Mulla Sadra

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Sadr ad-Dn Muhammad Shrz (Mulla Sadra)
Born c. 1571/2
Shiraz
Died 1640
Basra
Era Post-Classical Islamic philosophy
Region Iranian Philosophy, Islamic Philosophy
Main interests
Illuminationism, Transcendent theosophy
Influences
[show]
Influenced
[show]

Sadr ad-Dn Muhammad Shrz, also called Mulla Sadr (Persian: ; also spelled Molla
Sadra, Mollasadra or Sadr-ol-Mote'allehin; Arabic: ( )c. 1571/2 1640), was an
Iranian Shia Islamic philosopher, theologian and lim who led the Iranian cultural renaissance in
the 17th century. According to Oliver Leaman, Mulla Sadra is arguably the single most important
and influential philosopher in the Muslim world in the last four hundred years.[1][2]

Though not its founder, he is considered the master of the Illuminationist (or, Ishraghi or Ishraqi)
school of Philosophy, a seminal figure who synthesized the many tracts of the Islamic Golden Age
philosophies into what he called the Transcendent Theosophy or al-hikmah al-mutaliyah.

Mulla Sadra brought "a new philosophical insight in dealing with the nature of reality" and created
"a major transition from essentialism to existentialism" in Islamic philosophy,[3] although his
existentialism should not be too readily compared to Western existentialism. His was a question
of existentialist cosmology as it pertained to God, and thus differs considerably from the
individual, moral, and/or social, questions at the heart of Russian, French, German, or American
Existentialism.

Mulla Sadra's philosophy ambitiously synthesized Avicennism, Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi's

Illuminationist philosophy, Ibn Arabi's Sufi metaphysics, and the theology of the Ash'ari school and
Twelvers.[4]

His main work is The Transcendent Theosophy in the Four Journeys of the Intellect, or simply
Four Journeys.

Contents

1 Biography
1.1 Infant
1.2 Teachers
2 Philosophical ideas
2.1 Existentialism
2.2 Substantial motion
2.3 Existence as reality
2.4 Causation
2.5 Truth
3 List of known works
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
 7 Further reading
8 External links

Biography
The house of Mulla Sadra in Kahak (a small village near the city of Qom, in Iran) where Mulla
Sadra used to live in when he was exiled due to some of his ideas.
The entrance door of the house, where Mulla Sadra used to live during his exile in Kahak. There
is a sentence above of the door written in Persian which says "The house of the wise, Mulla
Sadra".
This is a view of the inside of the house of Mulla Sadra in Kahak. A copy of the painted portrait of
him is hanged on the wall.
Infant

Born in Shiraz, in what is now Iran, to a notable family of court officials in 1571 or 1572,[5] in
Mulla Sadra's time, the Safavid dynasty governed on Iran. Safavid kings granted independence to
Fars Province which was ruled by the king's brother. Mulla Sadara's father , khwajah Ibrahim
Qavami, was a knowledgeable and extremely faithful politician. His father was a rich man and
held a high position, but had no children. However after a lot of prayers and supplications to
divine portal, God gave him a son whom they named Muhammad but called Sadra. Later he was
nicknamed as Mulla, that is, great scientist. He was the only child of the minister of the ruler of the
vast region of Fars Province. In that time it was prevalent that aristocrats' children were educated
by private teachers in their own palace. Sadra was a very intelligent, strict, energetic, studious
and curious boy and mastered all the lessons related to Persian and Arabic literature as well as
the art of calligraphy, during a very short time. Following to old traditions of his time, he had to
learned horse riding, hunting and fighting techniques, mathematics, astronomy, medicine to some
extent, jurisprudence, Islamic law. The young Sadra, who had not reached the age of puberty,
had acquired some of all those fields of knowledge however, he was mainly attracted on
philosophy and particularly gnosis.[6]

Mulla Sadra moved first to Qazvin in 1591 and then to Isfahan 1597 to pursue a traditional and
institutional education in philosophy, theology, Hadith, and hermeneutics. Each city was a
successive capital of the Safavid dynasty and centers of Twelver Shi'ite seminaries at that time.
His teachers included Mir Damad and Baha' ad-Din al-`Amili.[7]
Teachers

