Mulla Sadra's Life, Works, and Philosophy

 Prof. S. M. Khamenei

 

2. School: Although Fayyad was a master of arts and well-versed in Peripatetic philosophy, Ishraqi wisdom, Shi'i, theology, and gnosis, he had no school of his own in relation to these fields. However, one cannot deny his specific method in the revision and combination of difficult philosophical and theological issues.

Fayyad's writings enjoy strength, fluency, and depth of meaning. His contemporary theologians (from Shiraz, Taftazan, and Jurjan), such as the commentators of al-Tajrid, al-Mawaqif, and al-Maqasid, were like students whose homework was imperfect and required their master's final judgment.

In the domain of theology, he was at the same level with Khwajah Nasir al-Din Tusi, and in the realm of philosophy he reminds us of Mulla Sadra and Mir Damad. Moreover, when dealing with gnosis, he behaved as if his knowledge is merely limited to this field.

His treatise of Tashriqat reveals his gnostic and Ishraqi spirit. In fact, it explains the gnostic and Ishraqi theories of government and, by posing the "principle of justice", along with "the principle of unity", he provides a picture and example of the functional and social nature of theoretical gnosis for human societies. It also introduces to Safawid Kings the place and origin of government, which is the very station of wisdom, justice, and knowledge of religion or the so-called Imamat (leadership), on the basis of Shi'i principles.

The policy of the Qur'an and the hadiths of the Prophet's Household for the administration of the society is based on a collection of supreme Divine values which he called Divine Unity. According to his definition, unity is of four levels: The unity of Divine Acts, unity of Divine Attributes, unity of Divine Names, and essential Unity. Justice, as a distinctive and obvious Divine Attribute, is one of the manifestations of the unity of Divine Acts. Of course, government is truly and essentially a permanent and stable Divine Right which God has left in trust with the perfect man due to His Benevolence and Mercifulness. Thus as long as there is a perfect man in the world, he will be God's successor on the earth. After him, this position is assigned to others who deserve Divine vicegerency, manifest Divine attributes and acts, enjoy the knowledge of wisdom and jurisprudence (minor and major types), and are ornamented by the jewel of justice and benevolence.

This policy is very close to that of Khusrawani philosophers of ancient Iran. Pythagoreans and Orphics of the ancient West learnt this policy from them, and Alexandrian gnostics such as Plotinus publicized it. It is wrong to assume that Muslim philosophers and gnostics learnt it from ancient philosophers rather than from the people of the Prophets' Household. This is because the greater richness of Islam and the Prophet's Household reveals the independence of this religious school.

Like Fayd, Mulla Sadra, and his masters, such as Shaykh Baha and Mir Damad, Fayyad believed that the "mine of wisdom" was nothing but the very "abode of revelation", i.e. the Sunna of the Prophet and the people of his Household and says: "Fayyad, why are holding the book of Greek wisdom when you have access to the wisdom of the Mother of the Book?"

Unlike those who consider him a Peripatetic philosopher, those who introduce him as an Ishraqi sage opposing Peripatetics, or those who say that he was a theologian heedless of philosophical principles, we must say that he was a Sadrian philosopher. However, due to certain policies, he opposed some of the theories of his master. Obviously, he did not advocate theologians and, in spite of his mastery over their ideas and arguments, followed the research methods of philosophers in writing all his books. In fact, like the master of all masters, Khwajah Nasir al-Din Tusi, he shattered theology from inside in guise of a theologian.

We must even say that his Gohar morad, which is famous as a book on theology, is in fact a book on philosophy. Except for a few cases, Fayyad followed his master completely. He was not heedless of philosophers' principles; rather, he chose some of their ideas and theories and tried to explain and demonstrate them.

He based his ideas on some principles and basic theories that were acceptable to Peripatetic philosophers and followed their beliefs concerning substances, accidents, hyle, elements, humors, vegetative, animal, and rational souls, the four-fold levels of the intellect, the body-soul relation, the origination of the soul with the origination of the body, the demonstration of spherical souls, etc. However, like Mulla Sadra, he might have pretended to accept such issues in order to be able to discuss them with Peripatetics and encourage philosophers to rely on their own principles. For example, as mentioned before, Mulla Sadra did so in his al-Asfar, Sharh al-hadayah, and other textbooks. However, he did not pay attention to the fundamental ideas of Peripatetic wisdom in his other books and disseminated the wisdom of the Mother of the Book.

As some have emphasized, Fayyad was an Ishraqi philosopher, but not in the sense of one absolutely advocating Suhrawardi, the writer of Hikmat al-ishraq. Following the method of the philosophers of Shiraz and the school of Mir Damad and Mulla Sadra, he taught this book and its commentaries; nevertheless, like his master, he never agreed with the weak principles of this heir and disseminator of Eastern wisdom. In fact, he opposed some of his well-known ideas, such as the negation of the hyle, classification of substances and accidents, vision, perception, etc.

