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There were some heavenly religions which either lacked a definitive text (in the form of a holy book) descended through a prophet or had a silent text the understanding and interpretation of which was delegated to ordinary people or the clerics of that religion. After less than a century of the life of such religions, distortion and diversion found their way in them, destroyed their truth and legitimacy, and left nothing from them but a mixture of local traditions, myths, and absurd ideas.

A clear example of the above trend was Judaism. In spite of the existence of the Torah or the Old Testament, according to the Holy Qur'an, its laws and rules were deliberately changed and distorted due to the ideas and benefits of clergymen and the social conditions of the time, including the rise of Christianity and Islam.

Jewish clerics, known as rabbi, were not even content with this and introduced their personal views and interpretations as realities of religion. Later they fabricated some unethical and racist principles in the name of their religion which were later collected in a book much thicker than the Torah called Talmud. The original text of this book is not accessible to people; however, some texts similar to it are sometimes shown to them in its name.

According to the foregoing remarks, the hadiths of the Prophet (s) and the People of the Household enjoy a supreme and sublime place and have invaluable advantages and functions, from among which we can refer to the following:

1. Hadith protects the Prophetic (nabawi) traditions and way of life. The Prophet (s) was a unique character, who, in addition to possessing a great spirit which suited the seal of all prophets, behaved in a way and said some statements that turned into the best models for a wandering human race that lacked a model. Following his path, they managed to find a road to salvation and attain self-knowledge.

Two things could protect this huge treasure: The first was history (in its common sense) and the second was hadith in the form available today. History was not much trustworthy. Neither its carriers and narrators, nor its method of collecting and recording documents and evidence did guarantee the protection of historical facts and the methods of honest narration. As we know, there have been little truth and honesty in retelling historical facts.

Nevertheless, because of the accuracy and meticulousness involved in choosing the transmitters of hadiths and transmitting them, hadith was the only means capable of guarding and protecting the Prophet's traditions and way of life.

2. The other function of hadith was transferring the commentaries on revelations and the Holy Qur'an, as well as their interpretations, to Muslims. This entailed the interpretations that the bearer of revelation, i.e. the Prophet (s) himself, had provided to Muslims. As the Holy Prophet (s) was the mediator between the created and the Creator and the direct recipient of revelation or divine words, he was the only person who could be the direct mediator of "understanding" the Qur'an and its commentator. This is because the Qur'an had not only been descended to the Prophet's ear but also even to his heart and all his being. It was mixed with his soul and spirit and, in other words, the whole revelations and facts had penetrated every cell of his body and his soul and affected them. That is why it is said, "The Prophet's conduct was the same as the Qur'an."[1] Therefore, a hadith that had been narrated by the Prophet (s) or about his behaviors and acts was the same as revelation and unveiling of the hidden realities of the Qur'an. Hence, hadith can be considered the only guarantee of the correct understanding of the Qur'an.

3. Hadith is not only an invaluable legacy of the Prophet (s), but also the guarantee of protecting the religion of Muslims, guarding their piety, and safeguarding them against diversion from the path of religion, following on the wrong path, and falling in the trap of religious corruption.

Almost all followers of various religions separated from the central teachings of their religions centuries after the demise of their prophets and began distorting religious principles, diverting from the right path, and creating myths. There were two reasons for this event: first, the texts of their revelations were prone to distortion and, second, they were not as strict as Muslims in guarding the messages of their religion and the Prophet (s) (hadiths and traditions). In fact, each clergyman of those religions could impose his ideas and taste on his religion.

In spite of all the threats against it, hadith managed to place a clear and well-established way before the followers of Islam. In this way, it succeeded in transferring the legacy of Islam, the Qur'an, and the Prophet (s) safely, to a great extent, to later generations and protecting their religion from distortion and their faith from diversion.

4. In the interpretation and exposition of the Qur'an, hadith holds a role similar to that of normal laws in relation to the constitutional law. That is, the Prophet (s) and the People of the Household not only explained religious rules by hadith and formed and gave a direction to philosophical thought in the Islamic society at a higher level (that is why kalam and Islamic philosophy are indebted to hadith), but they also did their best in order to program and organize the worldly and other-worldly affairs of Muslims. Through hadiths, which include the teachings of the Prophet (s) and the People of the Household, Islam developed some laws, principles, and customs for all social constitutions, including family, government, politics, education and training, defense, macro and micro financial affairs, and even people's health and daily needs. In the light of such principles, the Muslim society can organize all of its social and political affairs, as well as the affairs of its members, and teach them how to live a life abounding in happiness, health, and prosperity.

