Mullą Sadra’s Epistemological Principles in Metaphysical Problems

Ali Allah Bedashti

One of the most important issues that Mullą Sadrą has dealt with in his works is the knowledge of metaphysical realities. He believes that such realities are so important that their acquisition is necessary for every rational person. He says:

Since there are a great number of different branches of sciences and arts of perception, and since it is very difficult, if not impossible, to develop mastery over all of them, each and every rational individual is expected to focus his attention on the most important of them and after acquiring enough of other sciences to satisfy his worldly and other worldly needs, devote all his life to the perfection of his essence.[1]

These are the issues that Mullą Sadrą calls them Hikmat al-iląhiyyah and m‘arifat al-rububiyyah.[2] A person who enjoys the gift of knowing them, according to the Holy Qur’an, has been awarded khayr-i kathir (plentiful good or overflowing good)[3] and, according to Mullą Sadrą, has found access to supreme happiness and honor. In the introduction of al-Asfąr, Mullą Sadrą introduces these types of sciences as follows:These types of sciences include the knowledge of God, His Attributes, His books, His messengers, the emanation of objects from Him in the most perfect way and according to a best order, the quality of His knowledge of objects and the way He governs them, as well as the knowledge of human soul, its reaching the other world, its connecting to the spiritual world, its freedom from all bounds, its flying away from the material world, and its delving into the seas of the Dominion. [4]  Now it seems the right time to explore the philosophical principles of this divine sage concerning the knowledge of such holy concepts. It is hoped that through traversing his path, which is based on demonstration, gnosis, and the Qur’an, we can find access to the peak of the perfection of divine knowledge and the Transcendent Philosophy.

To achieve such an exalted purpose, it is first necessary to study some issues on the basis of Mullą Sadrą’s Transcendent Philosophy.

1. The possibility of the knowledge of metaphysical issues

One of the problems which is as old as the history of ancient philosophy is the possibility of knowledge. For example, the Sophists believed that the knowledge of objects and the external world was impossible. In this regard Gorgias said: “First of all, nothing exists … Second, that even if something did, we cannot know it. Third, even if we could know anything we couldn’t explain it to anyone to others”.[5]

Apart from the Sophists and the Skeptics, those philosophers who believe that knowledge is possible state that we are only capable of knowing the properties and accidents of objects; however, we have no access to their reality, as Ibn Siną in his T‘aliqąt says:

The knowledge of the reality of objects is not within man’s reach. We know nothing about objects except for their properties, implications and accidents. In fact, we are unaware of their constitutive differentia indicating their reality. Therefore, we do not know the First Truth (The Sublime), the intellect and the soul. [6]

After quoting the above sentences from Ibn Siną, in confirming his words, Mullą Sadrą continues the discussion as follows: “The interpretation of Ibn Siną’s words is what we referred to previously and for which presented some reasons in relation to the discussion of existence. This interpretation indicates that the individuals of existence are not demonstrable unless through resorting to a kind of a priori reasoning”.[7]

Nevertheless, the men of wisdom and philosophers do not consider this as a reason for denying all kinds of knowledge. Rather, they say although we have no access to the reality of objects, we can find out about their existential properties, accidents and implications. Mullą Sadrą believes that we know the existential realities through the concepts and topics that are associated with them.[8] He further adds: “The reality, of objects is something that lacks essential impossibility, and therefore could be known by man’s knowledge”.[9]

Nevertheless, Mullą Sadrą does not mean that the innermost essence of things could be known, since following this discussion, when interpreting the ideas of those researchers who maintain that simple things could not be known unless through their concomitants and effects,[10] he says:

If he means that the intellect does not know the external existence through its individual identity and corresponding form, he is right. However, if he means that the intellect also knows simple concepts, he is evidently wrong, since the intellect perceives the concepts of existence, thingness, and the like. Thus the perceived conception of everything is either compound or simple. If a concept is simple, it either represents the innermost essence of the simple thing or one aspect of it. In the first case, the intellect perceives the essence of that thing and, in the second case, it perceives the innermost of that aspect, although it might not have grasped the innermost holder of that aspect.[11]

Consequently, though we have no access to the realities of objects, particularly immaterial things, which are simple realities, we can perceive the metaphysical realities of knowledge through concepts. As Imam ‘Ali (‘a) states: “He has not informed (human) with the limits of His qualities. Nevertheless, He has not prevented it from securing essential knowledge of Him. So he is such that all signs of existence stand witness for Him till the denying mind also believes in Him”.[12]

However, the question is how this much of knowledge which is accessible to the intellect could be obtained, and that who could obtain it. It goes without saying that we can perceive such holy realities to some extent through following a correct method of knowledge acquisition, obtaining the necessary existential conditions, and removing the obstacles. In what follows, the writer has tried to show the right way on the basis of the Transcendent Philosophy.