Fayyad's being an Ishraqi philosopher does not mean that he accepted all the ideas of Shaykh Ishraq. Likewise, it does not mean his believing in the pure Ishraqi nature of knowledge. Fayyad and his masters, Mulla Sadra and Mir Damad,[1] perceived the truth of knowledge and the knowledge of the truth in their late night meetings in the private corner of lovers and stoics of illumination and intuition; nevertheless, in the morning and in the mosques and schools, they dealt with logical arguments and reasoning to visualize the abstraction of intuition and illumination in the mould of philosophy and reasoning. In this way, they managed to make all that was "sensible to the senses of the people of heart" sensible to the senses of the people of reason.

The people of illumination, from Khwajah Nasir and his J'afar-Batini predecessors to the philosophers of Shiraz school and to Mir Damad, Mulla Sadra, Fayyad, Qadi S'aeed ... were called the people of Ishraqi wisdom. They advocated a trend that, according to Suhrawardi, was connected to Zolnun Misri and Sahl Shushtari (Tustari), on the one hand, and to Hussein Hallaj and Bayazid Bastami, on the other.[2] They followed some principles in theoretical and practical wisdom that were rooted in the teachings of the Qur'an and the Prophet's Household. At the same time, they had remained loyal to the Pythagorean School of philosophy and the Khusrawani wisdom of ancient Iran.

It is not surprising that some have called Mulla Sadra, Mir Damad, and their disciples "Islamic Pythagoreans". This characteristic is sometimes manifested in their books and even poems.

3. Poetry: One of Fayyad's perfections is his poetic sense and talent. In addition to a God-given sense of poetry, subtlety of the soul, and a sublime taste, the habit to write poetry plays an important role in making one a good poet. In the Safawid era and, before that, in the Timurid era, versification was not limited to a specific group, and some scholars (like Jami and Hazin Lahiji) who had some poetic taste created some poems that were even more beautiful that those of professional poets. This custom was more common among gnostics, sufists, and the people of illumination (ishraq). In fact, composing lyrics became limited to gnostics and sufists after the 6^th century and reached its summit of perfection at this time.

Available evidence suggests that, because of his poetic taste, Fayyad began creating poems early in youth, so that in the 3^rd decade of his life, he managed to compose eloquent ballads and lyrics. Moreover, due to his mastery over theoretical gnosis and familiarity with the secrets of love, loving, and intuitive perception of the manifestations of the Pre-Eternal Beauty in the various stages of his wayfaring and ascetic practice, he ornamented his poetry with subtle beauties of gnostic taste.

In spite of his enthusiasm for gnosis and, as it is said, his mania for the Devine love, Fayyad's poetry is not touching and frenzy. He employed a beautiful language and some innovative expressions in his poems; however, he cannot be considered the brightest star in the sky of Indian style of poetry.

He was a friend to Sa'ib. Although the latter lived in Isfahan and the former in Qum, it seems that, following the custom of reputable poets, Fayyad was in contact with some of his contemporary poets and capped verses with them.

He also capped verses with his old friend, Fayd, which has been recorded in his Diwan. Although the common style of that time was the so-called Indian style, like 'Araqi and Maqribi, he composed his poems following the 'Araqi style. Apparently, the Indian style was the prevailing and common style of that time but not the only one chosen by poets.

Due to Safawid kings' lack of interest in poetry and poetic taste, poetry was not praised at that time. Accordingly, a number of literary people and poets of that period moved to the court of Timurid kings of India. They seemed to do this to gain wealth and position; however, their main motif was to protect their lives.

The name of the Indian style is also under question. This is because not only was its origin Iran, particularly Khurasan, Iraq, and Fars, but also Iranian poets composed their poems according to the principles of this style even after the Safawid era (until the period of poetic triteness, which is also known as the period of retreat). Hazin Lahiji and his contemporary poets (as recorded in his Tazkarah) particularly followed this style of versification.

 

 Abstracts

    Empedocles

Mohammed Khānsāri

Nietzsche portrays the various dimensions of Empedocles's character as follows: "He is a physician or a magician, poet or orator, God or man, scientist or artist, a man of politics or a man of religion, and Pythagoras or Democritus. He is a character fluctuating between different poles and is the most amazing figure of ancient philosophy. He is the one who put an end to the period of myth, tragedy, and the mayhem of religious feasts.

The picture of a more developed Greek is indeed manifested in his existence. He is a lover of freedom, a preacher, a rationalist, the creator of metaphor and irony, a man of science, and, in sum, the heir to two centuries of knowledge, philosophy, and thought.