It is important to know that hadith and its coming down to Muslims was not limited only to the Holy Prophet (s). Rather, his family and offspring, who were the children of his daughter, Lady Fatima (a), the wife of Imam Ali (a), known as the "People of the Household" and "Itrat or the relatives of Muhammed (s)" among Muslims, were the best trustees. Because of their closeness to the Prophet (s), being in company with him at all times, and being his confidantes, they heard and wrote all the hadiths transmitted by the Prophet (s) and transmitted them in his absence to Muslims. Accordingly, today the people of the Household, like the Prophet (s), are considered to be the origin and trusted emanators of hadith and interpreters of the Qur'an in the field of the knowledge of hadith.

1. "Itrat" of the Prophet (s) or those who were always beside him. In terms of quantity, they had learnt more hadith than others from the Prophet (s) and, in terms of quality, they were considered the best bearers and trustees for hadiths. This was because there was no weak point in their character, morality, and mental and spiritual capabilities. Therefore, unlike other people, they never committed errors, never forgot anything, never fell in the trap of satanic temptations, never omitted anything from the Prophet's hadith or added anything to it, and never employed their personal, religious, and racial views in narrating hadith.

The Prophet's Itrat consisted of his daughter, Lady Fatima (a); his son-in-law, Imam Ali (a), their two children, Imam Hassan (a) and Imam Hossein (a); Imam Hossein's son Imam Sajjad (a); his child and offspring, Imam Baqir (a), his son, Imam Ja'far (a); his son, Imam Kazim (a); his son, Imam Reza (a); his son, Imam Jawad (a); his son, Imam Hadi (a); his son, Imam Hassan Asgari (a); and his living son, Imam Mahdi (a), may God bless all of them.

That is why the hearing and receiving of hadith from these eleven grandchildren of the Prophet (s), their mother Lady Fatima (a); and their father Imam Ali (a) was originally like hearing hadith from the Prophet (s) himself. There are certain reasons and pieces of evidence in hadith from the Prophet (s) himself, one of which is hadith Thaqalayn.

Second, those who, under the influence of personal or political purposes or for the bribes they received from rulers, either changed the Prophet's hadith or created some hadiths in the name of the Prophet (s) for their own benefit. This group was known as "Wazza'in" or "forgers of hadith".

Third, ordinary people who, in spite of their spiritual and religious piety and being free from political vice, were vulnerable to making mistakes or forgetfulness. They sometimes explained the meaning of hadith in their own words, which by itself reduced the value of hadith. Moreover, unlike the People of the Household, who because of holding the positions of leadership and guardianship, which represented a kind of divine visegerency, made no mistakes, they (common people) were not infallible and, as a result, committed errors, and their hadiths were of little value.

It was because of the same truth of words, hadith, and acts of the Prophet's family and their worthiness for the political, social, philosophical, and religious leadership of Muslims that the Prophet (s) frequently introduced them as being of equal value with the Qur'an and granted them the unique position of explaining the religion to others and leading Muslims. In this regard, we can refer to the famous hadith of "Thaqalayn": "I leave you Muslims with two invaluable legacies: One is the Qur'an, and the other is my Itrat[2], i.e. the People of the Household, who the Shi'ites deservedly view as the leaders after the Prophet (s). His daughter, Lady Fatima, is also beside them."[3]

The above hadith and the others, which have even been narrated by non-Shi'ites, reveal the complete authority of the People of the House in the interpretation of the Qur'an, their piety and infallibility in narrating hadith from the Prophet (s), and their understanding the words of God and the Holy Prophet (s). This is one of the merits of Imamiyyah Shi'ism.

As an important pillar of Islamic sources for the apprehension and interpretation of the Holy Qur'an, methods of social life, construction of a supreme civilization, and attaining worldly and other-worldly happiness, hadith was never forgotten among Muslims. Particularly, the Imami Shi'ites attached great value and importance to it as we referred to in the part on Mulla Sadra, Mir Damad, and Shaykh Baha. Scientific figures and founders of schools of philosophy and wisdom were always among the guardians of hadith and experts in ilm al-hadith (knowledge of hadith).

Unfortunately, during the last four centuries, because of the rise of some barren Zahirite prejudices in hadith and, according to Mulla Sadra, some Hanbalite tendencies, philosophy and rational sciences were wrongly introduced as rivals of hadith and Qur'anic interpretation. They cast such a separation between them that today we are witnessing a kind of independence of philosophy and rational sciences from the philosophical inspiration and illuminations of hadith. This separation damages both rational and transmitted fields; it deprives philosophical thought of the blessings of revelation and leaves philosophers wandering and confused in the valley of thinking.

