kheradnameh63

In another place, concerning the point that plurality in the concepts attributed to divine essence is not in opposition to the oneness of that Holy Essence, Mulla Sadra quotes some sentences from Muhyaddin and states that they are rooted in his intuitions and intuitive certainties. Then he uses them in order to confirm his own theory and response to Peripatetics and mutikallimun.[1]

In the part on cosmology, one of the problems regarding which he refers to Muhyaddin is the problem of the origination of the world. Because of Illuminationist philosophers' stipulating the origination and annihilation of this world, he refers to Muhyaddin and quotes a sentence from him on confirming his own words.[2] Concerning the problem of quiddity and the matter of the material world, he also quotes from Muhyaddin about the elemental nature of the spheres.[3] This is, of course, only at the level of quotation and nothing more than that.

In another place, he poses the subject of the best order of things and, in order to confirm his words, refers to some philosophers and theologians such as Muhyaddin and Ghazzali. Concerning the discussion of the trans-substantial motion of the material world, he refers to Muhyaddin and Xenon.[4]

Regarding the problem of the discontinuity of prophethood and the types of prophethood, Mulla Sadra also quotes from Muhyaddin, which is digressive.[5]

In relation to eschatology, in some of his books he discusses the blast of the Trumpet, Tuba tree, the meaning of vanity of sins, death, situation of souls in different modes, states of the people of Paradise and Hell and quotes Muhyaddin's ideas about them, which are not very effective in his reasoning and are mainly used for the confirmation of his owns words.

In anthropology, concerning subjects such as man's vicegerency of God and his becoming the macroanthropos as well as some of the important problems of Islamic philosophy and gnosis, he sometimes refers to Muhyaddin's books, too.

A study of all the cases that Mulla Sadra has quoted from Muhyaddin reveals that, in contrast to the common belief, Mulla Sadra is not indebted to Muhyaddin in the establishment of his school, the Transcendent Philosophy. In fact, in spite of his great belief in Muhyaddin and his deep respect for him, he never borrowed any important idea from him and not a single pillar or even element of his school or books is rooted in Muhyaddin's books and his specific gnosis.

What can be considered to be more noteworthy than anything else concerning the relationship between the principles of Mulla Sadra and Muhyaddin is the former's belief in and reliance on the immateriality of imagination and its innovative role. This can be viewed as one of the important elements and pillars of Muhyaddin Ibn Arabi. However, the relationship between the ideas of these two thinkers in this regard is mainly a matter of similarity rather than pure advocacy.

Another point here is the belief in the oneness of being.[6] It is commonly believed that this is the core of Muhyaddin's gnosis, and "indigenous possibility", which is attributed to Mulla Sadra, has been resulted from it. However, "the oneness of being" was not propounded for the first time by Muhyaddin and he himself borrowed it from earlier philosophers.

It is now the right place to refer to the problem of the non-eternity of torture in Hell, which can be inferred from some of Muhyaddin's words. Mulla Sadra has evaluated this idea in the light of well-known rational principles and provided the gist of his ideas in this regard is his minor treatise al-Shawahid al-rububiyyah (which is different from his book of al-Shawahid al-rububiyyah). After quoting the holy verse, "And ordain for us that which is good, in this life and in the Hereafter: for we have turned unto Thee." He said: "With My punishment I visit whom I will; but My mercy extendeth to all things. That (mercy) I shall ordain for those who do right, and practise regular charity, and those who believe in Our signs"[7], Mulla Sadra argues that the explicitness and inclusiveness of this verse and its absolute breadth of blessing and application include both this world and the Hereafter.

In al-Asfar, the basis and method of Mulla Sadra's work in dealing with each problem is to pose and study it as extensively as possible. Therefore, he has provided several quotations from various authorities in appropriate places so that philosophy seekers can solve the existing problems with an open mind and based on perfect insight.