Mulla Sadra was a master of all science of his time. In his own view, the most important of these
was philosophy. In Qazvin, Sadra studied under two prominent teachers, namely Baha' ad-Din al-
`Amili and Mir Damad. He accompanied them when the capital transmitted from Qazvin to
Isfahan in 1006 A.H/1596. Mulla sadra acquired most of his scholarly knowledge from Baha' ad-
Din al-`Amili and Mir Damad.[8] Shaykh Baha was not only an expert in Islamic sciences but also
a master of astronomy, theoretical mathematics, engineering, architecture, medicine and some
secret supernatural fields of knowledge; it seems that Ameli for his sophis Ideas, didn't deal with
philosophy more. also Miradamad as genius of his time, although knew the all science of his time
but limited his domain to jurisprudence, hadith and mainly philosophy. Mir Damad was a master
of both Peripatetic and illuminationist schools of Islamic philosophy. Also, Mulla Sadra obtained
most of his knowledge of philosophy and gnosis from Mir Damad and always introduced him as
his true teacher and spiritual guide. [9]

After he had finished his studies Sadra began to explore unorthodox doctrines and as a result
was both condemned and excommunicated by some Shi'i ulam . He then retired for a lengthy
period of time to a village named Kahak near qom, where he engaged in contemplative exercises.
While in Kahak, he wrote a number of minor works, including the Risla fi 'l-hashr and the Risla
f hudth al-lam .[10]

In 1612, Mulla Sadra was asked to abandon his retirement by the powerful governor of Frs,
Allhwird hn[10] and invited back to Shiraz to teach and run a new madrasa devoted to the
intellectual sciences.[5] He died in Basra after the Hajj and was buried in present-day Iraq. He is
buried in the city of Najaf, Iraq.

During this time in Shrz, Sadr began writing treatises that synthesized wide-ranging strands of
existing Islamic systems of thought. The ideas of this school, which may be seen as a
continuation of the School of Isfahn of Mr Dmd and Shaykh-i Bah, were promulgated after
Sadr's death by his pupils, several of whom would become sought-after thinkers in their own
right, such as, Mull Muhsin Fayd Kshn (the Mulla Sadra's son in law), and Abd Razzk
Lhidj. Although Sadr's influence remained limited in the generations after his death, it
increased markedly during the 19th century, when his ideas helped inspire a renewed Akhbr
tendency within Twelver Shism. In recent times, his works have been studied in Iran, Europe,
and America.[10]
Philosophical ideas
Existentialism

According to Mulla Sadra, "existence precedes the essence and is thus principal since something
has to exist first and then have an essence." It is notable that for Mulla Sadra this was a question
that specifically applied to God and God's position in the universe, especially in the context of
reconciling God's position in the Qur'an verses cosmological philosophies of Islam's Golden Era.
[11]

Mulla Sadra metaphysics gave priority "Ab initio" to existence, over quiddity. That is to say,
essences are determined and variable according to existential "intensity", (to use Henry Corbin's
definition), and as such essences are not immutable.[12] The advantage to this schema is that it
is acceptable to the fundamental statements of the Qur'an, even as it does not necessarily
debilitate any previous Islamic philosopher's Aristotelian or Platonic foundations.

Indeed, Mulla Sadra provides immutability only to God, while intrinsically linking essence and
existence to each other, and God's power over existence. In so doing, Mulla Sadra
simultaneously provided for God's authority over all things, while also solving the problem of
God's knowledge of particulars, including those that are evil, without being inherently responsible
for them even as God's authority over the existence of existences that provide the framework
for evil to exist. This clever solution provides for Freedom of Will, God's Supremacy, the
Infiniteness of God's Knowledge, the existence of Evil, and a definition of existence and essence
which leaves two inextricably linked insofar as Man is concerned, but fundamentally separate
insofar as God is concerned.[13]

Perhaps most importantly, the Primacy of Existence solution provides the capacity for God's
Judgement without God being directly, or indirectly, affected by the evil being judged. God does
not need to possess Sin to know Sin: God is able to judge the intensity of Sin as God perceives
Existence.[13]

One result of this Existentialism is "The unity of the intellect and the intelligible" (Arabic: Ittihad al-
Aaqil wa l-Maqul. As Henry Corbin describes:

All the levels of the modes of being and perception are governed by the same law of unity,
which at the level of the intelligible world is the unity of intellection, of the intelligizing subject, and
of the Form intelligized the same unity as that of love, lover and beloved. Within this
perspective we can perceive what Sadra meant by the unitive union of the human soul, in the
supreme awareness of its acts of knowledge, with the active Intelligence which is the Holy Spirit.
It is never a question of an arithmetical unity, but of an intelligible unity permitting the reciprocity
which allows us to understand that, in the soul which it metamorphoses, the Formor Idea
intelligized by the active Intelligence is a Form which intelligizes itself, and that as a result the
active Intelligence or Holy Spirit intelligizes itself in the soul's act of intellection. Reciprocally, the
soul, as a Form intelligizing itself, intelligizes itself as a Form intelligized by the active Intelligence.
[14]
Substantial motion

