It is for this reason that he studies knowledge as a subject of first philosophy, namely, the study of being qua being. Mulla Sadra begins with causality in the sense of existentiation (ijad) according to which contingent essences are brought into existence once their existence is necessitated by the Necessary Being. One of the most important faults he finds in philosophers such as Ibn Sina is the doctrine of the eternity of creation. He built on this foundation the whole of his philosophical system. Based on these two premises, one could conclude that diversity is not real. Therefore, he finally replaces this duality by the distinction he makes between two senses of being, the independent and the relational. Mulla Sadra’s epistemology is not prior to but based on his findings about the nature of reality. We know that two of these students Muhsin Fayz Kashani  (d. 1679/80 ) and Abd al-Razzaq Lahiji (d. 1661/2 ) succeeded their father-in-law as two influential figures of their time though different to him in their philosophical orientation and working under more pressure due to the growing antagonism to philosophy and mysticism under Shah Abbas II (c. 1642-1666). https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mulla-Sadra, Encyclopædia Iranica - Biography of Molla Sadra Sirazi, Center for Islam and Science - Biography of Mulla Sadra, Sadra Islamic Philosophy Research Institute - Mulla Sadra, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Biography of Mulla Sadra. Later he related his experience during the time spent in Shiraz in a doleful and critical voice denouncing the intellectual atmosphere of the city for being hostile, suppressive, and philistine with regard to philosophy (al-Asfar I 7). Mulla Sadra has several arguments for the primacy of being and its unrivalled reality. For example, God has necessary and infinite knowledge of all. According to this doctrine, all nature, including substances and accidents, is in motion. In al-Asfar and al-Mabda’ wa’l-ma ‘ad, Mulla Sadra has elaborated on several Attributes including Life, Knowledge, Will, Speech, Vision and Hearing. and intro. © Copyright 2009 SIPRIn. His ontology was based on light as the hierarchical reality of universe with realms of existence as different ranks of it. Similar to form and matter in the physical world, there is no real separation between the knower (soul or mind) and the immediately known object of it, that is, the mental being. Mulla Sadra dismissed all the previous proofs to the existence of God as resting on wrong assumptions, or at best insufficient. Mulla Sadra is one of the most important Islamic philosophers after Avicenna. In contrast to the Peripatetic mental form or concept as a universal produced by abstraction, mental being is an immaterial and particular mode of existence with a higher intensity than the external object corresponding to it. Although Existentialism as defined nowadays is not identical to Mulla Sadra's definition, he was the first to introduce the concept. The esoteric side of prophecy is not only the innermost spiritual meaning of it, but also the purpose of creation. The world as a whole is nothing more than its parts, so the origination of the whole world in time is an absurd question. Firstly, being is beyond logical analysis, hence indefinable, due to its simplicity and supra-categorical status. ― Ibrahim Kalin, Knowledge in Later Islamic Philosophy: Mulla Sadra on Existence, Intellect, and Intuition. Conceptual differentiation, without which thinking and speaking would be impossible, is owing to this semi-reality of essences. Hence I would say that on balance the best reading has Sadra maintaining universal change/motion but also retaining some metaphysical elements for the intelligible that don't sit so well with the overall theory. I think most Sadra scholars want to say that God Himself is dynamic in His relation to all things and that terms like the breath of the merciful are supposed to reflect this. The same unification holds at the level of intellection between the intelligible forms (beings) as the actual and the intellect as potential. This picture of the soul’s substance is unprecedented in the philosophy before Mulla Sadra. This existential unification holds at all the levels of knowledge that is confined by Mulla Sadra to sense perception, imagination, and intellection. Because, philosophically the effect, that is the history of an object, can’t … For Mulla Sadra, knowledge is the realization of an immaterial being which corresponds to the extra-mental reality because it is the higher grade of the latter being. His proof for the doctrine of bodily resurrection is a good example of this positive attitude. Apparently, this itinerant stage played an important part in his intellectual and spiritual growth that is also suggested by the “journey” metaphor in the title and divisions of al-Asfar. The word Islamic philosophy does not belong to the philosophy of Mulla Sadra, but it is the name under which, in his Asfar, Mulla Sadra designated the doctrine of the Common Doctor of revealed teachings in Qur'an and Hadith. To sum up, while being is the principle of unity, essence or quiddity is the principle of difference. Relational being is a “being-in-another” in the sense of being nothing other than a relation to another being. Like “The only way there is to know God is through what he calls the `proof of existence' (al-burhan al-wujadt), which is a direct act of intuition and which does not … Though immaterial, the imaginal body is possessed of the three dimensions of the physical body that make it subject to a variety of feelings similar to our dream-world experiences. In al-Asfar, the first journey that is from the created to the Creator is devoted to the concept and reality of being. Sayeh Meisami As for the others, they will stay in Hell with their imaginal bodies forever. Mulla Sadra, regards prophethood as “exoteric