Mulla Sadra's Life, Works, and Philosophy

Prof. S. M. Khamenei

That is why some believe that Sharh al-hidayat ¹  and the treatise of Sarayan al-wujud ² were written before al-Al-Mabda' wa'l-ma'ad and before 1019AH. Therefore, it is not his first book.

Mulla Sadra's active nature, ability to write, and depth and breadth of knowledge during his youth are in contrast with resisting writing or being incapable of disseminating his thoughts and innovative theories. However, he might have had a reason for not writing. For example, he might have avoided it because his master ordered him not to, because he was too modest, or because he did not consider it a duty, and the like. In other words, he was capable of writing but did not do so or did not spread his thought and knowledge deliberately.

Nevertheless, this theory (that al-Mabda' wa'l-ma'ad was his first book) can be rejected by resorting to this book itself, since in two places (chapters fil isharat ila al-mizaj and Naqd wa ikmal) reference has been made to the other books he has written including al-Asfar.

The date of al-Mabda' wa'l-ma'ad's composition is clear. The writer was 40 years old at that time. Therefore, we can conclude that he started to write al-Asfar, particularly, its first journey, before 1019, before he was 40.

Moreover, in the fifth chapter of al-Asfar, 'Fi an takhassus al-wujud be maza?', Mulla Sadra says, "We have written this in a separate treatise called Tarh al-kawnayn." Therefore, before al-Asfar, he had, at least, written a treatise.

Of course, we must also pay attention to the fact that there are a number of references to his other books and treatises throughout al-Asfar. However, they have all been made in the later volumes and journeys of this book, i.e. after the second journey. On the basis of the available evidence, Mulla Sadra wrote al-Asfar gradually, over a long period of time, and part by part. He was, in fact, busy completing it until the end of his life. Therefore, it is logical to say that he began writing al-Asfar before his other books and treatises. However, since he referred to his treatise of Tarh al-kawnayn in the beginning of the first journey (volume 1) of al-Asfar, the former must have been written before al-Asfar.

Accordingly, even if we believe that he wrote al-Mabda' wa'l-ma'ad and even Sharh al-hidayat before al-Asfar, we must accept that when he was writing the parts on motion (and the trans-substantial motion) in the 3rd volume of this book, the above two books had been finished. This is because in the second volume of al-Asfar he writes, "We have explained this issue in Sharh al-hidayat." Thus, if we assume that when he began to write about the issue of existence (1st volume) and quiddity (2nd volume) in al-Asfar, he had not yet written Sharh al-hidayat, we must, at least, agree that at the time of writing the parts on motion in al-Asfar (3rd volume), Mulla Sadra had finished writing Sharh al-hidayat. The proof for this argument is the reference that he makes in qism thalith - fann-i thani of Sharh al-hidayat (fil-ilm bil sani' wa sifatah).³

Therefore, he began to write al-Asfar before Sharh al-hidayat. There are also some ambiguities concerning Sharh al-hidayat. A study of this book and, particularly its Introduction, reveal that he had not written al-Asfar at that time, and Sharh al-hidayat was possibly his first book.

On the other hand, we infer from the Introduction of al-Asfar that Mulla Sadra began writing and revealing his divine inspirations with this book. Here, he breaks his silence for the first time and writes about his ideas, theories, ishraqi achievements, and spiritual and rational unveilings after his period of seclusion. In the Introduction to Sharh al-hidayat, he writes:

I spent a part of my life studying philosophy. Since I was very young, I seriously tried to understand others' ideas until I grasped the depth of their words. I sometimes rejected and sometimes confirmed them; however, due to the incompatibility of time and people, I could not organize my scattered writings and collect them in a book

However, we understand from the Introduction of the above book that, until the time he wrote it, which requires an independent discussion, he had not yet written any book or, perhaps, treatises, and Sharh al-hidayat was, in fact, his first book.

Nevertheless, his complaints against the cruelties of the time and its people indicate that he did not write this book in Isfahan. Furthermore, he wrote it either at the same time or after he taught it.⁴ The reason is that, as mentioned before, he had a good time in Isfahan, and his problems and people's enmity began when he left this city and Mir Damad's presence and went somewhere else.

