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Muhyaddin Ibn Arabi Andalus (560-638 AH), the Andalusian gnostic (from Murcia in South Spain) is one of the philosophers to some of whose famous books Mulla Sadra paid attention. Sometimes, his gnostic school has also been considered as one of the sources of the Transcendent Philosophy and, particularly, al-Asfar al-arb'aah.

Muhyaddin is a prolific writer and has several works mainly in the form of treatises.[1] Some of his works have never been published. However, one of his most famous books is Fusus al-hikam, which is a short one, and on which several commentaries have been written. The other one is an extensive book called al-Futuhat al-makkiyyah published in 4 volumes. It has been said that he wrote these two books and the treatise Tanazzulat muwsaliyyah during the last 30 years of his life, and they represent the gist of his achievements.

He is one of the gnostics and mystics whom the hand of divine training and attention ornamented with the jewel of knowledge and true sciences since his childhood and chose as His servant and close friends. He was from a pious and gnostic family. His father was a folk of the path and held some spiritual positions. Two of his uncles were also gnostics. Muhyaddin himself says,

"I had not grown a hair on my face that Ibn Rushd, the Andalusian judge and philosopher, who was my father's friend, heard about me and was willing to see me." From the dialog they had with each other, one can learn about the gift that God had granted to Ibn Arabi. He said Ibn Rushd told him, "I myself said that some of God's servants become knowers without ever having a teacher; however, I had never witnessed any of them in person, and I am thankful to God who made it possible for me to see one of them when I was alive."

Muhyaddin is too famous to require any more introduction. However, here we contend ourselves with saying that, in addition to the light of gnosis that had shone onto his heart and the power of unveiling and grace, he greatly benefitted from the knowledge of the gnostics of his time, too. That is why he spent about 30 to 40 years of his life traveling in Islamic lands in Asia, North Africa, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and particularly in Hijaz and Mecca. He wrote his Futuhat al-makkiyyah in Mecca and resided in Damascus during the last two decades of his life. He passed away in that city and was buried at the foot of the Qasiyyun Mountain (in the vicinity of Damascus).

Some have considered him not only a Shi'ite but also a disseminator of the Isma'ilite school, and some believe that he acquired most of his knowledge from the elders of this sect. Some pieces of evidence confirm this idea.[2]

Like other devoted men of God and true gnostics, in addition to the huge number of his disciples and devotees, Ibn Arabi had some enemies, who have always functioned as the plague of the tree of knowledge and the sublime station of piety and holiness and, under the guise of pretending to defend Shari'ah, have always been hostile to true gnostics and philosophers.

In some cities like Damascus, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia, Maliki jurisprudents had some authority over leaders and, because of their enmity against Ibn Arabi, had excommunicated him and plotted to murder him. Therefore, he could not stay there and had to move to other places. Evidence suggests that his enemies viewed him not only as a wayfaring gnostic but also as a great man who had numerous disciples and might have been a threat to them even in the realm of politics. This point can be considered as evidence indicating that he was a Shi'ite Batini and was connected to the Batiniyyah groups in North Africa who has spread everywhere and defended the Batini-Shi'ite culture of the Fatimids of Egypt and Africa. As we know, the Islamic Spain, i.e. Andalusia, was a base for Batiniyyah, Isma'iliyyah, and Shi'ism. There were also some famous gnostics and philosophers there, and it is said that Ibn Masirrah was the first follower of Isma'iliyyah in Andalusia.

An expert[3] studying Ibn Arabi believes that as he benefitted from the Qur'an, hadith, and sometimes the Ash'arite kalam (theology), which was common at that time, he also used the terminology of the Batiniyyah, Ikhwan al-Safa, gnosticism, and Neo-Platonists (apparently, Plotinus).

It is not much difficult to prove that Ibn Arabi was a Batini and a Shi'ite thinker. This is because, in addition to some works such as the famous sermon related to the 12 Shi'ite Imams, the topics of guardianship and, particularly, leadership, were at the center of his school. The Batinis were also interested in the same topics, because of which several gnostics, sufists, and people were martyred or hurt and suffered many hardships and bitter experiences. Ibn Arabi was not immune against such blights, and that is why he ran to different places in order to save himself.[4]

The enmity of his contemporaries against him continued even after him. According to the same expert,[5] in order to defame Ibn Arabi, his enemies started writing in his name and faked some works that did not belong to him, ruined his character, or led to achieving some destructive purposes.