In the history of philosophical thought, various theories have been propounded regarding the process of the acquisition of intellectual perceptions. One of the most important of them is the theory of abstraction. However, Mulla Sadra did not agree with abstraction in the sense intended by other philosophers, and that is why he provided a new meaning of abstraction based on his own numerous philosophical principles. Instead of focusing on the object, he initially attributes abstraction to the subject, following which perception will become more abstract. This theory is rooted in the specific philosophical principles of Sadrian Transcendent Philosophy; however, it has also had some particular consequences in the mould of other theories, as well. Therefore, it can represent a kind of complex and, at the same time, methodological philosophical system.

Moreover, Mulla Sadra believes in the contemplation of intellectual substances, combination of intellectual perception with imagination or the same imaginal perception, creation of intellectual forms through the soul, union of the soul with the active intellect during intellectual perception, and the relationship between the soul and intelligible forms. The authorities in the field of the Transcendent Philosophy have tried to reconcile the existing contradictions considering the different states of the perceiving soul; however, it seems that there are still some ambiguities and inconsistencies in some cases which demand more research and effort to be resolved. Nevertheless, given the Sadrian philosophical principles, it is not impossible to bring them into harmony with each other.

In this paper, the writer mainly intends to explore Mulla Sadra's method of thinking in this process and not confirm all his views. Therefore, while examining and criticizing some of his ideas regarding the process of intellectual perceptions, particularly those pertaining to the discussion of the union of the subject with the Active Intellect and the contemplation of the Ideas, he has tried to pay attention to and explain Mulla Sadra's philosophical method concerning intellectual perception through focusing on the theory of the transcendence of the perceiving soul and taking his other principles into account.

The Stoics have discussed and examined the problem of divinity from two aspects under the influence of Plato's ideas. From the cosmological aspect, they introduce God as the soul and intellect of the world, and from a theological aspect, they try to demonstrate the existence of His Essence and examine His attributes including eternity, immortality, and mercy. Stoic theology can be studied from various dimensions from among which cosmological, psychological, and ethical aspects are more prominent. The cosmological aspect is mainly discussed in natural sciences. The psychological aspect deals with the quality of the emergence of the concept of God in man's soul and mind. Finally, the end of Stoic ethics is considered to be in harmony with nature and, in a sense, in harmony with God through following the intellect, which, at the same time, enjoys a divine aspect. Accordingly, all the modes and fields of Stoic thought are replete with the presence of a divine element.

Islamic philosophers have presented the hypothesis of the rational analysis of revelation in order to explain the rational possibility of revelation and man's relationship with the realm of Dominion. In this analysis, prophetic revelation marks a particularly unique apprehension that cannot be known through common means of knowledge acquisition. In the rational explanation of revelation, the holy spirit of the prophet initially ascends to the world of the intellect and, after perceiving the meanings and realities of affairs, receives revelation. Then, in the stage of descent, those meanings are visualized at the level of imagination and, finally, the prophet's intellectual perceptions flow in the form of sounds and words from his tongue at the level of sense perception and are heard by others.

The perception of ontological realities is an individual and presential apprehension. Therefore, doubt has no way in it. Likewise, there is no room for others in this process. Most Islamic philosophers believe that the station of prophethood and apprehension of revelation is of this type. In other words, it is awarded rather than being acquired, although some of its prerequisites might be acquired.

The problem of copulative and inhering existence is one of the fundamental issues in prime philosophy. These two terms are sometimes used interchangeably by mistake. While explaining these two terms, this paper intends to highlight their differences. Firstly, inhering existence is the existing thing itself and, while being independent, it belongs to the other. However, copulative existence is merely the relation of two things. Secondly, inhering existence is the referent of the concept of relative existence. Nevertheless, copulative existence is a logical term and has a mental existence. Moreover, while introducing the distinctions of the predicate from the subject, the writer will demonstrate that the predicate can be distinguished from the subject in propositions based on the principle of the predicate. In this way, it will be known that the copula (existence in-other) is a two-sided copula in a proposition with one functioning as a subject and the other as a predicate.

