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The recommended and disapproved principles have no legal sanction in Islamic jurisprudence and performing disapproved acts is not followed by legal punishment. However, there is a relationship between doing recommended acts and the satisfaction of Kind God and His reward, as there is a relationship between disapproved acts and God's dissatisfaction and rejection.

The relationships of these two groups with the satisfaction and resentment or dissatisfaction of God, Who is loved by all Muslims and believers, is in fact a more important sanction than the legal one in the religion of love. No lover or affectionate person wishes to hurt his/her loved one and is always after the beloved's satisfaction and friendship.

Beside these principles (legal and ethical), there is another act called permissible, i.e. acts that are considered "free" in the law and Shari'ah, that leaves open a vast area in the human life covering the various needs of individuals and society.

Obligatory, forbidden, permissible, disapproved, and recommended principles are called the "five principles" in the jurisprudential sense. This is because some believe that a recommended principle is a kind of Shar'i principle.

The collection of obligatory, recommended, forbidden, disapproved and ethical principles, which complete each other and are the guide of a good and happy life for each individual human being, can be considered to be practical wisdom in Islam.

This comprehensive and consistent system that responds to all the material, spiritual, individual and social, and private and general needs of human beings cannot be found in any other system, whether religious or secular, and any other religion or school of philosophy except in Islamic law and ethics.

The important point here is that, unlike traditional laws, Islamic jurisprudence and Islamic ethics are not the creation of the human mind or even experience. Rather, they are rooted in the great nature and its apparent and hidden laws. This is in contrast to the Peripatetic practical wisdom, which has only been born from the mind of the theoretical philosopher and enjoys a theoretical aspect.

The other point is that in Islamic philosophy and the Transcendent Philosophy ethics enjoys the attribute of absoluteness. Islamic ethics is absolute, and speaking of relative ethics and relativity in ethics is absurd and originates in lack of knowledge. All the peripheral Shar'i (jurisprudential) principles of Islam enjoy natural roots and are based on real good and bad things which, in most cases, have not been touched by human experience. In fact, the human intellect is more imperfect than that to be able to perceive the philosophy of such principles.

The most important pillar of jurisprudence (after the Qur'an) is hadith, which is the source of jurisprudence, unveiling, and inference of Shar'i principles. Hadith, which is also called "tradition", "narration", and "effect" (these terms might be slightly different from each other in meaning) originally consisted of the statements of the Prophet (s) said to his family, friends, acquaintances, and other people during his life. Through these statements, the Prophet (s) explained most of the Shar'i principles and rules of life or interpreted Qur'anic verses or answered some question.

According to the customs of that time, some learnt these statements by heart, but the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (a), Lady Fatima (a), the noble daughter of the Prophet (s), and perhaps some others wrote down all or some of them.^[1]

After the Prophet (s), Umar, the second caliph, forbade the writing and narration of hadith and set punishments for anyone who did otherwise. This policy was the reason why for about 150 years people did not dare to narrate any hadiths, ask questions regarding them, or benefit from them. As a result, after the death of those who had learnt the Prophet's hadiths by heart, many of them were forgotten. Therefore, those Muslims who were not among the followers of the Prophet's Household and had no relationship with them suffered a great damage, and there appeared a gap which can still be seen in the culture, jurisprudence, and law of non-Shi'ite groups.

Nevertheless, because of their belief in Imamat (leadership) and their close relationship with Imam Ali (a) and, after him, two of his sons and some of his grandchildren for two and a half centuries in the course of history, the Shi'ite transferred the Prophet's hadiths by the word of tongue or by recording and keeping them in their books. In this way, they managed to safeguard against their being destroyed and forgotten.^[2]

In the time of Umar Ibn 'Abulaziz, the exceptional and noble Umayyad caliph, many of the political obstacles were removed. For example, he ordered to the collection of the remaining hadiths which had been secretly preserved. Since that time, the narration and writing of hadiths and the teaching of books of hadith became very popular, the story of which has been told in history books.

Later, some scholars began collecting the Nabawi tradition and narrations in books and collections (majami'). Among the Shi'ite, the famous Iranian muhaddith, Kulayni Razi (the writer of al-Kafi) and, after him, Shaykh Saduq, Ibn Babwayh and Shaykh Tusi are well-known for pursuing this task.