... Shu'arani says that, when tying to summarize al-Futuhat, he came across some statements that in his view were in contrast to the certain beliefs of Muslims. He omitted them after some hesitation. One day he shared this point with Shaykh Shams al-Din Madani (died in 955 AH), who had written a copy of al-Futuhat by hand and compared and contrasted it with the copy of the writer in Konya. Then he understood that none of the sentences that he had omitted existed in the original copy. Shu'arani reports that it had become certain to him that the copies of Futuhat that were available at his time in Egypt included some parts that had been faked in the name of Ibn Arabi. The same had been done to his al-Fusus and other works as well.

In a treatise attributed to Ibn Arabi[6] an event involving a group called Rajabiyyun has been narrated. Here, it is said that in a state of ecstasy he saw Rafidhah (possibly a Shi'ite) in the form of a transformed animal. With the knowledge that we have from Ibn Arabi, this must have been one of those fake stories because one of the features and attributes of gnostics and a principle that they adhere to is loving those who love their beloved ones, are in the circle of the devotees of the People of the Prophet's House, and acknowledge and believe in guardianship.

In spite of the religious virtues, piety, worships, and knowledge of Ibn Arabi, some have used such false narrations as a tool and pretext to attack him. However, they are unaware that in this way they provoke God's anger and revenge against themselves. How does a religion in which the reciting of Shahadatayn provides a divine shelter for people and ensures their honor, life, and property allows some to slander, ridicule, and accuse those who are completely devoted to divine love and have spent their life in piety, ascetic practice, worship, and knowledge acquisition, much less to consider them atheists and excommunicate them, which was an ugly tradition left from some early Kharijite, Zahirite, and Hanbalite sects. However, the history of Shi'ism and Islamic literature are free from such evil acts.

Mulla Sadra has great respect for Ibn Arabi in his heart and considers a supreme degree of unveiling and gnosis for him. Therefore, it is a commonly held idea among the translators and biographers of Mulla Sadra that one of the important sources of his books is Ibn Arabi and his famous books. However, a study of those books of Mulla Sadra in which he has discussed Ibn Arabi's books and ideas proves the opposite of this belief to some extent.

We can say that Mulla Sadra borrowed almost none of his principles from Ibn Arabi. However, there is so much similarity between some points that he has considered it useful to quote some sentences from Ibn Arabi as evidence for his ideas or as a means to facilitate the understanding of the book for readers.

The main topics concerning which Mulla Sadra has referred to Ibn Arabi can be divided into the following categories: ontology, theology, anthropology, cosmology and eschatology.

In ontology, after explaining some points regarding the philosophical demonstration of mental existence and the creative power of the mind, Mulla Sadra quotes from Ibn Arabi that the human being is a symbol and image of the divine creative power, and his imagination is the domain of creation and innovation.[7] Since he agrees with these ideas, he resorts to Ibn Arabi's statements.

In the chapter on Kafiyyat kun al-mumkinat maraya li zuhur al-haq, after a short discussion, he uses Ibn Arabi's words on comparing existents to images in a mirror in order to confirm his own ideas. However, this quotation is not such to suggest the borrowing of any philosophical and gnostic principle.

In theology and concerning the knowledge of Almighty Necessary, Mulla Sadra once brings Ibn Arabi's name in the list of the ideas of philosophers and gnostics regarding the "Knowledge of the Necessary of things"[8] and quotes his idea about the relative existence of knowledge. However, he considers it to be the same as the Mu'tazilites' idea in this regard and rejects it. Similar cases are seen in relation to the part on knowledge, but it does not seem that Mulla Sadra has been explicitly influenced by him.

Demonstrating Copulative Existence on the basis of an Analysis of Causal Relationship in the Transcendent Philosophy

'Abdulali Shukr

Copulative existence has two applications, one in logic under the discussion of categorical proposition, and the other in relation to independent existence or existence-in-itself, which is called not-in-itself existence in philosophy. Some Muslim philosophers, particularly, the followers of the Transcendent Philosophy, have employed two methods in order to demonstrate the external realization of copulative existence: one is through analyzing categorical propositions, and the other is through analyzing the cause-effect relationship. The first method has been criticized because of its mixing logical principles with philosophical ones. However, the other method which is inspired by gnosis, views the existence of possible things in relation to the essence of the Truth the same as relation and dependence and demonstrates copulative existence based on this idea.