He has provided the ideas and theories of many thinkers from ancient philosophers, Iranian Illuminationists, Greek and Alexandrian philosophers, and pre-Islam gnostics to the contemporary philosophers, on the one hand, and the ideas of Shi'ite, Mu'tazilite, and Ash'arite theologians (mutikallimun) and the Sufists, on the other. Then he has tried to criticize, investigate, reject, or modify them in order to familiarize philosophy seekers with delicate and subtle problems of this field and reveal its inherent complexities. He also intends to reveal the value of his own theories and studies to them and equip them with the weapon of solid and decisive reasons and arguments.

In contrast to the idea of some historians,[8] we cannot consider theologians as one of Mulla Sadra's sources. Kalam (theology) can never be viewed as an effective element in the construction of the sublime structure of the Transcendent Philosophy because there has never been a noteworthy point in their weak ideas or a genuine jewel hidden in the deceptive shell of their words to attract the thoughts of this prominent philosopher to itself.

Wherever he has referred to them in his books, he has contended himself with quoting their words or, concerning some problems, responding to them. However, in most cases he has not even felt the need to provide any response to their objections. Unlike his treatment of philosophers or even theologian-like philosophers of Shiraz, such as Dawani, Dashtaki, and Khafri, who he names with praise and great respect, when treating mutikallimun (theologians), he sometimes refers to them as "folk" (al-Qawm), "polemicists" (al-jadaliyyun), and sometimes even "people" (nas). When quoting them, Mulla Sadra begins his sentence with the phrase "as some people say", which indicates their lack of knowledge of divine wisdom.

In spite of his essential humbleness and courtesy and the ethical principles he observes when dealing with theologians such as Ghazzali, Fakhr al-Din Razi, and the like, sometimes under the influence of his religious, philosophical, and gnostic zeal, Mulla Sadra discusses the scandalous nature of the words of those so-called philosophers. He has some statements about Ash'arite and Mu'tazilite theologians from which we can easily infer his attitude towards them. In the discussion of the restoration of the non-existent in al-Asfar,[9] Mulla Sadra has humiliated those who pretend to defend Islamic ideas under the title "insult".

In some cases, Ikhwan al-Safa has been introduced as one of the influential sources of Mulla Sadra's school, and at times some papers have been published in this regard. Nevertheless, this claim is false and, apart from some quotations, Mulla Sadra has never used their book (known as Treatises al-Ikhwan al-Safa). We explained this point previously (in the part on love and the section on Mulla Sadra's adaptations from others while denying any case of plagiarism in his works).

From a historical point of view, Ikhwan al-Safa was a misleading pseudonym chosen by some Shi'ite Batinis who had written 52 promotional philosophical-scientific treatises in order to defend philosophy against the theologians (such as Ghazzali) advocating the caliphs. In fact, they must be considered as one of the locks in the chain of Batinis who since the time of Imam Ja'far Sadiq (a) until the downfall of caliphs in Baghdad acted as the forerunners of opposition against the caliphate of the Abbasids and Umayyads. They played a great role in protecting the original Islamic culture and Peripatetic and Illuminationist philosophies and founding Islamic gnosis. If it had not been for the efforts of these true philosophers, the Ash'arite and Hanbalite theological movement had put an end to rational sciences and today there would have remained no trace of philosophy and other sciences[10] in Islamic and Western countries.

In a sense, Mulla Sadra was one of these philosophers and the heir to their teachings. His master Mir Damad was also one of the philosophers belonging to this chain; however, two points cannot be ignored here: first, based on his own method and the new philosophical arguments that he had innovated, Mulla Sadra demonstrated the problems of ancient philosophy in a way that no early philosopher, even a prominent figures such as Ibn Sina, had ever done before. Such a person cannot be considered to be a follower of early thinkers or indebted to them, unless we accept that knowledge and wisdom is a tree to which each scholar adds a branch. Second, the Treatises of Ikhwan al-Safa and some people such as Hamid al-Din Kermani never exercised such an influence on philosophy so that we view a distinguished philosopher as Mulla Sadra as one of their followers or as one who was influenced by them.