It was not long before the knowledge of hadith, i.e. the knowledge related to the Prophet's hadiths and memorizing them, stepped into the realm of science. As a result, several generations of scholars of hadith transferred their knowledge to their students, and some chains of these muhaddiths and scholars of hadith became famous whose scientific credit had been acknowledged in a written testimony given by their master. A simple example of these chains which ends in Mulla Sadra is as follows:


	Shaykh Mufid

	Shaykh Tusi



Muhaqqiq Hilli		Khwajah Nasir Tusi
	'Allamah Hilli



	Shahid Awwal



	Muhaqqiq Karaki

Shaykh Baha'i		Muhaqqiq's son

	Mulla Sadra	Mir Damad


	Fayd Kashani	Muhammed Taqi Majlisi

		Muhammed Baqir Majlisi

All the writers of books on hadiths and the narrators of traditions from the Prophet (s) must refer to the "trace" or the chain of the individuals who have narrated them in order to prove the truth of their claims and the authenticity of the hadiths (for example, they should say that has narrated the hadith from Y, who has narrated it from Z, until they reach the Prophet (s)). This is because of the extreme meticulousness that the people of hadith and jurisprudents employed in the narration and transfer of hadiths so that no mistake or error would contaminate them, and the divine principle would be expressed correctly and without any distortion.

Memorizing hadith and teaching and narrating it had many traditions and customs, one of which was believing in the faith, character, memory, and beliefs of the narrators. That is why an independent science called Ilm-i rijal, the subject of which was discussing the character, life, and social, individual, and scientific background of the narrators of hadith.

The characteristics of these narrators (rijal) and classifying them into two reliable and unreliable groups were the reasons why the scholars of hadith divided the hadiths into four groups: correct, authentic, good, and weak. Each level of this classification shows the value and authenticity of hadiths in terms of their emanation from the Holy Prophets (s).

History has referred to the names of some great muhaddiths among which are the names of a number of scientists, philosophers, and mutikallimun. In this regard, we can refer to Shaykh Mufid, Seyyed Murtada, Shaykh Tusi, Khwajah Nasir al-Din Tusi, 'Allamah Hilli, Mir Damad, Mulla Sadra, and some other stars which have illuminated the sky of wisdom, hadith, and jurisprudence of the world with their light and taught people the way of life.

As we can see in the above figure, Mulla Sadra learnt the knowledge of hadith and the biography and criticism of traditionists from the two true masters of these two sciences, Shaykh Baha al-Din 'Amili and Mir Damad. He had also trained some students, but we do not know much about the true place of Mulla Sadra in the field of hadith for some reasons including the extreme anti-philosophy prejudice of the writer of Mawaqi' al-nujum, muhaddith Nuri, and the bill of indictment that he issued against Mulla Sadra. Even in designing the figure of the chain of muhaddiths, which is correctly called Mawaqi' al-nujum,^[3] when comparing the place of Mulla Sadra and Shaykh Ahmed Ihsa'i (the founder of the ominous Bahaism school), a higher place has been considered for this Shaykh, perhaps because he has criticized and rejected some of Mulla Sadra's books.

In addition to enjoying the conditions for being a muhaddith (who is usually the narrator of hadith and the mediator for transferring it or a person who carries knowledge to one who is more knowledgeable than himself and, in philosophical terms, functions as the "copulative existent" between the subject and the predicate), Mulla Sadra paid more attention to the content and depth of hadith.

He sought the meaning and essence of hadith from its appearance and tried to rediscover the meaning that was in the mind and soul of its narrator. Moreover, in the light of his several years of ascetic practice and difficult worships, he dissected its ambiguous and complex concepts and, benefitting from the jewel of his insight, pierced its pearls and interpreted and commented on them.

The book of Sharh-i usul kafi, which Mulla Sadra wrote during the last decade of his life, is the best proof for this claim. In fact, not many muhaddiths at such level of ability in the sphere of the knowledge of hadith have ever been so successful in interpreting both the words and meaning of hadith at the same time. What most famous muhaddiths have accomplished to do has been to "narrate" hadith; however, Mulla Sadra and his knowledgeable predecessors, in addition to narration, possessed the sublime knowledge of the comprehension of the context of hadith.^[4]

Mulla Sadra was an authoritative muhaddith and an expert in Ilm-i rijal. However, not many books on hadiths are attributed to him. One of these books is Sharh-i usul kafi (which has been referred to in the present book), and the other is a commentary of al-Rawashih al-samawiyyat by Mir Damad, which the writer of Rawzat al-janat had a copy of in the handwriting of its writer. Nevertheless, it is not available anymore today and might have been destroyed.

