Mulla Sadra's Life, Works, and Philosophy

 Prof. S. M. Khamenei 

During that time, scholars and thinkers were happy with having an independent government that claimed to believe in Shi'ism, respected clergies, appreciated knowledge, and tried to promote the economical status of the society. However, they also suffered from the inherent corruption of royal courts, the cruelty of kings and rulers, and the incursion of the sword-carrying Turks in the army pretending to advocate Sufism, as well as from the abundance of turban-wearing, pretentious, deceptive, ambitious, and corrupt pseudo-scholars. They were particularly tormented by the unified class of false-thinkers, who always led the front line as the enemies of philosophers and gnostics of that time, i.e. Mulla Sadra, Mir Damad, Faye, and Fayyae. The members of this group, while taking shelter in their satanic castles, never spared a moment targeting these men of God with their spears of slander and insult and plotting against them.

This group had put their contemporary scholars and philosophers under so much pressure (by the words of their tongues and pens) that, in spite of the respect and appreciation they received from the kings or rulers and government authorities, they had to remain in dissimulation and conceal their faith or work secretly in fear of their honor and life. This was also the case with Shaykh Baha, Mir Damad, Mulla Sadra, and even Faye. We can see this issue in its extreme form in Hakim Lahiji's life. It appears that, unlike his master and even more than Faye, Fayyae could conform to the social conditions of his time and worried a lot about his honor and safety. His being famous as a theologian, although he was a gnostic philosopher, and the ideas that he posed in his books - which were apparently against those of Sufis, gnostics, and even his master, Mulla Sadra, testify to the truth of this claim.

Lahiji himself believed that he was nothing more than a handful of soil that had turned into pure gold in Mulla Sadra's workshop of alchemy. He had studied Ishraqi wisdom, Qur'anic and Islamic gnosis, and luminous and ontological Transcendent Philosophy for a long time under that distinguished, open-minded, and illustrious gnostic. He was, in fact, drunk with the nectar of the fountain of paradise. In that atmosphere of strangulation and in a space in which, on the one hand, a kind of Ikhbari trend had risen in the field of hadith, and, on the other, the Shi'i school of theology had mixed with Ash'arite thoughts and the principles of Peripatetic philosophy (following Aristotle and claiming rationality), Lahiji saw no choice but to speak as the authorities pleased in order to maintain his honor and protect his own life and the seminary that his master had founded after experiencing a lot of difficulties and bitter reactions. Accordingly, like other philosophers and gnostics, he had to observe both the rules of 'drunkenness and concealment' at the same time and, in fact, keep both sides satisfied with himself.

Mulla Sadra's bitter experiences had taught Lahiji and his other students or even offsprings that one has to pay a high price for being frank and brave. They also indicated that not everyone could bear the terrible pressure that the ignoble and cowardly people imposed upon true scholars. He wrote his books following the theological method of Khwajah Nasir al-Din Tusi and his commentators. He sometimes even ignored his master's well-known principles in his works due to this very fear of the heavy anti-Sadrian atmosphere rather than his lack of belief.

One of the (good-natured) opponents of Mulla Sadra's school was Mulla Rajabali Tabrizi, who was also contemporary with Fayyad. He never brought faith in this school and always wished to compete with Mulla Sadra and close his seminary. One of Fayyad's students, (Qazi) Mirza Saeed Qumi, left his master's presence to study under Mulla Rajabali Tabrizi. As mentioned before, Fayyad was extremely worried about his talented student's familiarity with that teacher of philosophy and theology (residing in Isfahan) and wrote in a poem, "It is necessary to keep Joseph away from the wolf ..."

Now we might ask, if, instead of the secrets of being in love and the pleasant Sadrian methods, he taught exactly the same points and books that Mulla Rajabali and his type did, why was he worried about his student; why did he equate going to the classes of that anti-dhawq (taste) and anti-Sadrian gnosis with taking poison; and why did he view his Joseph as prey to the wolf of the field of wisdom and knowledge?

If in his heart he were not loyal to his master's principles, against which people like Rajabali thought to be fighting, and if he did not teach them secretly to his selected and talented students, why should he express so much pity in his Diwan (collection of poems) for one of his students when he left his class for another master?

For Lahiji, who was an old man in his seventies and had a crowded or perhaps unique seminary in Qum, it could not have been so important to have one or some of his understudies to leave his seminary for another one or to move to another city. It appears that his only motif for such a disappointment and anguish was his fear of pseudo-scholars to plant the seeds of colocynth in his Sadrian garden of gnosis and wisdom and ruin the products of its gardeners' sufferings.