One of the people who has tackled these problems superficially in a paper entitled "Effect of Ikhwan al-Safa and Hamid al-Din Kermani on Mulla Sadra" has written as follows: Mulla Sadra has benefitted from the philosophy of Ikhwan al-Safa in three ways: the first is following an eclectic method in which he has combined philosophical problems with verses and traditions ... "This method has been used by Hamid al-Din"; the second is "using their words"... and then he has quoted some sentences which as we mentioned before, those who accuse Mulla Sadra of plagiarism (!) concerning the problem of "the love of ladies and maids�", have written in their commentaries. He has also compared the words of al-Asfar in this regard with those of Ikhwan al-Safa and claimed that they are consistent. He has quoted them in his paper but we cannot present them here.[11]

The third use that this writer has referred to in his paper is the similarity of Mulla Sadra's words and expressions in relation to corporeal resurrection to those of theirs and some other lexical similarities. However, he is unaware that, when dealing with the problem of resurrection, Mulla Sadra mainly resorts to the theory of the immateriality of imagination and the analogy of corporeal life in that configuration, which he himself formulated for the first time. Quoting others or employing such terms as the microanthropos or macroanthropos, which frequently appear in books on philosophy and gnosis, cannot be deemed as examples of being influenced.

In his view, from among the effects of Ikhwan al-Safa on Mulla Sadra, we can refer to his trans-substantial motion, which he has found in the following sentence in Ikhwan al-Safa. "Beware that motion in some bodies is of the type of trans-substantial motion, such as the motion in fire, which will extinguish when the motion inside it stops." The writer of this paper might even think that, in spite of the irrelevance of this sentence to Mulla Sadra's trans-substantial motion, immediately after seeing this phrase in this sentence, our great philosopher was inspired to produce the theory of the trans-substantial motion and demonstrate it philosophically.

Although Treatises of Ikhwan al-Safa cannot be considered as one of the sources of Mulla Sadra's school, and although none of his demonstrated principles can be found in their original forms in these books, we know that he had access to these treatises and was aware of the theories of their writers. In some cases, he has used some words and sentences similar to theirs without referring to their names; however, in some other cases he has quoted them and praised them. For example, concerning the discussion of the relationship between the soul and its faculties and comparing it to the relationship between angels and Almighty God, he writes, "Beware that the relationship between soulish powers and the soul is similar to the relationship between angels and God. Many distinguished scholars, including the writer of Treatises of Ikhwan al-Safa, believed in this idea", and restates the dialog between an angel and one of the genie philosophers.[12]

Regarding the different types of transmigration, while quoting the idea of "periods" attributed to Illuminationist philosophers, he also quotes from Ikhwan al-Safa.

Clearly, such lexical similarities and even adapted sentences and expressions cannot be viewed as being influenced in the real sense of the word. The truth is that, in spite of the general agreement between Mulla Sadra and Batiniyyah, he never borrowed the principles of his Transcendent Philosophy from them. However, similar to them he believed in the combination of Peripatetic principles with Illuminationist principles, the intellect, revelation, and intuition.

Seyyed Mohammed Khamenei

Mental existence refers to the existence of subjects in the mind, whether they are assumed alone or when they stand as subjects of predicates, and whether they enjoy external existence. The perception of mental existence is intrinsic, and everyone will perceive and accept in one's conscience. The problem of mental existence is among the innovations of Muslim philosophers and is unprecedented in Greek. The discussion of this topic is important from two aspects: ontology and epistemology. In both of them, Mulla Sadra has some new and comprehensive views which have led to important consequences in resolving philosophical problems.

In the present paper, the writer has dealt with the several aspects of mental existence, Mulla Sadra's innovations in this regard, and the solutions to certain problems found in the light of his innovations.

Seyyed Ali Alam al-Huda

This paper aims to demonstrate that, by negating the conformity between the subject and object and the theory of the disengagement of sensual and imaginal forms in order to attain the forms of universal intelligbles, Mulla Sadra has presented a new explanation for the universality of intellectual concepts and, accordingly, provided a new mechanism for the quality of perceiving the universals. In his view, universality is an intellectual concept; that is, it can firstly be applied to multiple things and, secondly, it must be shared by various human minds. The problems related to images and the mind's unity with them are the only means that can provide this possibility. Thus, according to Mulla Sadra, the two basic and important factors in the perception of the universals are the images and the active intellect, and here the mind only plays a passive role. In this way, this paper explains the epistemological places of these two elements and introduces the process of the perception of the universals in Mulla Sadra's view.