Another central concept of Mulla Sadra's philosophy is the theory of "substantial motion"
(Arabic:al-harakat al-jawhariyyah), which is "based on the premise that everything in the order of
nature, including celestial spheres, undergoes substantial change and transformation as a result
of the self-flow (fayd) and penetration of being (sarayan al-wujud) which gives every concrete
individual entity its share of being. In contrast to Aristotle and Avicenna who had accepted change
only in four categories, i.e., quantity (kamm), quality (kayf), position (wad) and place (ayn),
Sadra defines change as an all-pervasive reality running through the entire cosmos including the
category of substance (jawhar)."[15]
Existence as reality

Mulla Sadra held the view that Reality is Existence. He believed that an essence was by itself a
general notion, and therefore and does not, in reality, exist.[16]

To paraphrase Fazlur Rahman on Mulla Sadra's Existential Cosmology: Existence is the one and
only reality. Existence and reality are therefore identical. Existence is the all-comprehensive
reality and there is nothing outside of it. Essences which are negative require some sort of reality
and therefore exist. Existence therefore cannot be denied. Therefore existence cannot be
negated. As Existence cannot be negated, it is self-evident that it Existence is God. God should
not be searched for in the realm of existence but is the basis of all existence.[17] It should be
noted that Reality in Arabic is "Al-Haq", and is stated in the Qur'an as one of the Names of God.

To paraphrase Mulla Sadra's Logical Proof for God:[18]

There is a being
This being is a perfection beyond all perfection
God is Perfect and Perfection in existence
Existence is a singular and simple reality
That singular reality is graded in intensity in a scale of perfection
That scale must have a limit point, a point of greatest intensity and of greatest existence
Therefore God exists

Causation

Sadra argued that all contingent beings require a cause which puts their balance between
existence and non-existence in favor of the former; nothing can come into existence without a
cause. Since the world is therefore contingent upon this First Act, not only must God exist, but
God must also be responsible for this First Act of creation.

Sadra also believed that a causal regress was impossible because the causal chain could only
work in the matter that had a beginning, middle, and end:

1) a pure cause at the beginning 2) a pure effect at the end 3) a nexus of cause and effect

The Causal Nexus of Mulla Sadra was a form of Existential Ontology within a Cosmological
Framework that Islam supported. For Mulla Sadra the Causal "End" is as pure as its
corresponding "Beginning", which instructively places God at both the beginning and the end of
the creative act. God's capacity to measure the intensity of Existential Reality by measuring
Causal Dynamics' and their Relationship to their Origin, as opposed to knowing their effects,
provided the Islamically-acceptable framework for God's Judgement of Reality without being
tainted by its Particulars. This was an ingenious solution to a question that had haunted Islamic
philosophy for almost one thousand years: How is God able to judge sin without knowing sin?[13]
Truth
For Mulla Sadra a true statement is a statement that is true to the concrete facts in existence. He
held a metaphysical and not a formal idea of truth, claiming that the world consists of mind-
independent objects that are always true and truth is not what is rationally acceptable within a
certain theory of description. In Mulla Sadra's view one cannot have access to the reality of being:
only linguistic analysis is available. This theory of Truth has two levels: the claim that a
proposition is true if it corresponds to things in reality; and that a proposition can be true if it
conforms with the actual thing itself.[19]
List of known works