Why should Mulla Sadra's theory of the principiality of being, which represents the culmination of the development of Islamic philosophy or even post-Aristotelian philosophy, be left aside, and why should the agnostic principle of the principiality of quiddity be disseminated and taught? If people like Mulla Rajabali were capable of doing this, it was impossible for a man of such good taste like Fayyad Lahiji to do so.

If we pay attention to his Arabic works (e.g. Sharh-i tajrid), his faith and inner belief in the principles of the Transcendent Philosophy will be revealed to us. For instance, unlike his being famous for believing in the principiality of quiddity, we can clearly witness his belief in the principiality of existence and his certainty about it in his writings.

Nevertheless, he was afraid of the misfortunes that might happen in future and wrote in the introduction to Shawariq al-ilham:

All or most of the old or new writers (and the commentators of Tusi's Tajrid al-kalam) have only paid attention to the outward aspect of this issue and are still unaware of its inner meaning. The writer decided to write this book due to the insistence of his friends and some talented people. He particularly complied with the request made by one of his friends who, like one of the believers of the Pharaoh's court, had to conceal his belief (Mu'min-e Al-e Fir'un, referred to in the Holy Qur'an). This person is apparently an opponent but one of the people of the luminous and Ishraqi wisdom in reality. However, the writer is well-aware of the fact that, in this way, he has made himself the target of his opponents and rivals' criticisms...

Obviously, if he shared the common beliefs of his time, he would have never worried about his enemies' hostility and the wounds that their spears might have caused to his spirit.

One of the issues that has been propounded with great subtlety in this book is the principiality of existence and the rejection of the principiality of quiddity. This is not only one of the well-known principles of Mulla Sadra's Transcendent Philosophy, but also the basis of his school of thought. In the part devoted to general principles of metaphysics, he points out that the realization of everything depends on existence, and that quiddity is a rational consideration. Concerning the issue of making (ja'l), he says:

Making and emanation (sudur) are not in conformity with the mentally-posited nature of existence. This is because making is the same as effusion, and the emanation and effusion of the quiddity of the effect from the quiddity of the cause is meaningless, because quiddities are different from each other and ungradable. Therefore, the effect is the very existence in the outside, and quiddity is a mentally-posited issue which is the same as existence and in unity with it.

In a part of this chapter he says, "I intend to write an independent treatise on this topic (the principilaity of existence)!" This indicates that he did not consider dissimulation to be permissible when teaching and training. He not only believed in his master's basic theories and principles, but also taught them. However, this is not in contrast to his following the common trend of pre-and post-Islam gnostics in honoring concealment and teaching his beliefs and ideas only to some of his highly talented students who truly deserved them.

Nevertheless, Lahiji has a book in Persian, called Gowhar-e murad, which he wrote in the name of Shah Abbas II. This book was written for ordinary people and not exclusively for his favorite students. Its content is in conformity with Peripatetic principles, and the basic views of Khwajah Nasir Tusi and Lahiji's contemporary philosophers have been taken in to consideration in writing it.

However, we see at the end of this theological book that, under the pretext of dealing with practical wisdom and ethics, he enters the field of gnosis and writes in some part of that chapter as follows: "... and considering what was said previously, we understand that the level of knowledge is much higher than the level of wisdom, and gnostics' words are dearer than those of philosophers ..."

 * * *

 Abstracts

Time and Temporality 

Seyyed Mohammed Khamenei

 The issue of time and temporal things has always been one of the most important topics discussed in different periods. Aristotle and Plato presented two well-known theories in this regard, and Plotinus considered it to be originated in the universal soul (the third hypostasis). The mediaeval philosophers also propounded various ideas concerning this issue.

Muslim philosophers divided the worlds of existence into fixed and disengaged (non-material) and material and changing types. Mir Damad proposed the world of perpetual duration for fixed existents and the world of creation for material and changing existents.

However, by demonstrating motion in substance and the continuous change of matter, which is due to the Divine permanent effusion, Mulla Sadra followed a new way and proved that time is, on the one hand, the very line of the trans-substantial motion of matter, and, on the other hand, the very quantitative expression of the Divine effusions.

Key words:

Time                                                           perpetual duration

effusion                                                      temporality

continuous motion                                        trans-substantial motion

cutting motion                                              everlasting

 

Why is Mulla Sadra Called Sadr al-Muta'allihin (Foremost among Philosophers)?