This other place must have been his hometown, Shiraz. Since he returned there again towards the end of his life, we call this journey the first journey to Shiraz. The other evidence is his field of teaching philosophy. He stipulates in the Introduction of Sharh al-hidayat that he taught Sharh al-hidayat al-athiriyyah (and perhaps Meybodi's commentary on it), and this made his students ask him to write a comprehensive commentary on this book and put all the philosophical ideas and theories that he explained so eloquently and profoundly on the paper and, in this way, protect them against destruction and oblivion.⁵

As mentioned before, after leaving Isfahan at the beginning of the second decade of the 11th Hegira century (1010-1012 AH), Mulla Sadra stayed in Shiraz. His residence there might have lasted for several years, even until 1020 AH. Therefore, he must have written Sharh al-hidayat and possibly some of his glosses during that time. However, its different parts might have been completed and written in the form of a book in later years. This is because in his letter to Mir Damad, which he wrote at that time in Shiraz, he referred to writing the glosses.⁶

Hence, we can say that his writing cases can be divided into two separate periods. The first is the period of his first journey to Shiraz during which he was involved in teaching enthusiastically and passionately. At that time, he gradually taught his fundamental ideas and theories. Little by little, his Shirazi contemporaries began attacking him until he started a fast of silence, completely stopped teaching and writing, moved from Shiraz to Qum and its suburbs, and became totally involved in worship and ascetic practice.

During this period, because of his students' insistence, he wrote some works, including a commentary on Abhari's Hidayat al-athiriyyah, which is a synthetic commentary and the treatise of Tarh al-kawnayn. In fact, all the works that we are certain he wrote before al-Asfar were created during that period and before his seclusion in Qum and Kahak.

There is almost no trace of his own specific ideas in Sharh al-hidayat, and, most probably, they had not yet been developed. However, a stronger possibility is that, in the same way as Tusi undertakes not to use his own ideas in writing a commentary on Ibn Sina's Isharat, Mulla Sadra, too, undertakes to merely comment on the book without resorting to his personal ideas.

 The second period started when he broke his fast of silence. This period started in Qum and finished in Shiraz (the second Shiraz). It lasted about 30 years and came to an end with his death in 1050 AH (or 1045 AH).

We understand from the Introduction of al-Asfar that it was the first book he wrote after his period of seclusion. However, the introduction of this book is, in fact, the manifest of the movement against the dogmatism of world-loving and deceptive pseudo-philosophers. It is also his statement of quitting seclusion and beginning his philosophical war. As we will discuss later, it seems that al-Asfar is a collection consisting of a series of organized and versatile articles and treatises that he wrote about his philosophical and gnostic ideas, theories, and achievements at different times. He might have written some of them immediately after the inspirations and illuminations that he received.

According to the above division, al-Mabda' wa'l-ma'ad is neither his first book nor related to the first period of his writings. Rather, it is related to the second period of his works and was written after his period of seclusion. It was even written after some parts of al-Asfar.

In other words, Mulla Sadra's books and works can be divided into three groups: first are those which he wrote before his seclusion; they must be related naturally to his first journey to Shiraz. Tarh al-kawnayn, Sharh al-hidayat, and, according to 'Allamah Muzaffar, the treatises of Hal al-ishkalat al-falakiyyah fil-iradat al-jazafiyyah, and Huduth al-'alam were written in this period, (he believes that the treatise of Tarh al-kawnayn is the same as the treatise known as Sarayan al-wujud).⁷

Second are the works that he created before leaving Qum, including the first parts of al-Asfar and al-Mabda' wa'l-ma'ad.

Third are the works that he wrote during his later stay in Shiraz, including Sharh usul al-kafi, his interpretation of some parts of al-Baqarah chapter and the beginning of the Qur'an, and possibly al-Mafatih al-qayb.

According to an explicit reference made in al-Mabda' wa'l-ma'ad, it was written when the writer was 40 years old, i.e. in about 1019 AH. If we accept that this book is related to the second period of his works, that is after his seclusion in Kahak, we must also agree that it was written in Qum and not in Shiraz.

On the other hand, 1019 AH is the year of the birth of his daughter, who was his first child, in Shiraz. He must have naturally been there at that time and could not have moved to Qum. Thus he must have written al-Mabda' wa'l-ma'ad in Shiraz.

Now, the question is, 'which of the following assumptions is correct and when and where was this book written?' We can give two answers here: first, at the time of his child's birth in Shiraz, Mulla Sadra was not there and, for some reason, did not leave Qum, or made only a short trip to his hometown; second, quitting his fast of silence and beginning his writing, disseminating his ideas, the writing of al-Asfar and al-Mabda' wa'l-ma'ad started in Shiraz. However, it is difficult to accept the second alternative for a number of reasons.