Undoubtedly, not only in Islamic philosophy but also in Islamic principles, beliefs, and laws, hadith plays a very important role. This is because the Qur'an, due to its limited volume and perhaps the brevity of some of its verses, was not enough for answering all the questions of Muslims and believers. As Imam Ali (a) said, we must have our discussions with your opponents with reference to hadith not the Qur'an, because the Qur'an is a "carrier of multiple meanings". In other words, it sometimes lacks explicitness and, rather, implies secondary meanings.

The importance of hadith was not limited to its substance and origin, but it depended on preserving and recording it and attributing it to the chain of Imamat (the blood-related successors of the Prophet (s), who are called 'Itrat or the People of the Household and, like the Prophet (s) himself, told hadith to people). The hadiths heard from these Imams had not been usually heard from the Prophet (s) himself; however, all of his successors attributed them to the Prophet (s). Apparently, the Prophet (s) had left them in an organized and systematic form in trust with Imam Ali (a) and Lady Fatima (a), and they had written and preserved them and transferred them to others.

If it were not for the People of the Household, thousands of useful and noble hadiths had disappeared, as it happened when the second caliph forbade the narration of hadith, which resulted in the disappearance of thousands of hadiths after the death of their narrators and carriers, that is, the Prophet's friends, in the course of a hundred years. Therefore, as mentioned before, if it were not for the People of the House, who were the trustees of the Prophet (s), and if the traditions which the Prophet's friends had narrated before the order of the second caliph had not become famous and narrated, a huge treasure of culture and religious texts would have been lost to Muslims, and even the whole world of humanity would have been damaged by this catastrophe.

One of the important roles of hadith in the correct interpretation of the Qur'an and completion of Islamic teachings, laws, ethics, and customs was preventing, firstly, the spread of unfounded interpretations of the Qur'an by means of laymen or enemies and, secondly, the unlawful and profiteering dominance of clergymen over Islamic culture and principles under the pretext of the legitimacy of their ideas and interpretations of the Qur'an, i.e. the same calamity that was imposed on the Torah by Jewish clergymen. Jewish scholars derived Moses' laws and principles from the Torah and took legislation in their own hands.

Family, as the first origin and stage of social life, holds an important place in practical wisdom. Islamic philosophers have also paid particular attention to this subject and, given the conditions of their own time, provided some instructions concerning family management, the place of family, and the roles of parents and children in family. Apparently, Mulla Sadra did not write much in this regard; however, based on the framework and method of the Transcendent Philosophy and the scattered discussions that he and his followers and commentators have written, one can infer a system and some instructions for desirable family management. In this system, which we call the philosophical ontology of family, family is regarded as a triangle in which the place and roles of each of its members and God as the legislator and judge have been so accurately explained that using it as a model will lead to man's perfection.

(An Interpretation of the Place of Anthropology in the Transcendent Philosophy)

We read in several Qur'anic verses and traditions that being was created for the sake of human beings. On the other hand, we read that the purpose of creating them was to gain proximity to God. That is, God is so great that proximity to him is considered absolutely magnificent, and man is so great that he has been created with the purpose of coming close to God. However, the question is what makes man, from among all existents, worthy of such nicknames as masterpiece of creation and God's vicegerent, and his sublime status. Apparently, it is his ontological sanctity that has created such uproar in being. The ontological dimensions of man, the complexity of his existence, his role as the subject, the recommendations of the divine religions and traditions about him, that knowing him leads to knowing God, and that the solution to the secret of his existence is the solution to the whole secret of being have all given rise to the following questions: What is man, who is he, and what does he do?"