Reza Akbarian

Mulla Sadra has a comprehensive view of being and the human both in speculation and action. He is neither like Farabi and Ibn Sina to believe that the knowledge of act is enough for its realization, nor like Suhrawardi to believe that the knowledge of act is enough for it to be realized. In his view, neither are the free will and act primary and essential, and the intellect and speculation secondary and subordinate - as the Ash'arites maintained, nor are the intellect and speculation primary and essential, and the free will and act secondary and subordinate - as the Mu'tazilites believed in. It is based on such an approach that Mulla Sadra discusses the relationship between speculation and action and propounds a number of different ideas in comparison to those of the philosophers before him when explaining "practical wisdom", topics in the philosophy of ethics, philosophy of politics, and the attributes of the first leader of the state.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify Mulla Sadra's theory on the relationship between speculation and action and revealing its philosophical consequences in the field of practical wisdom as a theory in which rationality, spirituality, and a legal system based on Shari'ah (religious laws) have a single and consistent interpretation. It also analyzes the various dimensions of Mulla Sadra's theory in comparison to those of his predecessors and criticizes its applications to the new issues and problems in practice. It is a question why Mulla Sadra has not taken much heed of this area or has not discussed it in detail. One might also wonder why he has mainly dealt with individual ethics following a gnostic and Batini (esoteric) approach and has not considered a truth for practical affairs similar to that of theoretical ones. If we decide to revise Aristotle's division of philosophy into theoretical and practical philosophies and present a view different from that of Farabi and Ibn Sina and even that of Mulla Sadra concerning the relationship between thought and the free will and, as a result, the relationship between speculation and practice, as 'Allamah Tabataba'i has, we can grant a high place to practical wisdom or philosophy.

Historical Development of the Interpretation of the Qur'anic Verse al-Mithaq (Pledge) and Mulla Sadra's Innovations

Verse 172 of Chapter al-'Araf in the Qur'an, known as verse "al-Mithaq" or verse "Dharr", has a mysterious content. Traditional interpreters have interpreted this verse based on the external meaning of the traditions on the world of pre-existence. Gnostics and mystics have also accepted this interpretation by adding some gnostic and metaphorical points. Ash'arite theologians, because of their Zahirite (formalist) approach, have resorted to the surface meaning of the verse and believed in a world that is completely separate from and superior to this world called the world of pre-existence, which they believe is the Lordly abode. Nevertheless, the Mu'tazilite and Imamiyyah theologians do not agree with this interpretation because of its disagreement with some rational principles. They believe that the abode of divine pledge is the present world and completely refuted the traditions on pledge in the world of pre-existence.

However, by presenting a new interpretation, Mulla Sadra maintains that the descending of offspring from the human body means observing human beings in the truth of their intellectual fathers. He believes that the process of making a pledge is related to that period. He sees his own theory consistent with the traditions on the world of pre-existence.

In general, there are two main approaches in the history of the interpretation of this verse. One of them states that it enjoys a narrative language, while the other maintains that it enjoys a symbolic one. However, both agree that we should have an epistemological interpretation of its language.

An Analysis of the Different Kinds of Priority and Posteriority in Potency and Act

Jamshid Sadri

Priority and posteriority are two abstract concepts which originate in objective facts. They are sometimes among the accidents of existent qua existent, and an existent as such is qualified with them. Sometimes, two things share the same relation to an ontological source in terms of their existence with the difference that one might have a greater share than the other.

The present paper examines the problem of priority and posteriority in potency and act. Initially, the writer presents the ideas of those who believe that pure potency is prior to act. Then he explains Mulla Sadra's idea in this regard and finally examines the different kinds of the priority of actuality to potency.

Meanings of Being in Plato with Reference to the Republic, Parmenides, and Sophist

Muhammed Meshkat and Sa'id Binay-e Mutlaq

Undoubtedly, "being" is one of the basic concepts in Plato's philosophy. In this regard, three dialogs of the Republic, Parmenides, and Sophist are of prime importance. In the Republic he speaks of being in relation to the highest good; in Parmenides he speaks of it in relation to the "One"; and, finally, in Sophist he discusses existence in relation to sufism or, in a more exact sense, "non-being".

In the Republic, the highest good, which is called the most luminous part of being, grants both "being" and "essence". In Parmenides, an existent which is the outcome of the participation of the "One" in being is the beginning of the infinite number of existents. In Sophist "being" is necessary for the definition of "non-being", and, as a result, necessary for the definition of a sophist.

Muhammed Reza'i and Muhammed Qasim Eliasi

The internal transformation and the essential self-flourishing of human beings or, in Mulla Sadra's words, "the substantial perfection of the human soul" is one of the most important discussions in philosophical anthropology and one of Mulla Sadra's innovations in his Transcendent Philosophy. This problem opens the entangled knot of many philosophical, religious, and anthropological problems.

Accordingly, it has been tried in this paper to examine and analyze the "substantial perfection of the human soul" from the beginning of its creation until attaining the end of ontological perfection. Therefore, the approaches and hypotheses of "the retaining of previous perfections", "human's spiritual promotion", and "the actuality of the soul and horizontal change" as possible rival hypotheses and "the substantial perfection of the human soul" as the main research hypothesis have been analyzed and evaluated.

