophy and Gnosis
By:Dr.M.S.Hasan Abadi
Philosophy and gnosis are two distinct fields of knowledge which share a series of terminology, such as existent and non-existent, One and many, the Truth and creation, originated and eternal, cause and effect, and substance and accident, and at the same time, differ in the ways the philosopher and the gnostic interpret the meanings of these terms. There are a number of fundamental differences between these two branches of knowledge in terms of their principles, problems and ends. The purpose of this paper is to familiarize readers with the related discussions by refering to their most important distinctions.
Formal and Universal Unity in Suarez
By:M.Sane pour
The difference between Suarez and Scotus's ideas of "denomination" has given rise to the development of two different theories: 1) the theory of the dependence of actual universals on man's mind; and 2) Scotus's nominalist theory.
The examination of such accidental and essential views of denomination reveals that, according to Suarez, the denomination of universal natures is of the accidental type, and the result of the referential similarity which is based on the causal relation between the existing objective truth and the actual universal in the mind. He also rejects the essential denomination of univresals. Accordingly, the universal concept is the product of a process of mental abstraction; moreover, there is a kind of real similarity among the individuals of the same kind which is the basis of common nature and quiddity. However, the distinctions among external natures are of the type of real and objective affairs. Nevertheless, the genetic psychology of universal concepts considers the theories of Suarez and Scotus on universals as being quite similar to each other.
The Relation between the Orginated and the Eternal
By:A.Shukr
The relation of the orginated to the eternal, and also the relation of the changing to the constant are among the issues which have been discussed in different branches of theology and philosophy since long ago. The main problem here is, if the cause and effect should be homogeneous, what kind of homogeneity there is between the "eternal and constant", which are considered as the cause of the "orignated and the changing".
To solve the problem, different theological and philsophical schools have propesed different solutions in the light of their own theoretical bases. These solutions have each been criticized by others in a way. The present papar aims to examine and investigate the related ideas and, eventually, solve the problem differently on the basis of some of the theories of the Transcendent Philosophy.