Mull Sadra's Life,works,and Philosophy

Prof.S.M.Khamenei

These groups and people are obviously different from Mulla Sadra, who was Fayd's spiritual master and guide all through his life. Fays calls Mulla Sadra as 'the master of the people of gnosis and the moon of the sky of certitude', as well as 'the unique leader of the time in the techniques of the knowledge of the innermost'.

The third point is that after going through all these stages, discovering Mulla Sadra provided Fayd with a permanent support, secure shelter and Kaaba of hopes for removing ignorance from his soul and training it for achieving his ultimate goal. A study of Fayd's works and thoughts reveal that he found his true teacher, Mulla Sadra, an ideal model and a pleasant and ultimate symbol for himself. It also shows that it was the Divine Light of Guidance that led him to the threshold of this great philosopher.

The sentences he uses in his treatise, al-Insaf, are pretty similar to those in Mulla Sadra's treatises of Sih asl and Kasr al-asnam al-jahiliyyah. Like his teacher, Fayd considers the years of his life spent on the acquisition of exoteric sciences or those disciplines having claims to real knowledge as wasted time and believes that all types of knowledge and true philosophical and Gnostic realities can only be found in the Holy Qur'an, hadith, and statements of the descendants of Prophet Mohammed (s).

The tone of Fayd's language in the introduction of al-Insaf is the same as the resonating tone of the introduction of al-Asfar; the pain Fayd feels in his heart is the same as the pain felt there, and his complaint is the same complaint against the people of the time and those who pretend to religion and wisdom. He praises the teachings in the hadiths narrated by the holy Prophet (s) and his descendants and considers them as his only hope for salvation and happiness; nevertheless, he calls the traditionists (scholars of hadith) and theologians of his time as 'unauthorized people pretending to follow the path of God's messenger'. He uses these attributes equally for Shi'ite and non-Shi'ite scholars.

The above-mentioned words indicate that Fayd and some of Mulla Sadra's other elite students of philosophy viewed attending their master's presence as the last step towards the completion of their process of scientific studies and inquiries.

Finally, after finding Mulla Sadra as his ultimate hope, Fayd stayed in his presence for eight successive years and never left him during this time. In addition to benefiting from Mulls Sadra's experiences in philosophy and gnosis, Fayd was acquainted with the language of the Qur'an and the Divine Speech. He enjoyed the drunkenness of the wine of the world of pre-existence and, like the ancient young magians, devoted himself to serving the master magi and learnt the secrets of love and drunkenness from him. He spent eight years of his life with Mulla Sadra and, in his own words, got involved in ascetic practice and spiritual struggle.

As discussed previously (in the first volume), Mulla Sadra must have traveled from Qum to Shiraz in 1039 A.H. or a little after it.¹ About one year before it, Fayd married Mulla Sadra's daughter, and in their journey to Shiraz, their first son, Mohammed, nicknamed as Alam al-huda (born in 1039 A.H.) was with them. Fayd, accompanied with his family, stayed in Shiraz for completing his studies under his gracious teacher. During his stay, he learned the last secrets of knowledge and then, carrying a heavy load of learning, including the knowledge of the Holy Qur'an, hadith, intellectual and hearty discipleship, scientific issues and intellectual intuition, and with a heart overflowing with the enthusiasm to guide and train others, returned to his hometown (1041 or 1042 A.H.)

1. This birth of Mohammed, Fayd's son and Mulla Sadra's grandson, was at the beginning of 1039 A.H.; therefore, it can be safely concluded that the journey to Shiraz took place in the middle or end of that year.

The Fayd who came back to Kashan was a divine Fayd, gifted with an in-debt knowldge of exoteric and esoteric sciences, a Fayd who was now ahead of his father in jurisprudence, leaving his ancestor - Zia al-Urafa -behind in gnosis. At that time, Kashan was a populous and big town, praised by all the explorers of the period, including the French Chevalier Tavernier.

Kashan was called Dar al-iman (the house of faith) since long ago, and this was because, like Qum, it was a base for Shi'ism, and at times, when the non-Shi'ite rulers could not bear the existence of Shi'ism and people's believing in the Imamate (leadership) of the descendants of the holy Prophet (s) and, as a result, massacred and looted the Shi'ites for the most trivial excuses, this city was a secure home for the followers of this religion. Moreover, the two cities of Kashan and Qum had always been the gathering place for Shi'ite scholars, jurisprudents, and traditionists and, due to the nature and culture of Shi'ism, Shi'ite gnosis found its way into these places, and a number of prominent scientists, specialized in all fields of knowledge, made their homes there. As mentioned before, the last rings of these chains were Fayd's father and ancestor, whom Fayd was going to replace.

In his biography, Fayd writes, "... I returned to Kashan and started teaching, spreading knowldge, publicizing religion, and writing. I performed the Friday prayer and religious services in company with some elite scholars, sometimes in the corner of Qamsar village and sometimes in the middle of the city of Kashan. Except for me, none of the scholars believed in the objective necessity of the Friday prayer, and finally I was invited by Shah Safi to go to Isfahan".