* * *

Some researchers believe that al-Asfar was written before 1015 AH and immediately after quitting his seclusion.⁸ They argue that, since al-Mabda' wa'l-ma'ad (which was written after al-Asfar) was written in 1015 AH, al-Asfar must have been written before it.

 This argument is not correct because he wrote al-Mabda' wa'l-ma'ad in 1019 AH and not 1015 AH, unless we accept that there has been a printing mistake, and the above researchers had the year 1019 AH in mind. In this case, he wrote al-Asfar before 1019 AH, and there is no need to consider a long interval of time between the two books. It is also possible that Mulla Sadra began to write one of them shortly after the other but hurried in finishing al-Mabda' wa'l-ma'ad before al-Asfar.

'Allamah Muzaffar believes that Mulla Sadra had only written three works before al-Asfar, including the treatise of Tarh al-kawnayn, which was mentioned explicitly in the first volume of al-Asfar, and the treatises of Hal al-ishkalat al-falakiyyah and Huduth al-'alam. However, he himself maintains that, since in Huduth al-'alam reference has been made to al-Asfar, they might have been written simultaneously.

What this researcher says about the treatise of al-Huduth is a problem that can be seen in some of Mulla Sadra's other books, e.g. the treatise of al-Hashr and the books of al-Mabda' wa'l-ma'ad and Sharh al-hidayat. We can offer two solutions to this problem. First, we can accept that he wrote these books and treatises during the time he wrote al-Asfar, which took many years. Second, what we read about other books in the text of his works are the commentaries and glosses that he wrote on them and were later added to their main texts. However, the first assumption is closer to reality.

However, since al-Mabda' wa'l-ma'ad was written in 1019 (or 1020 AH), al-Asfar was written before it, and Sharh al-hidayat preceded both of them. As some researchers have said, it might have been written in about 1015 AH.

In al-Shawahid al-rububiyyah (9th ishraq, 2nd shahid, 1st mashhad), in the part on mental existence, reference has been made to the writing of, first, al-Asfar and then al-Mabda' wa'l-ma'ad and an interval of time has been considered to have elapsed between them. Accordingly, al-Asfar was written before Hikmat al-muta'aliyyah (the same al-Mabda' wa'l-ma'ad);⁹ nevertheless, as mentioned before, he continued to write al-Asfar after finishing al-Mabda' wa'l-ma'ad until the end of his life.

That is why we see that he refers to al-Asfar in the part on Mizaj (as well as in other places) in al-Mabda' wa'l-ma'ad. However, we also see that he refers to al-Mabda' wa'l-ma'ad in al-Asfar (vol. 6, p. 47).

Abstracts

Man's Place in Mulla Sadra's Transcendent Philosophy

 Reza Akbarian

 

The view of man held by Muslim thinkers and scholars is basically different from what has become common since the 14th century in the Western world under the influence of Humanism. What has made the issue difficult for Europeans today is the annihilation of a correct view of the world and human beings. If man does not succeed in knowing the truth, its meaning, and the ways to attain it, he cannot live with being meaningless and having no faith or ideal. Ethics and faith are impossible without a kind of wisdom and metaphysics. The events of the 20th century and the unprecedented tragedies that happened during it prove that when religious principles become shaky, ethics cannot be defended. The Renaissance tried to turn Christians, who had one eye on the Heaven and one eye on the earth, into completely terrestrial human beings. In other words, until then, man did not view the earth as his main abode and always felt like a stranger there. However, this movement gradually led to the development of a kind of rational power in man. Accordingly, he had to choose one of the two: either a purely philosophical rationalism or a kind of religious and sentimental mysticism. And, when religion was weakened, what replaced it was a number of existential schools.

Our purpose here is to explain Mulla Sadra's teachings concerning man and demonstrate that his theory in this regard is different from those of Western philosophers. This paper also clarifies the various dimensions of man's knowledge and his role in having the right encounter with the crisis of the ipseity of contemporary man.

 Key words:

man                                     the Transcendent Philosophy

 the crisis of ipseity              Mulla Sadra

problem of the West            gnosis and Islamic wisdom

 

Explaining the Principle of "Action and Reaction" Based on the Principle of "Partnership" in Kant's Philosophy

  Reza Mahuzi and Yusuf Shaqul

 

Kant's general purpose in the first half of his Critique of Pure Reason is to explain the empirical knowledge of the world within the framework of Newtonian physics. Here, the principles of understanding and, particularly, the principles of the relation group are of a higher level of importance. In this paper, through a study of Kant's claims and arguments concerning the third principle of the relation group (the principle of partnership) and considering its relation with the mental succession of ideas in the faculty of imagination, as well as the second principle of this group (the principle of causality), the writers deal with the problem of the success of Kant's plan for the philosophical clarification of the third law of Newtonian physics. They also intended to know if the above-mentioned plan is in conformity with other analogies or not.