Hikmat Al Muta'alyah fi-l-asfar al-aqliyya al-arbaa [The Transcendent theosophy in the Four
Journeys of the Intellect], a philosophical encyclopedia and a collection of important issues
discussed in Islamic philosophy, enriched by the ideas of preceding philosophers, from
Pythagoras to those living at the same time with Mulla Sadra, and containing the related
responses on the basis of new and strong arguments. In four large volumes; also published
several times in nine smaller volumes. He composed this book gradually, starting in about 1015
A.H. (1605 A.D.); its completion took almost 25 years, until some years after 1040 A.H. (1630
A.D.)
al-Tafsir (A commentary upon the Qur'an)
Diwan Shir (Collection of Poems), a number of scholarly and mystic poems in Persian.
Si Asl, Mulla Sadra's only extant book of philosophy in Persian. Here, by resorting to the main
three moral principles, he has dealt with moral and educative subjects related to scientists, and
advised his contemporary philosophers.
Sharh al-hidayah, a commentary on a book called Hidayah, which had been written on the
basis of Peripatetic philosophy.
Arshiyyah, also called al-Hikmat al-arshiyyah, a referential book about Mulla Sadra's
philosophy. As in al-Mazahir, he has tried to demonstrate the Beginning and the End concisely but
precisely. This book has been translated by Professor James Winston Morris into English with an
informative introduction.
al-Mabda wal-maad, also called al-Hikmat al-mutaaliyyah, considered to be a summary of
the second half of Asfar. He called this book the Beginning and the End, since he believed at
heart that philosophy means the knowledge of the Origin and the Return.
al-Mazahir This book is similar to al-Mabda wal-maad, but is shorter than it. It is, in fact, a
handbook for familiarizing readers with Mulla Sadra's philosophy.
Huduth al-alam, on the issue of the origination of the world, which is a complicated and
disputable problem for many philosophers. He proved his solid theory through the theory of the
trans-substantial motion.
Iksir al-arifin, a gnostic and educative book.
al-Hashr, a theory of the resurrection of animals and objects in the Hereafter.
al-Mashair, on existence and its related subjects. Professor Henry Corbin has translated it into
French and written an introduction to it. This book has recently been translated into English, too.
al-waridat al-qalbiyyah, a brief account of important philosophical problems, it seems to be an
inventory of the Divine inspirations and illuminations he had received all through his life.
Iqad al-naimin, on theoretical and actual gnosis, and on the science of monotheism. It
presents some guidelines and instructional points to wake up the sleeping.
al-Masail al-qudsiyyah, a booklet deals mainly with issues such as existence in mind and
epistemology. Here, Mulla Sadra has combined epistemology and ontology.
al-Shawahid al-rububiyyah, a philosophical book, written in the Illuminationist style, and
represents Mulla Sadra's ideas during the early periods of his philosophical thoughts.
al-Shawahid al-rububiyyah, a treatise not related to Mulla Sadra's book of the same name (see
above). It is an inventory of his particular theories and opinions which he had been able to
express in philosophical terms.
Sharh-i Shafa, a commentary upon some of the issues discussed in the part on theology
(Ilahiyyat) in Ibn-Sina's al-Shifa.
Sharh-i Hikmat al-ishraq, a useful and profound commentary or collection of glosses on
Suhrawardi's Hikmat al-ishraq and Qutb al-Din Shirazi's commentary upon it.
Ittihad al-aquil wal-maqul, a monographic treatise on the demonstration of a complicated
philosophical theory, the Union of the Intellect and the Intelligible, which no one could prove and
rationalize prior to Mulla Sadra.
Ajwibah al-masail, consisting of at least three treatises in which Mulla Sadra responds to the
philosophical questions posed by his contemporary philosophers.
Ittisaf al-mahiyyah bil wujud, a monographic treatise dealing with the problem of existence and
its relation to quiddities.
al-Tashakhkhus, explaining the problem of individuation and clarified its relation to existence
and its principality, which is one of the most fundamental principles he has propounded.
Sarayan nur wujud, a treatise dealing with the quality of the descent or diffusion of existence
from the True Source to existents (quiddities).
Limmiyya ikhtisas al-mintaqah, A treatise on logic, this work focuses on the cause of the
specific form of the sphere.
Khalq al-amal, a treatise on man's determinism and free will.
al-Qada wal-qadar, on the problem of Divine Decree and Destiny.
Zad al-Musafir, demonstrating resurrection and the Hereafter following a philosophical
approach.
al-Mizaj, a treatise on the reality of man's temperament and its relation to the body and soul.
Mutashabihat al-Qur'an, a treatise consists of Mulla Sadra's interpretations of those Quranic
verses which have secret and complicated meanings. It is considered as one of the chapters in
[Mafatih al-ghayb].
Isalat-i Jal-i wujud, on existence and its principality as opposed to quiddities.
al-Hashriyyah, a treatise on resurrection and people's presence in the Hereafter, it deals with
man's being rewarded in paradise and punished in hell.
al-alfazh al-mufradah, an abridged dictionary for interpreting words in the Qur'an.
Radd-i shubahat-i iblis, explaining Satan's seven paradoxes and providing the related answers.
Kasr al-asnam al-jahiliyyah (Demolishing the idols of the periods of barbarism and man's
ignorance). His intention here is to condemn and disgrace impious sophists.
al-Tanqih, dealing with formal logic.
al-Tasawwur wal-tasdiq, a treatise dealing with issues of the philosophy of logic and inquiries
into concept and judgment.
Diwan Shir (Collection of Poems), a number of scholarly and mystic poems in Persian.
A Collection of Scientific-Literary Notes, some short notes of his own poetry, the statements of
philosophers and gnostics, and scientific issues have been left from his youth, which comprise a
precious collection. This book can familiarize the readers with subtleties of Mulla Sadra's nature.
These notes were compiled in two different collections, and it is likely that the smaller collection
was compiled on one of his journeys.
Letters: except for a few letters exchanged between Mulla Sadra and his master, Mir Damad,
none of his letters has survived. These letters have been presented at the beginning of the 3-
volume