The triangle of teaching, publicizing religion, and writing comprised the three important duties of scholars in those days, particularly in cities where they had not turned into specialized tasks yet, and the residents of those places required an expert scholar to take care of these duties.

Fayd's writings and books are available to us today, and we are well aware of their historical backgrounds. More than one hundred and forty books, treatises, commentaries, glosses, translations, summaries, compositions, and interpretations have been attributed to him.

A glance at his list of works not only reveals his expertise in different branches of knowledge and mastery over them, but also introduces his spiritual characteristics and thoughts.

His efficiency, taste, and supreme ambitions and endeavors are only a few examples of his unique qualities.

In addition to possessing knowledge, scientific perfection, a high station in narrating hadith, interpretation, jurisprudence, philosophy, theology, gnosis, and so many other areas, Fayd had such high aspirations that resulted in his prolific writings. His being a humanitarian and paying attention to ordinary people's needs are apparent from his writings in Persian, translations of Arabic texts, and ordinary or scientific works. A scholar who only thinks about accumulating and storing knowledge .within the confinements of his mind and memory, according to Sa'adi Shirazi, is like a recluse pious person or gnostic who only tries to save himself from the waves of the tide (only thinks about himself), while a scholar who shares his dominion of knowledge with ordinary people and generously presents his knowldge, like milk oozing from a mother's breast, to those who need it, reminds us of the verse saying, 'he tries to save the drowning'.

Apart from his writings and books, which require an independent chapter and an extensive discussion, his teaching method requires special attention. His writings reveal that he possessed an attractive and pleasant way of explaining things, in line with his beauty of taste and delicacy of nature, and resulting in a poetic use of language. Eloquence of speech and beauty of exposition are among the necessary tools for teachers and professors. His master, Mulla Sadra, was also equipped" with such perfections. Like a laden cloud arising from the ocean and longing for satiating thirsty desert people, Fayd returned to his town to offer his overflowing knowledge to the enthusiasts.

Abstracts

Understanding God's Speech in Mulla Sadra's

School of Philosophy

Prof.S.M.Khamenei

Mulla Sadra's interpretaion or hermeneutic of the Divine speech, which is inspired by the hermeneutic interpretation of the Holy Qur'an, can be considered as a bridge reconciling philosophical and traditional hermeneutics with each other, as well as a foundation for philosophical hermeneutics.

Man's understanding is a complex process which cannot be restricted to a general principle. Concerning the study of man's understanding and interpretation of the Divine Words and Revelation (genetic or religious), Mulla Sadra believes that the best proof for demonstrating the relation between understanding or interpretation and man's existence is tantamount to the existential relation between the macro anthropo and micro anthropo. And the best method for proving the relation of language, being, and the manifestation of being in language to each other is the perception of the classification of the grades of being - from objective existence to verbal existence. This is because on the basis of the fact that the reality of existence enjoys vertical and horizontal levels and grades, the genetic and religious forms of the Divine Language are two existential forms of the same reality.

The Application of the Principle of the Simple

 Truth to Non-numerical Oneness

Mohammed Bidhendi

Imam Ali (a) has presented an accurate and subtle definition for Oneness in Nahj al-balagah. Reference has also been made to this definition in the Quran; however, it has been totally ignored and abandoned not only before Islam, but also one thousand years after it. There is an abundance of evidence indicating that the emergence of Sadrian Transcendent Philosophy paved the'ground for a better perception of this Alawite thought.

Briefly speaking, Mulla Sadra states that the Oneness of the Glorified is a non-numerical one, since numerical oneness which is an accidental attribute is rooted in the limitations of things. Accordingly, The Pure is* One in the sense that His existence and attributes are free from any kind of limitation or defect.

In this paper, the writer, while discussing the viewpoint of Nahj al-balaqah in this regard, and explaining the concepts of numerical and non-numerical oneness in the light of the principle of "The Truth in its Simplicity Contains all Things", has tried to provide a rational and philosophical account of the issue.

The Reality of Knowledge in Mulla Sadra

Nasir Mumini

In order to solve the problem of the correspondence of knowledge with the external reality, it seems necessary to discuss issues such as the union of the soul with the active intellect and immutable archetypes, knowledge by presence, and the problem of correspondence when inquiring into the reality of knoweldge from Mulla Sadra's viewpoint.

Like other Muslim philosophers, Mulla Sadra believes that the verisimilitude of knowledge and the correspondence between knowldge and the known are based on knowledge by persence. However, a review of his ideas concerning knowledge and his words about knowledge by presence cast suspicion on the truth and strength of this problem.

Accordingly, following a critical approach, the writer intends to discuss the above-mentioned topics in this paper and, at the same time, clarify their role in solving the problem of the reality of knowledge with respect to Mulla Sadra's views.

