Sadra and Sheikh Baha
By: Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Khamenei
Translator:
Mahmoud Ahmadi
Afzadi
Sheikh
Bahaadin Mohammad Ameli known as Sheikh
Bahaei was born in a clerical and scholarly
family in
Sheikh
Bahaadin was barely seven years old when his family headed for
Owing to his generous and pious
nature, Sheikh Bahaadin did not have a thirst
for wealth or fame. He had friends from all walks of life and mixed with all
types of people including the Sufis of Isfahan
and several other cities.
Quitting government jobs and
teaching, Sheikh Baha spent as long as 30 years
travelling and meeting people of his like.
Having settled down after three decades of adventures, Sheikh
Bahai was sumoned to
Shah Abbass' court where the
Safavid king made the most of his company even
persuading him to write "Jame
Abbassi", a classic an
Persian jurisdiction.
Sheikh
Bahaei's birth has been recorded in 953 A.H. and his death is
reported to have occured in 1030 or 1031. He was
buried in Mashhad, inside Imam Reza's Mausoleum
and is to date a holy place for the pilgrims.Despite
Sheikh Bahai's command of all the sciences of
his time, it so seems that only a few courses namely
Quranic interpretation, hadith (prophetic
tradition), rijal (ethnography), jurisdiction,
and legal theory (COaa) which are all
now principle courses at theology schools.
I, personally, think that he
taught other sciences such as mathematics and astronomy to a select group of
his students as he wrote and taught Samadiyeh to
his younger brother or revealed mathematical insights for a student in Sham
while he was on unofficial visit.
Though sheikh
Bahaei is proven to have developed Sufi
inclinations, I have not yet found anywhere a trace of his practically
teaching gnosis or illumminationist theosophy or
even philosophy or logic.
This, however, should not make
us hesitate at Sheikh Bahai's mastery in those
areas. How did Sheikh Bahai influence
Mulla Sadra's
personality? One particular vantage point the Sheikh
posessed was his scholarly and scientific
comprehensiveness i.e. he was acquainted with nearly all areas of knowledge
available at the time.
Even
Mirdamad with his multi - faceted wisdom was still far from being
Sheikh Bahaei's match.
Though a credited name in the realm of science, Sheik
Bahaei's fame is associated with legends and myths. Iranians
know his life by heart and tell stories about his miracle - like works
including
Despite living a truly simple
life Sheikh Bahaei had a world in
him.He never came to be
Known by his contemporaries the way he deserved.
The least word to suit Sheikh
Bahai's unique character is by no doubt "Allameh"
or all-knowing.
the term was applied to those at
the Islamic schools who not only mastered advanced courses in
fiqh, hadith,
syntax, literature, argument, logic and philosophy, they also perfected
classical sciences such as mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, physics,
medicine and pharmachology. Evidently, the term
can be applied to very few persons including Sheikh
Bahai and Malla
Sadra; although the latter has not written in other areas except for
wisdom and logic. What makes us believe his all pervasive Knowledge about
prevalent sciences of his time is that he spent years as the student of
Sheikh Bahai whose scientific works were
undoubtedly the toppest
of his time.
Sheikh's significant skills at
mathematical, astronomical and engineering fields might have been the reason
why such courses were taught at
Another characteristic which
both the teacher and the student share is their unwillingness towards
worldly ambitions.
Sheikh
Bahaadin was still a child when his father, a prominent
Faqih, was appointed by the then
Safavid King, Shah Tahmasb
Safavi, as the Religious Chief of the capital,
Qazwin and Was then
entrusted with the same responsibility in the important cities of
Mashhad and
Sheikh - ul
- Islam or the religious Muslim chief, apart from being the highest
religious source, was also Kings' official representative for the settlement
of religious affairs including judgement and
lawful questions. The position, for the first time, was set up by Ottoman
emperors and immitated by
Safavid kings who inclined to Lebanese - born
Jabal Ameli Faqihs
who were renowned throughout theology schools.
Sheikh
Bahai's father was among those scholars and is thought to have been
invited to
Although he was not old enough
to stand on his own feet, Sheikh Bahaei decided
to leave his family in Herat and lead a simple student - type life in the
capital.
Many years later even when he
had to take his father's job and accompany Shah Abbass
on his trips Sheikh Bahai used to get away to
meet his own spiritual needs by travelling
around Islamic states in anonymity whenever he found the opportunity
to do so.
Some historians say he spent 30
years travelling.
One must not conclude that the Sheikh's official
position made him a King's subject. None of the foreign
travellers and historians who visited
Sheikh
Bahai's close contact with the court did not prevent him from keeping
company with ordinary people and even sufis and
derwishes. What seemed to give him the most
comfort and joy, however, was his trips. The degrading ethical situation in
Shah Abbass' court also prompted him to go on
long journies. Despite the prevailing security
and unprecedented boom of the country, Shah Abbas'
coart, like that of any other king, was full of
widespread corruption and injustice. The presence of distinguished figures
like Sheikh Bahaei,
Mirdamad, Fayz and
Majlesi helped greatly to maintain a covert power
ballance and strengthen the national culture
against the threat of agressive Turks, defend
the rights of the oppressed people whenever possible and protect scientists
and scholars from crises such as the Mongols' occupation which would have
eliminated science and educaton all across Iran
had it not been for the endeavors of Khaje
Nasir - ul - din
Tusi.