Theory of the Essential Difference of Existences and its Relation to the Principiality

Seyyed Murtada Husseini Shahroodi and Rasul Husseinpur

There are two views among the followers of the principiality of existence concerning the relationship between existences, namely, the difference and gradation views. The former is inconsistent with the principiality of existence, has been attributed to Peripatetic philosophers, downgrades the principiality of existence and equates it with the principiality of quiddity, and has led to some consequences such as silence before Ibn Kamunah's objection, lack of congruence between the cause and effect, and the rejection of Platonic Ideas as well as the imagianl world and the intermediate world. By propounding the view of the graded unity of existence, Mulla Sadra solved many of the important problems of Islamic philosophy and explained them in a way to be consistent with Shar'i rules. The gradedness view, in addition to considering the distinction among existences to be a graded distinction, negates any kind of ineffectiveness in the affairs of Almighty Necessary and lack of oneness in His attributes and acts. Finally, it provides a firm basis for demonstrating the world of Images, which some of the philosophers preceding him had failed to prove. The writer of this paper maintains that the graded oneness of existence leads to Islamic gnosis.

Mulla Sadra's Psychological Approach and the Defect of Contemporary Psychology

Reza Mahuzi

In the psychological schools of the twentieth century man is mainly analyzed as a possessor of intelligence. In such approaches, emotional intelligence, inner-individual intelligence, extra-individual intelligence, musical intelligence, spatial intelligence, etc. have been identified following an empirical-theoretical approach in the process of studying the brain. Therefore, they define man as a being possessing multiple intelligences.

In Mulla Sadra's philosophy, considering his ontological views and introducing man's spirit as the noblest dimension of his soul, which is on the way towards transcendence and leaving sensible boundaries behind, man's optimal situation has been defined as being free from the lower dimensions of the soul's desires. Therefore, in this interpretation man's flourishing is introduced in relation to the supreme levels of being and living in the holy presence of Allah.

Through comparing Mulla Sadra's approach and contemporary psychological schools, the purpose of this paper is to reveal the lack of ontological problems in these schools and drawing attention to such problems in the analysis of human values and development of ethical programs.

An Analysis of the Process and Stages of Developing an Identity in Mulla Sadra

Muhammed Bidhendi and Reza Ali Nowruzi

One of the important problems in the field of humanities is identity and developing an identity in Mulla Sadra's view. Relying on the principle of the trans-substantial motion and the principle of the union of the intellect and the intelligible, he has placed the problem of the soul-body relation, which had been previously discussed by many thinkers, in a new field. As a result, he has reached some important conclusions and compensated for many of the defects of the previous approaches. He believes that the soul is "corporeal in origination" and "spiritual in subsistence". Moreover, he states that the soul's relation to the body is based on the perfection of ontological virtues and maintains that the perfection of each human soul lies in his attaining intellectual immateriality, which is realized after his going through the three-fold vegetative, animal, and human stages of the soul. The picture that Mulla Sadra presents from man's identity and its process of development greatly emphasizes the inner and other-worldly dimension of human beings. Basically, he believes that presenting any kind of knowledge of human identity without paying attention to this other-worldly dimension will be incomplete.

The purpose of this research is to investigate Mulla Sadra's approach regarding the generation of the soul and, as a result, the process and stages of developing an identity by following an analytic-descriptive method and benefitting from library sources. The results of this study indicate that, on the basis of Mulla Sadra's view of the generation of the soul, the development of man's identity consists of three stages which are different for each human being considering the conditions of one's soul at various ages and periods of one's life.