 

Key words:

 experience                            principle of partnership

 Newtonian Physics               succession

 Pure Physics                         co-existence

 analogies experience

 

Mulla Sadra's Methodology Concerning the Issue of the Creator's Knowledge

 Muhammed Ghafurinejad and Ahad Faramraz Qaramaleki

 

Inquiring about the secret of the superiority of Mulla Sadra's philosophy to other philosophical schools is a basic question in the field of Islamic philosophy which can be answered based on Sadrian  methodology. We can refer to seven theories regarding this methodology. The writers believe that Mulla Sadra had a research model for using the multiple and various sources he had at his disposal. It was in the light of following this model that he succeeded in innovating new theories. In this way, they account for his numerous innovations.

There is an eclectic view against the above theory which accuses Mulla Sadra of mixing various thoughts. This theory is incapable of accounting for his innovations.

The present paper is an effort to explain one of the most complicated problems of Islamic philosophy based on available proof, while following Mulla Sadra's research model in this regard.

 

Key words:

God's knowledge                               differentiated knowledge

Mulla Sadra's Methodology                truth in its simplicity

knowledge before creation

plurality of approach in Mulla Sadra's philosophy

 

 

A Study of the Relationship between some Philosophical Sciences and Psychology

    Mas'ud Umid  and  Abdullah Nasri

   

The purpose of the authors in this paper is to deliberate upon the relationship between some philosophical sciences - which have each been developed on the basis of awareness, such as phenomenology, hermeneutics, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, and epistemology - and psychology in its general sense (philosophical and empirical). This relationship is clarified through reviewing the issues and problems related to the above branches of knowledge, referring to their meeting points and shared problems, and also explaining the cases in which these disciplines feed on and benefit from psychology.

 

Key words:

Psychology                                       philosophy of science

interdisciplinary relationship            epistemology

phenomenology                               awareness

hhermeneutics                                   philosophy of mind

 

 

The Principle of the Impossibility of Contradiction: The Transcendent Philosophy and Fuzzy Logic

    Mahdi Huseinzadeh Yazdi

   

In today's academic circles, many are of the opinion that fuzzy logic has brought the age-old principle of contradiction to an end. In this light, objective reality can no longer be reduced to A and non-A, or to zero and one. But is this presumption correct? Does fuzzy logic really violate the principle of contradiction? Is it true that fuzzy logic - in contrast to the Transcendent Philosophy - is based on the assumption that two contradictories can be true and false at the same time? In this article, the writer intends to examine this question by focusing on the problem of the simultaneous truth or falsehood of two contradictory propositions.

 

Key words:

fuzzy logic                                      the principle of contradiction

the Transcendent Philosophy         fuzzy qualifiers phenomenology                              

 

Imagination in Ibn Arabi's Gnostic Manzumah

    Maryam Sani'pour and Ahmad Beheshti

   

Ibn Arabi believes that there is a perceptive power in human beings which is other than the intellect and whose domain of activity is the realm of "imagination". Although empirically and rationally impossible, the gathering of opposites is possible in this realm. The world of imagination is the clearest indication of the Truth, since He is the First, the Last, and the Appearance, and the Hidden. Therefore, a gnostic is not known unless through the gathering of two opposites. Ibn Arabi maintains that imagination is an all-embracing station of affinity for the Truth and creation. He also believes that it is the very form based on which man has been created and considers this knowledge the most powerful one by which gnostics perceive the Oneness of the Truth in the Plurality of creation. According to him, imagination only keeps what enjoys a sensible form or is a composite of sensible parts which are combined by the form-giving faculty. In this way, it provides a form that does not exist in the senses but is sensible for the viewer. He refers to the world of imagination as the way of knowing God in his gnostic theory. In this paper, we try to portray this world in a systematic manner.

 

Key words:

Ibn Arabi                                  faculty of imagination

disjunctive imagination             Five Divine Presences

perfect man                              cloud

gnostic anthropology               Muhammadian truth

conjunctive imagination          the four-fold realms

worlds