It is very likely that Shah
Abbass The First did many of his services to
public under the influence of Sheikh Bahai and
his effective words,though
there is no mention of that in history books. That, however, could not
persuade the Sheikh to u -rate the overall
deplorable situation of that era as he under the
pretext of going to Haj and other pilgrimages,
distanced himself from the royal court. The
solitude gave him enough time and concentration to complete several of his
works. Sadr
- al - Mutaalehin.
Sheikh
Bahai's student, followed more or less the
same path. Not amazed at the attractions of Isfahan,
he left the busy capital for a place away from the royal row and it should
be taken into account that he was the heir to the wealth and fame of his
father who handled the Pars province and the then ruler, Sultan Mohammad
Khodabandeh, and, therefore, it was easier for
the young noble to lead an extravagant life. Moreover, he could have been
recommended by Sheikh Bahai and
Mirdamad for a high job in the
Abbassi court. That did not happen, of course.
Sheikh
Bahaei like few mistics was familiar with
legitimate ascetic exercises. He is said to have spent most of his lifetime
in holding special 40 - day prayers which ban the person from doing sins
with eyes, lips, ears and stomach.
Such ascetic exercises which
involved the number 40 and other specific numbers root in ancient times.
Despite the fact that Islam has not ruled them out and
sufis seem to like the ceremonies, their origin lies in ancient
Another peculiarity shared by
Sheikh Bahai and Mulla
Sadra is their mystical view which, in turn,
accounts for their piety and asceticism.
The life of past Kings and
he( monial
rulers is a mirror of their low and simplism,
comprehension of the world. By contrast, the generosity and indifferent
attitude of vigilant people towards wordly
ambitions is indicative of their deep understanding which made them avoid
trasient interests.
It might seem a bit difficult to
prove such a thing through a priory - reasoning - type inference since there
is almost no trace of speculative mysticism in about 90 books or essays by
Sheikh Bahai and that may convince shallow
thinkers that the Sheikh, no matter how commanding he is in
Fiqh, Interpretation, Syntax, mathematics,
astronomy or even onematomancy, cannot be an
authority on speculative mysticism merely because he has not written about
it. What makes us believe otherwise is Sheikh Bahai's
Keenness to learn; his friendly relations with advocates of the
Furthermore, Sheikh
Bahai was a man of letter.
His poems including those in
Kashkul reflect the subtle spirit of their
composer.
Unfrtunately very
few of the Sheikh's sonnets have remained and he is mostly known for his
quatrains and mathnawis (double -rhyme)
including
The Sheikh's style in
Mathnawi is clearly
visisble in Sadra - al -
Mutallelin's poem while
Mulla Sadra's quatrains resemble those of
Mirdamad in style.
History does not say much about
when, where and how Sadra met Sheikh
Bahai. That might have happened during Shah
Abbass' visti to
Sheikh
Bahai, of course, was unlikey to fail to
identify a student as talented as Sadra.
Another possibility is that
young Sadra in search of better teachers headed
for the capital, Qazwin. Based on the date of
compiling the "jong" i.e. the excerpt of his
poems and essays which took place in 1004 in Qazwin
we can guess that Sadra's arrival there has been
around the same time.
It nearly coincides with the
return of Sheikh Bahaei from pilgrimage in
Mulla
Sadra's copy of Serat
- al -Mustaqim by Mirdamad
in 1007 also leads us to the point that he Knew
the author well and is likely to have learned it from him directly.
Sadra
cannot have been in Qazwin in the years before
1000 for that coincides with Sheikh Bahaei's
accampanying Shah Abbass
in the war with Uzbeks in Khorasan.
Afterall, Mirdamad
himself is reported to have left the capital for Kashan
and
Based on available evidence, by
1004 or 1005 Sadra had been studying in
Qazwin's school where he knew both Sheikh
Bahaei and Mirdamad.
Further evidence is
Mirdamad's hand written comments in 24 lines at
the beginning of Jong in 1004. In his comments,
Mirdamad hopes that Sadra
attains what his name, Sadral -
Mutaallehin (the head of religion) says. In a
number of other books Mirdamad praises his
student's amazing pace of learning and knowledge implying that the two must
have been in close contact with each other and the student was given credit
by the teacher to argue with him in all areas.
The content of Jong reveals 25 - year -old Sadra's familiarity with misticists' works such an Mohy - e - ddin Arabi's books besides poem collections from Sanai, Attar, Shabestari and Molavi.