 Key words:

Empedocles                                                     Empedocles's biography

Empedocles's masters and predecessors               Empedocles's philosophy

Empedocles's works                                          The four-fold elements

 

 The Impacts of Ishraqi School on Mulla Sadra Concerning the order of Emanation

 Aynollāh Khādemi

In practice, Mulla Sadra believed in methodological pluralism. Therefore, he was negatively and positively influenced by various schools and sources in solving philosophical problems.

In devising his theory of the order of emanation, Mulla Sadra had been influenced by the Ishraqi school of thought at least in four respects including the following:

1. Paying attention to objective directions and modes in the emanation of the many from the one

2. Refuting the restriction of the intellects to ten types

3. Accepting the existence of horizontal intellects in addition to vertical ones

4. Resorting to the principle of superior possibility in order to explain the order of effusion

He also agreed with two elements of Peripatetic philosophers concerning emanation, namely, the analysis of the emanation of plurality based on mentally-posited modes and the restriction of the intellects to ten vertical types.

 Key words:

order of emanation                                        Ishraqi philosophy

mentally-posited modes                                  vertical and horizontal intellects

objective modes                                            Peripatetic philosophy

 

The role and Place of Practical Wisdom in Mulla Sadra's Works

Abd al-Ali Shokr

 Philosophers have divided wisdom into two theoretical and practical types, with each having its own types. Theoretical wisdom deals with the principles related to "is" and "is not". However, practical wisdom deals with issues related to "oughts" and "ought-nots" that are in the domain of man's capacity. These two types are other than theoretical and practical intellects. The former are two scientific branches while the latter are among the human faculties that are used as tools in order to obtain the former types.

In Mulla Sadra's view, the human soul has two faculties: one looks at its superior, namely, the theoretical intellect, and the other looks at its inferior, namely, the practical intellect. Although the theoretical intellect is originated in the practical intellect, it is superior to it because the practical intellect receives and infers the details about actions from the general principles of the theoretical one. Accordingly, the practical intellect is at the service of the theoretical one. Mulla Sadra refers to certain levels for the former and believes that the human soul has to go through them in order to attain perfection. He maintains that the ultimate goal of practical wisdom is the expansion of the mind. Ibn Sina has also referred to most of the above issues in his works.

 Key words:

practical intellect                                           theoretical intellect

practical wisdom                                            theoretical wisdom

practical faculty                                             theoretical faculty

Mulla Sadra                                                   Ibn Sina

 

 Plato's Political Philosophy

 Abdollāh NikSirat

 The writer of this paper has tried to portray Plato's ideal government on the basis of his Republic. Apparently, Plato's main purpose in this dialogue was to define true justice rather than have his intended ideal government realized. The gist of his words concerning justice is that everyone must do the job that conforms to his nature. Of course, as Plato himself has pointed out, introducing and defining such an ideal city or utopia will inspire people to model it and create a terrestrial form of that heavenly pattern in the best way possible. This paper discusses the various defects and strengths of Plato's ideal society.

 Key words:

Plato's Republic                                             Plato's ideal government

justice in Plato                                              philosopher ruler or ruler philosopher

 

 

A Comparative Study of Ishraqi and Zoroastrian Wisdom

 Seyyed Mortadā Hosseini Shāhrūdi

 Suhrawardi considers himself to be the reviver of Iranian wisdom. We can infer two conclusions from this claim: first, his philosophical background is rooted in Iranian wisdom, and, second, he is the founder of Ishraqi school of thought. However, a part of this school which had previously existed in Iran but had been forgotten in his time was revived by him. In this paper, the writer has tried to compare the Iranian wisdom with that of Suhrawardi. He finally concludes that the Iranian wisdom is originally of an Ishraqi nature.

Key words:

Ishraq                                                          vision

periods & akwār                                            khorre

 

The Magian Prophet and Book in Islamic Traditions and Religious Studies

 AliAsghar Monjezi

 Most Iranian and Eastern researchers working in the field of religion believe that Zoroaster founded Magianism and was killed in an attack made by a foreign ethnic group. Two copies of his religious books were available: one in Takht-e Jamshīd royal Library, which was put to fire by Greek invaders, and the other in Takht-e Suleyman, which was stolen by them.

However, according to Islamic traditions, Zoroaster was not a Magian prophet. He claimed to be a prophet and had collected certain verses. Later there were some conflicts among his people and, as a result, some followed him and some disagreed with him. Finally, he was expelled from among people and became prey to beasts.

In these traditions, with some disagreements, someone called "Damast" is introduced as the prophet of the Magi, and their religious book has been called "Jamas", "Jamasb", and "Jamast". This prophet was finally murdered by his own people and his religious book was burnt.

Key words:

Magi                                                            Zoroaster

Avesta                                                         religious scholars

Islamic traditions