Zakaria Baharnejad

The oneness of being is one of the most famous and, at the same time, most controversial problems in theoretical gnosis. It is also considered to be the most fundamental problem of this field. Researchers in the fields of philosophy and gnosis have always asked the question of whether the oneness of being is a gnostic problem, a philosophical problem, or both. Some believe that the theory of the "oneness of being" is a purely intuitive one related to revelation and unveiling and has no meaning for anyone except for the gnostic who feels it and perceives it by means of mystic taste. In fact, the human intellect and wisdom are incapable of perceiving it. Sometimes, it is referred to as "something beyond the level of the intellect". Some others say that, if it is merely an inner and taste-related problem, why have its defenders tried so much to demonstrate it based on philosophical arguments and logical syllogisms and borrow the terminology of philosophers, mutikallimun (theologians), and logicians when explaining and interpreting it? On the other hand, if the theory of the "oneness of being" is a purely intuitive problem, what is the difference between a gnostic believing "in intuitive unity" and a gnostic believing in "ontological unity"? Another question is: what is the difference between the gnostics before the rise of Ibn Arabi and those after him? In this paper, the writer has presented the ideas of those who are for and against this issue and provided the answers to some of the related ambiguities. He has also indicated that this problem is both gnostic and philosophical.

Mulla Sadra and the Theory of the Spirit of Meaning in Interpreting Qur'anic Metaphorical Single Terms

Hamed Shivapoor

There are four main views concerning metaphorical terms in the Qur'an: the view of Zahirites, the theory of univocality, the theory of the truth and metaphor, and the theory of the spirit of meaning. Based on the theory of the spirit of meaning, words are chosen based on the spirits of meanings, and characteristics and applications are not taken into account in their meanings. Therefore, their employment can also be true about intelligible cases. Thus the metaphorical words used in the Qur'an in relation to abstract and intelligible referents have been employed in their real meanings and not in a metaphorical sense.

This view was first proposed by Ghazzali and has been discussed in the works of the great figures of Islamic philosophy since then. It has been dealt with particularly by some prominent scholars such as Fayd Kashani, Sabziwari, 'Allamah Tabataba'i, and Imam Khomeini. Since Mulla Sadra has played an undeniable role in the development and dissemination of this theory. This paper specifically examines his interpretation of this theory.

Nadia Maftuni

Farabi has placed artists as the carriers of religion in the second place in utopia and after the prophetic (nabawi) government. He believes that the angel of revelation emanates all intelligibles to the rational faculty of the Prophet (s) and then to his imaginal faculty. Due to their low capabilities or habits, the public are incapable of the rational perception of happiness and the truth. Therefore, the Prophet (s), who himself enjoys intellectual mastery over all realities based on certain arguments, revealed their images and referents to people's imagination. In Farabi's philosophical system, an artist, in the general sense of the word, deals with the element of imagination, and the utopian or religious and prophetic art is an art that transfers intelligible happiness to the mind of the public through sensual and imaginal forms.

[1]. al-Asfar, vol. 6, p. 288.

[2]. al-Asfar, vol. 5, p. 246.

[3]. Huduth al-'alam, p. 167, the Sadra Islamic Philosophy Research Institute, Tehran, 1999.

[4]. al-Asfar, vol. 3, chapter 29, al-Huduth al-'alam, p. 63, the Sadra Islamic Philosophy Research Institute.

[5]. Mafatih al-ghayb, fatihah 11.

[6]. Some experts on Ibn Arabi are against attributing this idea to him and, at least, deny its certainty.

[7]. Chapter al-A'araf: 156.

[8]. Collections of the Papers of the First Congress of Iranian Studies, 'Abdulmuhsin Mishkataddini.

[9]. al-Asfar, vol. 1, p. 361.

[10]. This political-philosophical movement had started propaganda in all Islamic regions. For example, in Andalusia most of the books on philosophy and other sciences had been written by them. After the half-barbaric European Christians came to power, those books were translated into Latin and Hebrew and after some time led to the Renaissance and other advancements in Europe.

[11]. Sajjadi, S. J., Journal of Faculty of Literature, 1962.

[12]. al-Asfar, vol. 8, p. 139.

Mulla Sadra's Life, Works, and Philosophy

Prof. S. M. Khamenei