A Study of the Trends and Logical Principles of the Four-fold Relations in the View of Muslim Logicians

Muslim logicians have always paid attention to the problem of relation and tried to provide a logical analysis of this concept. Moreover, the employment of the inferential principles involving relation appears to have been inevitable to them. In fact, the gradual development of referential relation parallel to conceptual relation indicates the presence of such an attention. There is no written record of explanation of the four-fold relations in Aristotle's works; however, from the seventh century (AH) onwards, in addition to the discussion of conceptual relation, which is presented in the category of the five-fold universals, logicians have discussed referential relation extensively under the title of the four-fold relations. Of course, the pioneers of this endeavor were such scholars as Ghazzali. The latest analysis of Muslim logicians from logical relations in line with the set theory was basically a referential rather than conceptual theory. Therefore, one cannot say that Muslim logicians preferred conceptual interpretation to the referential one.

The development of the four-fold relations by referent-oriented logicians is the outcome of their attention to the referents or individuals of universals. They believe that a logical system which is merely based on the five-fold universals (quiddities) is inadequate. Therefore, in addition to Isagoge, they also discuss the collections, the relations between them, and the principles dominating referential relations. They also pose the four-fold relations, which depend on referents and collections.

absolute universality and particularity universality and particularity in some respects

In the field of terrestrial motions (sublunary), Aristotle has resorted to the concept of natural desire in order to explain natural motions. Moreover, he has presented the theory of gravity to solve the problem of coercive motion. In the realm of spherical motions (superlunary), however, he resorts to a theory other than gravity in order to solve the problem of the permanent circular motion of spherical bodies. Accordingly, Aristotle's theory of dynamics is a disconnected theory wherein natural terrestrial, coercive, and spherical motions follow independent and separate laws. Nevertheless, Ibn Sina, while exploring and criticizing Aristotle's dynamics and Johannes Philoponus' solutions, has tried to solve the problems of Aristotelian dynamics concerning terrestrial and spherical motions. Through presenting a unitary theory called the "theory of desire", he analyzes a connected dynamics based on which terrestrial and spherical motions are explained on the basis of a single concept and law. The significance of Ibn Sina's innovation lies in the fact that Western historians believe that connected dynamics is the product of the period of Renaissance, while Ibn Sina was a forerunner in presenting this theory. In fact, it was through the translation of Ibn Sina's al-Shifa into Latin that this theory was disclosed to John Buridan, Albert Saxony, and Galileo.

A Comparative Study of the Possibility of the Knowledge of the Essence and Reality of Objects in Ibn Sina and Suhrawardi

One of the most fundamental problems of human knowledge pertains to the discussion of the possibility of knowing the essence and reality of objects. This issue has attracted the attention of several philosophers in the East and West, as well as that of Muslim philosophers. From among the views of Muslim philosophers in this regard, those of Ibn Sina and Suhrawardi, as founders of two prominent schools of Islamic philosophy, are of prime importance. In his great book of Ta'liqat, Ibn Sina seriously discusses the possibility of the knowledge of the essence and reality of objects and rejects it. Suhrawardi has also paid attention to Ibn Sina's views in this respect and, while criticizing Peripatetics' definition of this problem, presents a serious discussion of the possibility of the knowledge of the essence of things. His remarks in this regard are mainly recorded in the chapter on logic in his Hikmat al-ishraq.

Commentators of Suhrawardi have provided two completely different interpretations of his words. His traditional commentators, such as Shahrzuri and Qutb al-Din Shirazi, believe that Suhrawardi has followed Ibn Sina's path in Ta'liqat, according to which access to the essence and reality of objects is impossible. By contrast, some contemporary researchers of Suhrawardi, such as Zia'i and Aminrazavi, hold that Suhrawardi's views in the Introduction to Hikmat al-Ishraq should be considered as a response to Ibn Sina's concerning this topic. They also maintain that, through posing the concept of presential perception, Suhrawardi intends to defend the possibility of the knowledge of the essence and reality of objects. However, between these two interpretations, the former is dominant and more consistent with Suhrawardi's statements.

[1]. Hadith from Ayshah, the Prophet's wife.

[2]. This hadith has been narrated from the Prophet (s) and confirmed by both Shi'ite and non-Shi'ite jurisprudents of other Muslim religions. There are several other hadiths with the same content that the Prophet (s) narrated to all people everywhere in Medina. Several books and papers have been written about these hadiths, for example, al-Muraji'at, Seyyed Sharaf al-Din, Muraji'ah 8.

[3]. The Holy Prophet (s) had some other daughters; however, he never entered any of them, except Lady Fatima (a), into this holy group.

Mulla Sadra's Life, Works, and Philosophy

Prof. S. M. Khamenei