 Gholam Reza A'wāni 

It is about 4 centuries that Mulla Sadra is called as Sadr al-Muta'allihin; however, we have never asked ourselves why he is called so. In order to know the reason for this, we should first see what ta'alluh (deiformity) means, whether it is a specific kind of wisdom, and what the characteristics of ta'alluhi wisdom are. After obtaining the necessary answers to the above questions, we should follow a historical perspective in this regard. In this way, we can trace the development of ta'alluhi wisdom in Islamic and western worlds and locate its place in today's world. Finally, we can talk about Mulla Sadra's place in this process. Some thinkers believe that Mulla Sadra is called Sadr al-Muta'allihin because he explored in the realm of divine knowledge. This view might be correct as well as not. The reason for its being incorrect is that many people have dealt with the problems of the divine knowledge, but they are not nicknamed muta'allih. For example, Ibn Sina is one of the most prominent Islamic philosophers of the world and a sage in the real sense of the word, and it seems that he well deserves this title. However, no one has ever called him as muta'allih. 

Key words:

deiformity                                                   deiformity wisdom

discursive wisdom                                       intuitive wisdom

the transcendent wisdom                              intimative ethics

Khosrawani wisdom

 

Natural Environment in the Transcendent Philosophy 

Sayyid Mustafā Muhaqqiq Dāmād

Common people believe that philosophy is a science dealing with subjects that are completely distinct from those in ordinary life. Upon hearing the word 'philosopher', they imagine a person who has completely abandoned normal life and just thinks about being in its transcendent sense. Although, this idea is to some extent well-established in laymen's minds, the history of philosophical thought does not confirm it. Moreover, the philosophers' practical and scientific conducts, whether in the past or present, reveal that they have always engaged themselves in the problems that have been of importance to our daily lives and, directly or indirectly, related to them.

It is true that philosophers think about being in general, but it is also an undeniable fact that a major part of their mental occupations pertain to the existence of the world and man, his place in the world, and his relation to the entire being.

Key words:

environment                                                ecology

nature                                                         levels of being

oneness of being                                          life of nature

mustering of nature

 

Permissibility of the Use of Empirical Sciences in Epistemology

 Rezā Akbari

 The traditional approaches to epistemology are task-oriented and enjoy prescriptive aspects. They do not allow the employment of empirical sciences in epistemology. This is because they believe that such sciences lack any kind of prescriptive aspect and enjoy a descriptive nature. Some contemporary epistemological theoreticians, such as realist naturalists, believe that we have no choice but to employ empirical sciences in epistemology, for they provide us with a more accurate understanding of concepts such as justification and knowledge. It appears that we are able to provide the necessary answers to the problems posed by traditional epistemologists in this regard. Therefore, the use of empirical sciences in epistemology is not only permissible but also necessary.

 Key words:

empirical sciences                                       prescriptive epistemology

descriptive epistemology                              eliminativist naturalism

realist naturalism

 

Nature in Philosophy

Jamshid Sadri

Nature has various meaning in the realm of philosophy. It is, in fact, one of the terms that have been used in different meanings in different historical periods. An awareness of such meanings and distinguishing them from each other will help to avoid confusion among different issues. In this paper, the writer has shortly referred to the various meanings of nature in Aristotle, Ibn Sina, and Mulla Sadra. He has also explained the difference between the use of the word 'nature', on the one hand, and those of 'potency', 'form', and 'temperament'. The general meaning of nature is the very essence, and its specific meaning refers to anything that constitutes essence. Therefore, since specific forms constitute essence, they are called nature. The particular meaning of nature is the primary source of motion and rest.

In Ibn Sina's view, nature is a motion that is emanated from an inanimate body following a specific method. Aristotle considers nature as the sum total of natural objects, i.e. the collection of objects that are prepared for the beginning of a change that is going to reach an end. After referring to the three-fold meanings of nature, Mulla Sadra deals with the relation between nature and form. He argues the form is the actuality of an object. This meaning of form in simple things refers to their nature, since the nature in a simple body is the same as its actuality. The difference between these two terms pertains to their concepts rather than to their referents. However, form is not identical with nature in composite things, and the difference between the two is a real one. Mulla Sadra also proposes another meaning for nature and says that nature itself enjoys renewed beings that represent motion. This motion can be essential or accidental; it can exist in bodies lacking in awareness or in bodies enjoying it; it can be voluntary or involuntary; it can follow a single or multiple methods in action. In this sense, like motion, the nature is continually in renewal. Mulla Sadra also demonstrates the createdness of the world in this way.