On the basis of some theoretical principles such as the principiality of existence, gradedness of existence, the intensified trans-substantial motion, corporeality in origination and spirituality in subsistence, the immateriality of the soul and its unity with perceptive faculties and forms, the writer has tried to demonstrate the substantial perfection of the human soul.

The human soul is a substance corporeal in its origination and spiritual in its subsistence. Moreover, in the light of its intensified trans-substantial motion, it continually attains its ontological perfections. In this process of essential perfection, through developing some faculties, perceptions, and habits, the soul gradually develops its substantial face and, in line with the gradedness of existence, acquires more faculties, stronger perfections, and more stable habits. Moreover, the soul unites with all of its faculties, some of which, at the same time with the soul, become immaterial. All the faculties of the soul are considered among its different modes and grades.

The Role of the Theory of the Principiality of Existence in Removing Contradictions from the Views of Muslim Philosophers and Mutikallimun in Clarifying the Semantics of the Divine Attributes

The general purpose of this paper is to explore the outcomes and consequences of the theory of the principiality of existence. However, in practice, by explaining the role of this theory in solving one of the basic problems of Islamic theology (kalam), it rejects the idea that the opposition between the principiality of existence and the principiality of quiddity is verbal in nature. This paper examines the effect of the theory of the principiality of quiddity on the basis of some contradictory theories in the domain of the semantics of the Divine Attributes and the role of the principiality of existence in removing the related contradictions. In doing so, after determining the source of contradiction, the writer studies the origin of the theory of the principiality of existence and its principles in the history of Islamic philosophy and concludes that the dead-ends resulting from advocating the principiality of quiddity when dealing with philosophical and theological (kalami) problems led Mulla Sadra to scrutinize more deeply and try to find a convincing solution. Finally, he developed the theory of the principiality of existence as a basis for a philosophical school. At the end, the writer has analyzed the semantics of the Divine Attributes on the basis of the two theories of the principiality of existence and the principiality of quiddity and explained the quality of removing the contradictions from the views of Muslim thinkers on the basis of the principiality of existence.

Muhammed Fana'i Ashkiwari

This paper deals with Mulla Sadra's views in gnosis and, as a result, his place among philosophers, theologians, and gnostics. It argues that Mulla Sadra's philosophy is neither a pure discoursive one, nor the same kalam or theology of his predecessors, nor gnosis in its traditional sense. Thus he is neither a pure discoursive philosopher, nor a gnostic heedless of philosophical problems, nor a theologian not to go beyond narration and argumentation. Rather, for him perfect knowledge originates in all principial sources of learning and wisdom, i.e. the intellect, revelation, and gnostic intuition. An intellect that is not rooted in revelation and gnostic intuition will go nowhere, and an intuition which is remote from revelation and rational deliberation cannot be immune against doubts. Moreover, pure reliance on traditions is not anything beyond imitative knowledge. The product of combining all these sources of knowledge is the Transcendent Philosophy, which contains a transcendent philosophy, a transcendent theology, and a transcendent gnosis. Mulla Sadra tries to grant an intuitive nature to philosophical findings and a demonstrative nature to gnostic intuitions, and then base both on revealed evidence. In this way, he presents arguments for the principiality and oneness of being and unites philosophy and gnosis with each other concerning their most essential common problems. The end of this philosophy is attaining happiness, and ultimate happiness and perfection are rooted in attaining the knowledge of God, which cannot be acquired except in the light of intellection, purification of the soul, and following the religious law (Shari'ah). Accordingly, while rejecting useless theological and philosophical arguments and discussions, Mulla Sadra criticizes the pseudo-gnostics who suffer from some defects in their epistemological or behavioral dimensions or in both of them. In this way, he is both a critic and a reviver of kalam, philosophy, and gnosis. In fact, his criticism of these fields is the beginning of his revival of them.

[1]. He has referred to 251 of them. However, others have said that he had about 400 or even 500 works, which is most probably a lie.

[2]. Abu Jawhar, Introduction to al-Ma'rifat, Ibn Arabi, Silsilah al-turath al-sufi, al-Tanwin Publications, Damascus.

[3]. Abul 'Aala 'Afifi, Introduction to Fusus al-hikam, p. 7, Egypt: Dar al-Kitab al-'Arabi.

[4]. One of the historical characteristics of brave Shi'ites and Batinis at the time of the caliphs was the same nomadic and secret life of theirs.

[5]. Abul 'Aala 'Afifi, History of Philosophy in Islam, supervised by Miyan Muhammed, vol. 1, Persian edition, p. 563, University Publication Center.

[6]. Muhazirat al-abrar wa musamirat al-akhyar, attributed to Ibn Arabi.

[7]. al-Asfar, vol. 1, p. 266.

[8]. al-Asfar, vol. 6, pp. 181-183.