Ambiguities of the Issue of the Principiality of

Existence and Quiddity's Being Mentally-Posited

Monireh Palangi

Although the issue of the principiality of existence is introduced as one of the innovative and most fundamental issues of Sadrian philosophy, it seems to suffer from certain ambiguities. The effects of such ambiguities are sometimes so great that they cause problems in clearly interperting some of the other principles and positions adopted by this school of philosophy.

To explain this issue, we should first see whether Mulla Sadra has presented a clear and accurate definition for the concept of principiality, so that in the light of which we could understand the quiddity's being mentally-posited. We should also inquire if external quiddity, alongside with mental quiddity - whose existence he assumes necessary in his discussion of mental existence - has any realization, and explore its relation to the principial existence. On the other hand, one might ask how we could consider something which possesses external realization in some way, although through a kind of union with existence as being mentally-posited.

By clarifying the relation between principial existence and the external quiddity, the meanings of the principiality of existence and quiddity's being mentally-posited can be re-evaluated. Undoubtedly, the best way for doing this is to resort to Mulla Sadra's own words to prove that this ambiguity is in fact rooted in his own words. Ultimately, one might conclude that the main source of this ambiguity is his confusion of conceptual or mental quiddity with the external quiddity.

Soul and Spirit in Philosophy and Gnosis

Mukhtar Tabaah Izadi

The evaluation and clarification of the nature and reality of man's soul are among the most important problems philosophers and gnostics deal with. At the beginning of the section of the knowledge of the soul (Urn al-nafs) of philosophy, philosophers always refer to this issue and try to analyze it. Philosophical issues follow a specific logical order in both form and content. However, in gnostic books, the problems which are related to the soul - like many other ones - are not only vaguely treated, but also scatteredly presented-in different chapters. In fact, in spite of the prime importance of the problem of spirit in gnosis, no specific chapter has been devoted to it, while it has been mentioned in most of the chapters in their books.

Gnostics, as the science of gnosis necessitates, follow a completely divine and metaphysical approach in their analysis of the reality of the soul and study it from its reflexive (being like a mirror) aspect, while philosophers pay attention to the mental aspect of the soul and its connection to nature as well.

The most important point occupying the minds of philosophers succeeding Aristotle, concerning his definition of the soul, pertains to Mulla Sadra's arguments with the Peripateric philosophers as to whether Aristotle's definition is related to the reality of the soul or its connective mode. Some of the ideas -concerning the reality of the soul are possibly too strange. The reason for having a tendency towards such ideas could be the complexity of this issue, so that some thinkers believe that the reality of the soul can never be known, and some of them, in confirming this claim, have resorted to one of the verses in the Holy Qur'an (Al-Isra Chapter: 85).

Katibi's Puzzle in the Light of the

Transcendent Philosophy

Ali Asghar gafari

The presentation of a comprehensive report of all available criticisms and their evaluation will be greatly revealing concerning logicians' methodology and epistemology. Their deliberations and insights concerning the issue of relation and criticizing the inferential principles that are based on this concept, as well as the evaluation of the efficiency of the issue, have appeared in different forms. Conceptual criticisms lead to new conceptualizations, and the posing of contradictory examples for inferential principles consolidates the principles themsleves and, in certain cases, leads to the discovery of new ones. Some of the criticisms in the history of logic are known as logical puzzles. It should be emphasized that in their process of historical development, a lot of responses have been given to such puzzles, and that they have been good targets for a host of objections; however, all the responses and objections have been at the service of merely strengthening their forms of ambiguity or paradox, such as Katibi's Puzzle'.

Such criticisms are targeted at the problems and issues related to the field of relation. If these issues are discovered, the pervious research studies, which are each relatod to a specific topic, will continue in a focused line of activity. It goes without saying that studies of this kind possess undeniable advatages in practice in the mould of logical deliberations and criticism.

The Problem of Making (ja /) in Islamic Philosophy

Ali Shahbazi

 

The focal point of the discussion of making (ja I) is the possible thing, since it requires a cause for being realized. This issue is related to discussions related to cause and effect, existence and non-existence, and quiddity and existence; therefore, Islamic philosophers have referred to it under different titles.

Philosophers have dealt with this issue with reference to the general philosophical and theological movements, and particularly from the viewpoints of two important philosophical positions, namely, the" Peripatetic and Illuminationist schools of thought. Perhaps one of the most important reasons that the idea of the making of quiddity or existence has been attributed to the Peripatetcis or Illuminations is that, concerning the issue of the principiality of existence or quiddity, it is normally stated that Illuminationists believe in the principiality of quiddity and the Perpaterics believe in the principiallity of existence. And since the problem of making is to some extent based on the problem of the principiality of existence or quiddity, they have implicitly referred to the necessity of discussing these issues at the same time.

Accordingly, the problem of making (ja' l), like many other philosophical problems, turned into a controversial issue, arousing a great number of arguments and, as a result, different groups, following different ideas, proposed different proofs in this regard. Finally, Mulla Sadra redefined the issue of making and presented it in a new and orderly fashion.