See also

List of Iranian scientists

Iranian philosophy
List of Shi'a Muslims
Al Akbariyya (Sufi school)

Notes

Leaman (2007), p.146

Mulla Sadra (Sadr al-Din Muhammad al-Shirazi) (1571/2-1640) by John Cooper
Kamal, Muhammad (2006), Mulla Sadra's Transcendent Philosophy, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., pp.
9 & 39, ISBN 0-7546-5271-8
Leaman (2007), pp.146 and 147
Rizvi, Sajjad (2002), Reconsidering the life of Mulla Sadra Shirazi, Pembroke College, pp. 181
(Ayatollahi Hamid Reza & 2005 p.12)
http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/molla-sadra-sirazi
(Ayatollahi Hamid Reza & 2005 p.18)
(Ayatollahi & 2005 p.13)
MacEoin, D. "Mull Sadr SSHS rz Sadr al-Dn Muhammad b. Ibrhm Kawm rz."
SShS
Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E.
van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2010. Brill Online. Augustana. 13 April 2010
<http://www.brillonline.nl/subscriber/entry?entry=islam_SIM-5490>
(Razavi 1997, p. 130)
Corbin (1993), pp. 342 and 343
Sayyed Hussein Nasr, Persian Sufi Literature, Lecture, George Washington University, 2006
Corbin (1993), pp. 343 and 344
Kalin, Ibrahim (March 2001), "Sadr al-Din Shirazi (Mulla Sadra) (b. 1571-1640)", in Iqbal,
Muzaffar; Kalin, Ibrahim, Resources on Islam & Science, retrieved 2008-02-04
Fazlur Rahman, The Philosophy of Mulla Sadra State University of New York Press, 1975, pp 27
and 28
Fazlur Rahman, The Philosophy of Mulla Sadra State University of New York Press, 1975, pp 125
Rizvi, Sajjad Mulla Sadra and Metaphysics, 2009, pp126

Rizvi, Sajjad Mulla Sadra and Metaphysics, 2009, pp59-62

References

Razavi, Mehdi Amin (1997), Suhrawardi and the School of Illumination, Routledge, ISBN 0-
7007-0412-4

Further reading

Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, Sadr al-Din Shirazi and his Transcendent Theosophy, Background, Life
and Works, 2nd ed., Tehran: Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, 1997.
Rahman, Fazlur, The Philosophy of Mulla Sadra, Albany: State University of New York Press,
1975.
Morris, James (trans.), The Wisdom of the Throne, Princeton: Princeton University Press,
1981.
Chittick, William (trans.) The Elixir of the Gnostics, Provo: Brigham Young University Press,
2003.
Rizvi, Sajjad, Mulla Sadra Shirazi: His Life, Works and Sources for Safavid Philosophy, Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2007.
Peerwani, Latimah (trans.), On the Hermeneutics of the Light Verse of the Qur'an. London:
ICAS, 2004.
Jambet, Christian, The Act of Being: The Philosophy of Revelation in Mulla Sadra, Trans. Jeff
Fort, New York: Zone Books, 2006.
Kalin, Ibrahim, Knowledge in Later Islamic Philosophy: Mulla Sadra on Existence, Intellect, and
Intuition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010
Amir Raza, Syed, Wisdom of the Unseen: An Inquiry Into the Reality of Things, Pakistan:
Wasila Society, 2008
Zailan Moris, Revelation, Intellectual Intuition and Reason in the Philosophy of Mulla Sadra: An
Analysis of the Al-Hikmah Al-'arshiyyah, London: Routledge Curzon, 2003.

External links

MOLLSADR IRZI an article by Sajjad H. Rizvi in Encyclopdia Iranica

Mulla-Sadra an article on Encyclopdia Britannica Online
Mulla Sadra an article in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Sadra Islamic Philosophy research Institute
Sadr al-Din Muhammad b. Ibrahim b. Yahya Qawami Shirazi
Biography
Biography
Mulla Sadra (Sadr al-Din Muhammad al-Shirazi) (1571/2-1640)
"Commentary on Mulla Sadra's philosophy" (PDF). (2.11 MiB) by Allameh Tabatabaei
Mulla Sadra historical house is in danger; Photos
Mulla Sadra historical house