guidance” (al-Shawahid al-rububiyya 492) which is necessary for the average people. Islamic philosophy originated in the rational endeavours to reconcile reason and revelation though the results did not always satisfy theologians, but ironically widened the gaps between reason and revelation. In this respect, Mulla Sadra’s epistemology should not be conflated with subjective idealism in that for him the physical being is a reality though of a lesser intensity than its counterpart in the soul. While Mulla Sadra’s philosophical methodology is rational in the sense of building his arguments on premises that consist in evident propositional beliefs, he does not reduce philosophical process to mere abstract logical reasoning. Rather than transmigrating into another body, the soul creates its very own body that becomes an objective image of her intentions and deeds in the previous life. As a theological issue, bodily resurrection has caused serious conflicts between philosophy and theology particularly following Ghazzali’s criticism of Ibn Sina on this issue. However, the ascent toward reunion is not guaranteed for each and every human soul since there are many phases that each soul should pass successfully in order to substantially evolve and reach up to higher ranks of being. Starting with the concept of being, Mulla Sadra attributes two major characteristics to it. Based on Mulla Sadra’s ontology, the reality of being is necessary, and it is of different grades. This will especially serve the purpose of punishment for the imperfect souls who spoiled the prospect of an intellectual/heavenly life through their carnal obsessions in the previous world. Molla Sadra Shirazi This text presents the various definitions of moral constructivism given by philosophers like Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, and others; then it proceeds analyzing the moral philosophy of Mulla Sadra, that is one that combines features of the Islamic-peripatetic (masha’i) and Islamic mystical (‘irfani) traditions. For him and his followers, human knowledge is tenable only as long as it goes back to the indirect grasp of reality which in itself is not subject to conceptualization. J.W. It was also during this period that Mulla Sadra accepted the invitation to teach at Khan School, which was built in Shiraz on the order of the new governor, Allahwirdi Khan, in Mulla Sadra’s honour and for the purpose of his lectures. For Ibn Sina, essence, or quiddity (mahiyya), is universal in the mind while particular in the external world once being is bestowed on it by the Necessary Being who is identified with the God of Abrahamic faith. For Him, “He is the Truth and the rest are His manifestations. Influenced by his philosophy master, Mulla Sadra started as an advocate of essentialism but soon diverged towards the opposite doctrine that he made famous as “the primacy of being” (asalat-i wujud). Not only have different schools of theology offered divergent solutions to theological problems, but also theology has been in conflict with philosophy over several key issues. In addition to metaphysics, he wrote extensively on the Qur’an and the Tradition and no other major philosopher before him had been so productive in the field of religion. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Of primary importance was proof to the existence and oneness of God, the nature and function of His Attributes, and the nature and mechanism of prophecy. Secondly, it is a univocal concept in the sense that it has one and the same meaning in all its applications, whether we apply it to God or to any other entity. However, the frequency of associating the two by scholars such as Henry Corbin (d. 1978) suggests an inclination on their part towards providing a perfect picture of the philosopher’s integration in the intellectual life of Isfahan with all the pivotal thinkers involved in shaping what has been called “the full flowering of prophetic philosophy” in Mulla Sadra’s hands (Nasr 2006). This epistemic elevation is at the same time the journey of the soul towards higher grades of being and spiritualization. This period was followed by several journeys between Shiraz, Isfahan, Qom, Kashan, and most importantly, seven pilgrimages to Mecca. Mullā Ṣadrā, also called Ṣadr Ad-dīn Ash-shīrāzī, (born c. 1571, Shīrāz, Iran—died 1640, Basra, Iraq), philosopher, who led the Iranian cultural renaissance in the 17th century. As for the oneness of God (tawhid), that is, the first article of faith in Islam, Mulla Sadra further relies on his ontological views to argue against both the intrinsic and extrinsic plurality with respect to God. It is based on this holistic attitude that on the one hand, Mulla Sadra synthesizes the two main schools of Islamic philosophy, namely, the Peripatetic and Illuminationist schools, and on the other hand, bridges the gaps between philosophy, theology, and mysticism. Especially, his intellectual Paradise is not different to that of the classical philosophers. Mulla Sadra’s influence on his immediate students, including his sons-in-law, Fayz Kashani and Lahiji, owed more to the mystical aspect of his works. Kulayni’s work is the first Shi‘i collection of Hadith and focuses on theology and jurisprudence. Accordingly, Reality is one and the same thing but possessed of different degrees of intensity, which justifies diversity within unity. He resolves this theological paradox of diversity in unity with regard to God’s Essence by resorting to the simple reality of God’s Being. In conclusion, being is the ground of reality, or better to say, reality itself, while essence only belongs to the conceptual realm and as Mulla Sadra put it “the term ‘existent’ is applied to essence only with respect to its relation to being [itself]” (al-Asfar VI 163). He tries to prove the reality of the Attributes in a way that would not defy the unity of God’s Essence. 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