Key words:

nature                                                         form

temperament

 

The Disjunctive Imaginal World (Barzakh) in Our Philosophy 

Mansour Imanpour 

The interpretation of being and the analysis of its levels has always been one of the basic mental occupations of Islamic philosophers in the course of history. On the one hand, there are some Islamic philosophers who, on the basis of their philosophical system and its concomitants, negate the disengagement and transition of corporeal and quantitative form of the prepared hyle and, as a result, reject the disjunctive imaginal world in the arc of descent. On the other hand, there are some other Islamic philosophers who, considering the principles of their philosophy, particularly the issue of gradation, agree with the realization of the disjunctive imaginal world Ideas in the arc of descent and by referring to certain pieces of intuitive evidence and rational arguments try to justify and demonstrate it.

This paper undertakes to present the theories of both groups and inquire into their principles and arguments concerning the issue of the disjunctive imaginal world in the arc of descent. It is also emphasized that this world is one of the blessed concomitants of the issue of gradation, particularly concerning being.

 Key words:

being                                                          barzakh

world                                                          Image

levels of being

 

 Secret of Destiny in Ibn Arabi

 Monir al-Sādāt Purtoulami

 In this paper, after providing a brief account of the oneness of being as the center of Ibn Arabi's philosophy, the writer discusses the secret of destiny. However, since a complete perception of this issue depends on perceiving the meaning of immutable archetypes in Ibn Arabi's worldview, the writer initially introduces them as the concomitants and forms of the Divine Names and differentiates among their various subjective considerations. Later she explains the term 'the secret of destiny' and the consequence of being aware of it in detail. She also discusses issues such as the sovereignty of archetypes and the dependence of knowledge on the known, which entails meanings similar to that of secret of destiny. 

Key words:

oneness of being                                          knowledge

manifestation and epiphany                          secret of destiny

immutable archetypes

 

 Minimal Realist Subjectivism and its Problems in the Field of Perceptive Faculties

 Mas'ud Omid

 The realistic epistemology that has been introduced in Allamah Tabatabai's Usul-i falsafah wa rawesh-e realism enjoys a specific subjectivist aspect that can be called minimal realist subjectivism. This approach intends to draw some clear-cut boundaries to determine the limit of the subject, and, in this way, prevent its maximal qualitative interference.

On the other hand, this approach believes in some other notions such as 'perceptive faculties', whose concomitants create some problems which will finally impede a proper establishment of this approach.

The present paper intends to explore these problems while focusing on perceptive faculties.

 Key words:

perception                                                   perceptive faculties

realism                                                        knowledge

subjectivism                                                subject

 

Gnostic Principles of the Hermeneutic Interpretation of the Qur'an in Mulla Sadra

 Fātemeh Mohammedi Ārāni

Mulla Sadra presents the principles and bases of his hermeneutic interpretation in harmony with Gnostics. He sees the differences among the worlds of being and their conformities with each other as the secret of the inward aspect of the Qur'an. In his view, the grades and levels of the world of being are in conformity with each other, and any existent existing in one of the worlds also exists in an acceptable way in the other world.

The Qur'an, which is the perfect manifestation of Divine knowledge, reveals and explains the realities of being that are manifested in the levels of being. Therefore, like being, the Holy Qur'an has a number of inward aspects that are in conformity with the levels of being. As a result, the Qur'anic terms and propositions enjoy a kind of semantic plurality or polysemy that is rooted in their conforming to the levels of being.

Key words:

hermeneutic interpretation                            outward

inward                                                        book of creation

book of gathering                                         soulish book

 

The Epistemological Relation between the Soul and the Truth in the Clarification of the Problems of the Transcendent Philosophy 

Abdullah Salawāti

 Self-knowledge and its relation to the knowledge of God is a problem that has occupied the minds of philosophers and gnostics since long ago. They have benefited from the epistemological relation between the soul and the Truth to explain certain philosophical issues. The justification is that by an accurate description of self-knowledge and its relation to the faculties, one can find access to some of the decrees and states of the Almighty Truth and discover His relation to the world.

In the Transcendent Philosophy, too, self-knowledge is employed as the key to divine treasures, and a great number of philosophical problems are explained on the basis of the epistemological relation between the soul and the Truth. In this paper, the writer has referred to some of the decrees and problems that can be clarified in the light of this relation.

 

Key words:

self-knowledge                                            predestination and entrusting

knowledge of the Truth                                similarity and incomparability

pre-eternity                                                 unity and multiplicity

presence                                                     unity of Divine Acts

the epistemological relation between the soul and the Truth