According to the Qur'an, the same question has been asked in the divine realm by the angels, which indicates that, seemingly, knowing man is the concern of the whole being and the world of creation. As we know, in the name of man and by his hands wars break out, and in the light of his efforts, some sublime concepts such as freedom, peace, justice, the human rights, etc. are created; religions become meaningful, the Prophets are sent; schools, seminaries, and universities are set up. Most surprisingly, not only are the genetic dimensions of this existent amazing, but also his acquired dimensions have given rise to some problems. That is, not only the existence and life of human beings but also their non-being is different, and the lack of a human being seeking for perfection is considered to be a great strike to humanity.

Hence, both theoretical and practical philosophies hold a high place in Mulla Sadra's philosophical and educational system. That is why there are always some new topics for research in this domain. Nevertheless, it is clear that what makes man a distinguished and outstanding existent is his soul and spirit. Of course, the human body is also particularly important because it is the carrier and container of his soul and spirit. This is specially so in Mulla Sadra's philosophy where the human soul is corporeally originated and spiritually subsistent. On the one hand, it has an unbreakable relationship with nature and, on the other, it bears a meaningful connection with the Creator of being. The star of the soul is born in the land of the body, develops there, and then ascends to the level of spirituality. However, a more fundamental question here is whether this existent can be known, and why knowing him is necessary. The purpose of this paper is to provide some answers to these questions within the framework of Sadrian philosophy and based on its principles.

The problem of existence plays a central role in Islamic ontology, and one of its most important principles is the gradation of existence. Although this principle in its particular sense has been introduced in Mulla Sadra's philosophy and is referred to as particular gradedness, its background can be traced to Ibn Sina's philosophy, where it is discussed at two logical and metaphysical levels. Logical gradation, which is the legacy of Aristotle's philosophical system, remains at the level of categories and the gradedness of the concept of existence between substance and accident. However, metaphysical gradation goes beyond this and deals with a meaning of existence that is obtained based on the distinction between the necessary and possible in Ibn Sina's philosophy and equivocality of meaning. In addition to the community of existence in these two types, Ibn Sina refers to a difference that could be the basis for the graded difference between these two types, that is, the "difference in terms of emphasis and weakness", which finds a causal explanation. Given this clarification, one can deliberate over attributing the discussion of diversity to Peripatetics and provide some more explanations. Accordingly, a "general gradation", which is a metaphysical one, is formed in Ibn Sina's philosophy, which is different from Mulla Sadra's "particular gradation".

Many issues in Islamic philosophy are used as premises in order to give a demonstrative nature to theological problems. One of these issues, which has not been given a specific topic, is the two-fold division of existence into copulative and independent types in Sadrian philosophy. This approach, which Mulla Sadra has developed based on an analysis of the causality relation, entails a significant point according to which the whole being and the Truth is independent, and His creatures absolutely depend on Him and belong to Him. Theological arguments, including the demonstration of essence and attributes, attain particular strength in the light of this truth. Moreover, the absolute dependence of possible things necessitates the existence of a self-sufficient and independent being in which duality has no way. This is because the negation of the oneness of the essence of the truth requires the realization of two impossible things: independence of copulative existents and the relative imperfection of the Absolute Rich.

Moreover, some issues such as divine and agentive oneness and the all-embracing divine power and will can be conveniently explained based on the above problem. In the light of this view, the divine knowledge, specially the knowledge of changing particulars, is demonstrated. The reason is that these particular affairs, like other possible things, purely depend on their Creator and are, consequently, the same as being in His presence.

The criteria for nobility and perfection in Sadrian philosophy includes "existence" and the "perception of existence". Existence is the most perfect and its distance and purity override its non-existence. Mulla Sadra regards the essence of the rational soul as a single coin with the world of matter as one of its sides and the world of intellects as the other. The perfection of the soul, because of its cooperation with the body in establishing justice and because of its rational essence, lies in attaining pure intelligible and uniting with the universal intellect.

In this paper, after analyzing and explaining the perfection of the soul in Mulla Sadra's view, the writers have examined and analyzed the factors directing the soul from the nadir of imperfection to the zenith of perfection and happiness. In Mulla Sadra's words, perceptive forms pave the way for the perfection of the soul through creating trans-substantial changes in it as do Shar'i worships through purifying the innermost. In the light of the divine confirmation and mediation of the emanations of angles and the prophets, behavioral habits are among the other factors that contribute to the perfection of the soul.