2. Mullą Sadrą’s method of the acquisition of metaphysical knowledge

At first, it should be emphasized that according to Mullą Sadrą, all methods of knowledge acquisition, including empirical (employing sense experience), rational, gnostic, revealed are valid; however, to obtain the knowledge of metaphysical concepts, one should follow the rational, gnostic and revealed methods. This is because the senses have no way in the domain of abstract concepts, and also because the truth cannot be unveiled through resorting to dialectical methods. At this point, Mullą Sadrą, while rejecting the theologians’ dialectical method, acknowledges the permissibility of the restoration of the annihilated to prove bodily resurrection. Moreover, he explains the gnostic and demonstrative method through referring to the words of the divine prophets:

All theologians, who are against all philosophers) thought that by this claim, i.e, the permissibility of the restoration of objects after their being annihilated, the bodily resurrection acknowledged in the Divine Laws (Shari‘ah) and the Holy Books descended to the divine prophets (may God bless all of them) could be demonstrated; however, they were not aware that the secrets of the Divine Laws cannot be discovered through theological and dialectical discussions. Rather, they can only be unveiled in two ways:

1. The method of righteous people: this method encourages getting involved in different types of worship (such as saying one’s prayers, fasting, praying), and persevering in maintaining justice and avoiding the temptations of habits.

2. The method of God’s favorite people: According to this method knowledge is acquired through scientific ascetic practice and directing the perceptual powers toward the Holy lights, as well as through polishing the mirror of the rational soul, so that it would not be affected by corrupt behavior. Thus, after following these ways, man’s soul will be able to observe the forms of realities related to faith, as well as the secrets hidden to the sense, and then rationalize them through his intrinsic sincerity.[13]

It is also necessary to emphasize that, in Mullą Sadrą’s view, restricting the methods of knowledge acquisition to these two methods does not invalidate the revealed method. This is because in his introduction to al-Asfąr, he considers kneeling down in the school of prophets as the supreme method of obtaining the knowledge of God Almighty, resurrection, and the hereafter. He says:

I repented in God’s presence for spending some years of my life following the ideas of theologians (Asharites and Mutazites) and those who pretend to philosophy . . . At last, in the light of faith and God’s support, it came to light to me that their deductions were absurd and their way was misleading. Therefore, I put myself in the hands of God and His warning messenger. As a result, I developed faith in their decrees and confirmed them. Following this, I was never after bringing imaginative justifications for the truth or devising a dialectical method. Rather, I stepped in His way of Guidance and abstained from what he had forbidden. I did this to show my obedience to this decree of the Glorified God saying: “And whatsoever the messenger giveth you, take it. And whatsoever he forbiddeth, abstain (from it)” (the Qur’an, chapter al-Hashr: 7). Finally, God opened my eyes to what I was supposed to see and rewarded me for obeying Him by granting me victory and salvation. [14]

These sentences of Mullą Sadrą clearly demonstrate his idea of the kinds of knowledge received through revelation and acknowledge his pure submission to the Divine Laws (Shari‘ah).

3. Distinguishing quiddative principles from existential principles and concept from the referent

Mullą Sadrą, unlike those philosophers who mixed the principles of quiddity with those of existence, on the one hand, and the principles of concept with those of the referent, on the other, made a distinction between them and emphasized that concepts are essentially different from each other; however, they could have a single referent. In other words, some referents of existence possess such an existential breadth that different concepts, although in contrast to each other, could be abstracted from them. In this regard, in his discussion of the Divine Attributes Mullą Sadrą says:

A great number of subtle observers believe that the identity of the Attributes of the Exalted God and His Essence indicates that the concepts of these attributes are the same and possess a single meaning. Nevertheless, this is an absurd and unfounded idea ... Rather, it indicates that all these different and perfective attributes exist in the light of the existence of the Single Essence ... Regarding this, no attribute is different from the others. The God Almighty is Omnipotent and the Knower in His Essence.[15]

Here, Mullą Sadrą correctly distinguishes the principles of concept from those of the referent and, unlike Ibn Siną,[16] does not consider referential unity as the cause of conceptual unity. As we see, in another place and in relation to the existential breadth of the world of the Divine Names and Attributes, he maintains: “The Divine world is truly immense and magnificent; it is a collection of concepts that have a single truth”.[17] Mullą Sadrą solves the problem of mental existence on the same basis and declares:

The predication of the thing on the thing and their unity could be explained in two ways. The first is the common technical predication, in which the subject and the predicate are the same only in existence, and the second is the same as the essence and concept of the predicate; however, a kind of distinction is observed between them … According to this introduction, the universal rational concepts, due to their being so, do not belong to any category. [18]

On the same basis, Mullą Sadrą, in his discussion of contradiction, in addition to the eight-fold unities, considers the unity of predication as a prerequisite and argues: “The conclusion is that distinguishing conceptual principles from existential principles or, in other words, mental principles from external and objective ones, will open our eyes to a series of illuminating epistemological horizons”. [19]

4. The ontological bases of Sadrian philosophy

The knowledge of the reality of existence on the basis of the Transcendent Philosophy plays a central role in the acquisition of the foundations of Mullą Sadrą’s epistemology. In his view, man’s unawareness of the reality of existence will result in his inability to acquire the knowledge of other things. To explain this point he says: 

Since the problem of existence is the basis of judgmental principles and divine issues, as well as a firm center around which the millstone of the science of Oneness, Resurrection, revivification of the souls and bodies, and the like revolve, one who is deprived of the knowledge of existence will remain unaware of many divine principles and teachings. And his ignorance of this problem will cost him the loss of the secret aspects of divine knowledge.[20]

That is why in his philosophical works and writings on divine issues, Mullą Sadrą first explains the problem of existence and demonstrates the original principle of the principiality of existence.[21] To continue with his above-mentioned words, he states:

I find it more deserving to open the discussion in this treatise (which is on the principles of the realities of faith, wisdom and philosophy) with introducing the issues related to existence. Therefore, I start my argument with posing the problems of existence and demonstrating that existence is the sole stable principle of each existence, that the truth merely belongs to existence, and that anything other than existence is only like a picture, shadow or phantom of existence.[22]

Therefore, the primary problem in Mullą Sadrą’s theory of ontology is the principiality of existence and the mentally-posited nature of quiddites. In al-Asfąr, he maintains: “The source of the effect and the effect of the source (the First Exalted) are the only real and objective existents, … rather than the abstract concepts of existence, which are only mental issues, or quiddities, which are ambiguous in essence and far from reality”.[23]

Second, existence is a graded reality. In Sadrian philosophy, existence is conceptually a superordinate term, but it is a graded reality in its realization in terms of strength, weakness, perfection and defect, with each grade having its own features and attributes. Mullą Sadrą considers superordination or semantic communality an evident issue.[24] However, on the gradation of existence he says:

The predication of the concept of existence on its referents takes place at different grades, i.e, it occurs to some referents at primary and highest grades, since the existence of some existents is necessitated by their essence while it is not the case with other existents. In some of them, existence is more pre-existent than others, and in some others it is more complete and stronger.[25]

Mullą Sadrą emphasizes the above point in several places in al-Asfąr, al-Shawąhid al-rubźbiyyah and his other works.[26] Although he believes that existence is of several different grades, he views all of them among the levels of the individuations of the First Truth, the manifestations of light, and the modes of His Essence, rather than separate grades independent from the Truth.[27]

Moreover, in Mullą Sadrą’s view, although all forms of being and quiddities of originators are the effects of the light of the First Truth, each grade is the shadow of its superior grade in its vertical journey. Regarding the material world, he asserts: “Each potency is in fact a shadow or sample of what exists in the transcendental world, but it has declined and changed from its clear and pure form into a tarnished and impure one.[28]

On the other hand, Mullą Sadrą believes that the existents of the intelligible and corporeal world possess different aspects, as in al-Shawąhid al-rububiyyah we read: “Nothing exists in this world unless there is a soul for it in the other world and an intellect in the third world”.[29] At the end of this chapter, Mullą Sadrą, while referring to the world of Dominion, mentions the Divine Names in the vertical chain of this world: “For every celestial being and for each observable existent in the world there is in fact an Invisible, and nothing can exist in this world unless it has a soul, intellect and divine name.[30]

In sum, in Mullą Sadrą’s Transcendent Philosophy, the world of existence follows a descending journey from the Divine world, Everlasting Light and Absolute Beauty to the corporeal world, which is the lowest of all worlds. It has an ascending journey from this bodily and material world to the world of Ideas or immaterial substances. In this regard, Mullą Sadrą says:

The genera of the worlds and stages of existence are three: 1) the primary stage comprising the world of nature, the world of matter and events, and the world of generation and corruption; 2) the middle stage comprising the world of quantitative forms (world of Ideas and immaterial forms); and 3) the world of rational forms and abstract Ideas”.[31]

5. The agent of knowledge

The perception of metaphysical realities, due to the superiority of their level over that of the world of material things and sense perceptions, requires the delicacy of taste and sincerity of the innermost. Accordingly, like other ancient divine philosophers, Mullą Sadrą insists that if one desires to step into the garden of Transcendent Philosophy, one should accomplish the following tasks:

1. Purification of the soul. Here, one should purify his soul and innermost from sensual desires. As we read in the introduction to al-Asfąr, Mullą Sadrą says: “Therefore, before reading this book, you should purify your soul from all desires and whims, since one who does so will be granted salvation, and one who infects his soul by such desires will certainly sustain a loss”.[32]

As the purity of the soul brings man in conformity with the lights of the divine knowledge and opens his eyes to metaphysical and holy realities,[33] surrendering to sensual desires deprives him from the divine knowledge. This is because walking in the path of sensual whims and passions prevents the soul from stepping into the path of truth, and the heart from perceiving the divine knowledge, since like light and darkness, knowledge and passion cannot come together in the same place. Regarding this, the master of all philosophers and theosophers, Mullą Sadrą, refers to the prophetic (nabawi) hadith about the scholars whose actions do not follow their knowledge and are always after their material desires.[34]

2. Devotion. It is necessary for the seekers of the divine metaphysical knowledge to be devoted to their task and make drawing nigh to God their ultimate goal, just as all divine scholars and philosophers have traversed this path. In return, because of their hearty devotion, God has caused the streams of philosophy to flow from their hearts to their souls. Regarding this, Mullą Sadrą says: “Our only goal in studying any problem and elaborating on any conclusion is gaining access to God and His Highest Kingdom”.[35]

3. Free Thinking. One of the prominent characteristics of men of wisdom, particularly those who wish to explore metaphysical problems, is free thinking. They should free their mind from the well-known arguments presented by famous authorities and mainly rely on nothing but the truth. According to the holy Qu’ran:

And those who put away false gods lest they should worship them and turn to Allah in repentance, for them there are glad tidings. Therefor, give good tidings (Mohammed) to My bondmen, who hear advice and follow the best thereof. Such are those whom Allah guideth, and such are men of understanding. [36]

In relation to the same point, Imąm ‘Ali (‘a) says: “God’s religion could never be known through resorting to one’s character; one must gain the knowledge of the Truth to know who believes in it”. [37]

Inspired by the words of Imąm ‘Ali (‘a), the Commander of the Faithful, in the introduction to the 6^th volume of al-Asfąr and in relation to the Divine knowledge, Mullą Sadrą asserts:

When a wise person obtains the knowledge of the truth, neither will he take heed of those sayings which have become wrongly popular, nor will he hesitate in opposing the common beliefs of people. In fact, he will pay attention to the truth of what one says, rather than to who says it.[38]

Mullą Sadrą is one of those philosophers who, in order to reach the peak of wisdom and obtain the truth, gets involved in scientific and practical ascetism. In this way, he neither loses control because of the hostility and vengeance of the people of his time, nor does he take delight in their praise and confirmation of his ideas. Rather, he focuses his attention on the Cause of Causes and heartily begs to the Facilitator of all hardships to help him. At last, in the light of such sincere mortifications and ascetic exercises, the window of the light of the Truth opens to him and his heart becomes the source of divine wisdom. He writes in al-Asfąr:

I remained in seclusion for such a long time that people completely forgot me; however, due to long mortifications, my soul was enlightened by a bright flame, and my heart was greatly ablazed. Consequently, the Divine Light shone on my soul, the secrets of the world of power were divulged to me, and I was granted the Divine Grace and Mercy. Then I discovered some secrets of the Truth which had hitherto remained hidden to me and which had not been unveiled to me through demonstration. Even those Divine secrets and realities which I had previously discovered through demonstration became clearer before my eye of intuition.[39]

After getting familiar with Mullą Sadrą’s view of the causes and concomitants of the knowledge of metaphysical issues, it is the right time to introduce his ideas of the hardships and obstacles in the acquisition of such knowledge. It is hoped that in this way, we learn about the difficulties hindering the path of the seekers of Divine teachings, and through leaving them behind, raise the banner of wisdom over the high peak of the mountain of metaphysical realities.