Epistemology studies the nature of knowledge, evaluates its different types, and determines the criterion for their truth and falsity. Although this field of study does not have a long background in the history of sciences as an independent science and a branch of philosophy, thinkers have never neglected the problem of knowledge and its value and importance. Therefore, attention to this subject is not limited to recent decades. Epistemological issues have been scatteredly discussed from their different dimensions in Islamic philosophy and logic, and many of them enjoy an ontological, rather than epistemological nature.

In his works, 'Allamah Tabataba'i has sometimes directly and sometimes, following the method of early philosophers, between the lines of his other philosophical discussions dealt with the problems related to epistemology and introduced different means of knowledge.

The present paper examines the means of knowledge from 'Allamah Tabataba'i's point of view. Like other thinkers advocating the Transcendent Philosophy, he has tried to take the integration of gnosis, philosophy, and the Qur'an in the perception of the truth into consideration following the prophetic tradition and the path of Imams or right guidance. In doing so, he has employed all three means of attaining knowledge, that is, Shar' (revelation), the intellect, and heart, at the same time. In 'Allamah's view, the means of knowledge include the sense perception, the intellect, fitrah (primordial nature), and intuition, which also contains revelation, inspiration, and dream by itself.

Mulla Sadra and his Interdisciplinary Approach to Interpreting Ambiguous Verses

In the domain of Islamic culture, while being aware of the damages and shortcomings of methodological restrictionism in the field of religious research, Mulla Sadra has introduced a new approach within the framework of the Transcendent Philosophy in order to solve theological problems. Through developing an interdisciplinary approach as a research design based on methodological pluralism, he has managed to break methodological restrictionism. Similar to other theological problems, in the interpretation of ambiguous verses, which has always been a challenging discussion in the history of Islamic sciences, Mulla Sadra has adopted an interdisciplinary approach. Given the multi-disciplinary nature of the problem of ambiguous verses in the Qur'an, it seems necessary and inevitable to employ such an approach. He believes that without the interpretation of ambiguous verses or resorting to the subject of embodiment in relation to the essence of Almighty Truth, one can maintain the surface meaning of the words of the verses based on the philosophical-gnostic principles of a particular monoistic approach and predicate all ambiguous verses on their surface meanings. The present research is a case study introducing Mulla Sadra's transcendent approach concerning his ontology and religious studies based on a well-documented and logical method.

The present paper, while analyzing the category of motion from Ibn Sina's view, infers and explains the principles dominating the motion of natural bodies based on the teachings of the Sinan natural philosophy and the writer's own views. In doing so, in line with the new division in physics � mechanics, the discussion is divided into two parts. First, the subject of the science of motions, irrespective of the causes of motion, is described. In this regard, the different types of motion, such as natural (free) and unnatural motions (compulsory), and transitional and circular motions, as well as the quantities of velocity and slowness are discussed. Then the science of forces or powers is explored. The basic concepts related to motion, i.e. "nature" and "desire" are introduced in this part, and Ibn Sina's innovative theory of "desire" is also tackled in more detail. In the next part, based on the propounded problems, some principles dominating the motions of bodies are inferred and introduced. Finally, considering these principles, the hurling motion of a stone is described.

The writer here limits his discussion to the motion of natural bodies or elements and avoids the topic of the motion of spherical bodies (according to Ibn Sina's description). In this paper, he considers Ibn Sina's physics as an empirical science described from a philosophical perspective rather than as a part of philosophy relying on empirical referents and examples.

^[1]/span>. It has been written in history books that the fifth Imam (Imam Muhammed Baqir (a)) had a collection of the Prophet's hadiths dictated by him and written by Imam Ali (a). He also had some other scrolls written on the skin of a baby camel or lamb including some truths about the past and future and a collection of the Prophet's hadiths known as Lady Fatima's Mosnad written by this member of the Household. This shows that, at that time, the number of people who could write did not exceed the number of fingers in two hands; however, the Prophet's daughter possessed this art.

^[2]. It has been written that Imam Sadiq (a) had 4000 jurisprudent students. There are 400 documents on hadith in the name of Usul arba'ah mi'ah (The 400 Principles) from the students of the Infallible Imams (a).

^[3]. This phrase means the base of stars and has been adopted from the Qur'an, where Almighty God has sworn to Mawaqi' al-nujum.