6. Factors hindering the acquisition of knowledge

In classifying imperfect causes, philosophers maintain that the cause is either existential, consisting of the conditions of existence or realization, or negative (non-existential), indicating the absence of any obstacle. Since knowledge is a reality that should be realized in the soul of the perceiver, the conditions for existence should be provided and the obstacles removed. The obstacles in the way of knowledge acquisition are of two types: one group of such obstacles relates to man’s nature and the other group is of the kind of occurring obstacles.

One of the natural obstacles of knowledge is getting used to sensible things (sense data). When one talks about The Table and The Pen or The Book, what comes to our mind firstly is their sensible meaning. For example, we immediately think about common tables and pens we deal with everyday, while we know that when God refers to them, He means things other than ordinary and material tables and pens. Therefore, if one wishes to explore metaphysical concepts, he must free himself from the conventionalism of words; take their deep meanings into consideration; and keep it in mind that the purpose of using words is to convey meaning. For example, one uses words such as pen and light to indicate writing and illumination, respectively. Unfortunately, some people inflexibly emphasize the surface meaning of words and concepts. Such an inflexibility in the interpretation of gnostic concepts has prevented the correct recognition of metaphysical concepts in many instances in the course of the history of human thought. For example, we see that in the history of Islam, anthromorphists, through resorting to the surface meaning of words in the Holy Qur’an, have declared that God has hands, eyes and ears. By contrast, in the history of philosophy, some have refused to apply even the word ‘existent’ to God, since this word is the object of an action and can only be applied to contingents and means an object to which existence belongs. However, it is worth a mention that philosophy is not bound to the limits of morphological usage and accidental applications. Regarding this, Mullą Sadrą says:

Some refuse to say that the God Almighty is existent or non-existent. They maintain that such words are constructed as objects in Arabic, and that God is free from such applications. However, it is so easy to solve the problem of words in sciences and religious teachings. A lot of words are used as Attributes of God Almighty; nevertheless, what is important is their meaning rather than their form. The meaning of these words is superior to their conventional form. Thus when, according to the Divine Laws, we are allowed to use words such as hearing or seeing to describe God’s Acts, we do not intend their conventional meaning, since God is free from having a body or bodily organ. In the same way, the meaning of words such as knowledge, power, existence and will in relation to Glorified God is much deeper than what common people understand. Yet, we have no way other than using words which are commonly used for ordinary creatures to describe God. However, we should pay attention that His Attributes represent His Essence and are far from meanings that we conceptualize for contingent things (of course, this point is related to His real Attributes).[40]

In his discussion of the soul in al-Asfąr, too, Mullą Sadrą refers to the factors obstructing the acquisition of metaphysical realities and divides them into five groups, with the fist group being a natural one and the rest accidental ones:

1. The imperfection of the substance of the essence of the perceiver before its growing stronger. In this regard, we can refer to the soul of a child (or one who is not cognitively well-developed yet) as an example.

2. The viciousness of the soul and the darkness of the innermost. This impurity results from mammonism and having a sinful soul. The deeper the darkness, the more it will impede the acquisition of the divine knowledge, since each and every of man’s acts leaves an effect on the essence of the soul. Then each case of getting involved in animal acts is like a black stain formed on the mirror, and the accumulation of such black stains hides the soul from the radiation of the Divine Lights.

3. Turning away from the desired goal. It should be emphasized that although pious and obedient people possess pure souls, it does not necessarily mean that they have mastered the Divine knowledge. This is because some of them are not after acquiring such knowledge and have walked in the path leading to the Kingdom of God. In other words, they have not deliberated on divine teachings and verses in order to acquire knowledge.

4. Following the common beliefs which have developed since childhood as a matter of imitation and optimism. Such beliefs stand between man and the reality of the Truth and, as a result, prevent him from perceiving the realities that are against his imitative beliefs.

5. Neglecting the principles and methods of acquiring intellectual types of knowledge. It is not the case that any knowledge seeker could obtain his goal in whatever way he follows. Rather, the acquisition of knowledge is only possible in the light of mental activity, that is, recalling the previously acquired knowledge and learning the necessary prerequisites in line with his goal. Therefore, remaining unaware of the principles of knowledge and the quality of ordering the preliminaries proportionate to the discovery of the unknown prevents the acquisition of the knowledge of rational abstract realities.[41]

After enumerating the above obstacles, Mullą Sadrą continues in this way:

When these veils and obstacles are removed from man’s heart or his rational soul, the Face of God and His Kingdom (the inward of the sensible world and the secrets hidden to the senses) and the reality of existence will appear before his eyes exactly as they are.[42]

Notes: