The Triumph of Mercy

Philosophy and Scripture in Mulla Sadra

Mohammed Rustom

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781438443409, 9781438443416
• eBook ISBN: 9781438443423
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Islamic Theology

Winner of the 21st International Book of the Year Prize in Iran This book investigates the convergence of philosophy, scriptural exegesis, and mysticism in the thought of the celebrated Islamic philosopher Mull? ?adr? (d. 1050/1640). Through a careful presentation of the theoretical and practical dimensions of ?adr?'s Qur'?nic hermeneutics, Mohammed Rustom highlights the manner in which ?adr? offers a penetrating metaphysical commentary upon the F?ti?a, the chapter of the Qur'?n that occupies central importance in Muslim daily life. Engaging such medieval intellectual giants as Fakhr al-D?n al-R?z? (d. 606/1210) and Ibn 'Arab? (d. 638/1240) on the one hand, and the wider disciplines of philosophy, theology, Sufism, and Qur'?nic exegesis on the other, ?adr?'s commentary upon the F?ti?a provides him with the opportunity to modify and recast many of his philosophical positions within a scripture-based framework. He thereby reveals himself to be a profound religious thinker who, among other things, argues for the salvation of all human beings in the afterlife.

1

Qurʾānic Hermeneutics

A thinker who wrote as widely and rapidly as Mullā Ṣadrā would naturally have drawn upon other authors' books, either by way of direct citation or indirect adaptation. Using the Tafsīr Sūrat al-fātiḥa as a case study, in the following chapter I will demonstrate just how indebted Ṣadrā's tafsīr is to the writings of his predecessors, amongst whom are some of the most important figures in Islamic thought. With respect to Ṣadrā's Mafātīḥ, which we encountered in the Introduction, we find many direct references to Ibn ʿArabī's Futūḥāt along with several references to Ghazālī's writings, particularly his al-Munqidh min al-ḍalāl (“The Deliverer from Error”). S. J. Badakhchani, following the contemporary Iranian philosopher and seminarian Ḥasanzādah Āmuli, suggests that a later section of the Mafātīḥ is nothing more than a translation of Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī's (d.672/1274) Ismāʿīlī Persian eschatological work, Āghāz wa-anjām (“The Beginning and the End”).¹ Although upon closer inspection the section in question is reworked by Ṣadrā with more attention to detail, this may be the first indication that Ṭūsī's “influence” upon Ṣadrā's philosophical teachings is more a result of his familiarity with Ṭūsī's work as an Ismā ʿīlī thinker rather than as a Twelver thinker.² With respect to Ṣadrā's theoretical understanding of scripture as laid out in the Mafātīḥ, however, it would be incorrect to say that it has been influenced by the work of Ṭūsī or Ghazālī. The only directly discernable influence on Ṣadrā's scriptural hermeneutics in terms of its theoretical articulation can be traced back to the work of Ibn ʿArabī, as will be discussed in the present chapter.

I have shown elsewhere how internal references within Ṣadrā's oeuvre can help us answer questions concerning the chronology of his compositions on the Qurʾān and its sciences.³ At times, however, such references can be misleading for the simple reason that Ṣadrā is known to have rewritten some of his earlier books, but which refer to texts that were definitively penned after the former works' completion (but before their revision). Although this kind of practice can often lead to a dead end with respect to dating particular texts within the Ṣadrian oeuvre, it is probably safe to assume that, on the whole, references to Ṣadrā's earlier writings in his later books are to be taken at face value. This is likely more true of later texts which noticeably modify or correct the positions and arguments mentioned in the earlier texts to which they refer.

It is with the above point in mind that we should seek to understand a remark in a fairly recent study by Sajjad Rizvi, who states that Ṣadrā's key theoretical works which deal with the Qurʾān, namely the Mutashābihāt al-Qurʾān (“The Ambiguous Verses of the Qurʾān”), the Asrār al-āyat (“The Secrets Behind the Qurʾān's Verses”), and the Mafātīḥ were written “as a preparation for his own incomplete mystical and philosophical commentary.”⁴ This observation is surprising because we know, largely based on the dating provided by Rizvi himself, that these three books were written after Ṣadrā's had completed most of his tafsīrs.⁵ With respect to the Mutashābihāt and Asrār, there is little in these two texts which would indicate that they were meant to function as preparations for Ṣadrā's tafsīrs. But with respect to the Mafātīḥ, Rizvi is not far from the mark.

The Mafātīḥ, like the Mutashābihāt and Asrār, was written toward the end of Ṣadrā's career. Unlike these two titles, the Mafātīḥ's most significant discussions vis-à-vis the Qurʾān were originally a part of Ṣadrā's magnum opus, al-Ḥikma al-mutaʿāliya fī l-asfār al-ʿaqliyya al-arbaʿa (“The Transcendent Philosophy: On the Four Intellectual Journeys”), commonly known as the Asfār.⁶ The section in question, namely Miftāḥ 1 of the Mafātīḥ's twenty Miftāḥs or sections, deals with such topics as the nature of revelation and the different levels of the descent of God's Word and its correspondences to the inner layers of man's soul. Since the Asfār was written over a twenty-two year period (from roughly 1017/1608 to 1037/1628),⁷ it is difficult to determine when the theoretical sections on the Qurʾān (later to be incorporated into Miftāḥ 1 of the Mafātīḥ) were written. But we can be sure that these relevant sections were written concurrently with if not before most of Ṣadrā's tafsīrs. Miftāḥ 1 of the Mafātīḥ, therefore, occupies a special place amongst Ṣadrā's writings on the Qurʾān.

Lord of the Heart

Miftāḥ 1 is complemented by another brief text which is not to be found in the relevant sections of the Asfār, namely the introduction to the Mafātīḥ itself. Taken together, Miftāḥ 1 and the introduction to the Mafātīḥ can, generally speaking, be said to encapsulate Ṣadrā's esoteric hermeneutical vision of the nature of the Qurʾān.⁸ I will therefore turn my attention to Ṣadrā's pronouncements in the introduction to the Mafātīḥ, which will facilitate my analysis of Miftāḥ 1.

At the beginning of the Mafātīḥ, Ṣadrā tells his readers that he had been meaning to write this work for quite some time:

For some time now I have longed to bring forth the Qurʾān's meanings. [With] my previous reflections I attempted to walk its roads and [by means of] the way stations of the pious explore its paths. In order to attain this goal I would consult my soul [nafs], casting aside the arrows of my own opinion.⁹

Ṣadrā says that he was reluctant to carry out this endeavour because of the weight of the task itself.¹⁰ The passage above states explicitly that some preparatory work was required on the part of the author in order to undertake this task. These are the words of someone who had already written eleven independent commentaries upon various chapters and verses of the Qurʾān.¹¹ Shortly before this, Ṣadrā remarks that the work was written as the result of a spiritual experience which compelled him to bring forth what he knew of the Qurʾānic sciences. That this passage would precede the one cited above, where Ṣadrā expresses his wish to write the Mafātīḥ, may come as a surprise. It may come as even more of a surprise given that what follows the introduction, namely Miftāḥ 1, was written before the introduction to the Mafātīḥ itself, albeit in a much more condensed version. But the reasons for this are purely stylistic. The following lines are dramatic and compelling; they are written with vigour, a sense of urgency, and in mellifluous Arabic. They are, in effect, Ṣadrā's meditations after-the-fact, summarizing the end of his endeavours which he will go on to explicate in more or less straightforward fashion for the remainder of the introduction:

A command has issued from the Lord of my heart [āmir qalbī], and a spiritual allusion has come forth from my innermost recesses [waradat ishāra min sirr ghaybī]. God's judgment and decision have come to pass and He has decreed that some of the divine symbols [al-rumūz al-ilāhiyya] become manifest, and that the matters related to the Qurʾānic sciences, Prophetic allusions, secrets of faith, flashes of wisdom, esoteric glimmerings connected to the wonders of the glorious revelation, and the subtleties of Qurʾānic interpretation be brought forth.¹²

The wording here is very important. Ṣadrā was commanded by the Lord of his heart to bring forth the “divine symbols,” the “matters related to the Qurʾānic sciences,” and the “subtleties of Qurʾānic interpretation.” As it soon becomes apparent from the contents of Miftāḥ 1, the fulfillment of this command was articulated in discussions dealing with such phenomena as the Qurʾān's use of allusory language and the senses of scripture.

Ṣadrā also notes in the introduction that the Mafātīḥ was an inspired work, since it was the result of an “opening” (fatḥ):

The Master of the holy realm of the Divinity [ṣāḥib quds al-lāhūt], the Owner of the Kingdom of the Dominion [mālik mulk al-malakūt], granted me a new opening [fatḥ jadīd], made the sight of my insight piercing with His light, revealing to my heart an opening which drew me near ….¹³

Ṣadrā further remarks that this opening granted him new knowledge of the “treasures of the symbols of the divine realities [kunūz rumūz al-ḥaqāʾiq],”¹⁴ which, it will be recalled, he was commanded by the Lord of his heart to bring forth. This “opening” may be one reason why Ṣadrā would go on to incorporate the sections of the Asfār having to do with the Qurʾān into Miftāḥ 1. Yet this spiritual experience was also accompanied by a great burden of responsibility. Ṣadrā says, “I said [to myself] after this opening within myself [fatḥ li-nafsī], ‘now is the time to begin mentioning the principles [uṣūl] from which the branches [of the Qurʾānic sciences] derive.’”¹⁵ This approach would be characterized by its sapiential perspective and would not delve too deeply into matters pertaining to exoteric exegesis, such as the fine points of Arabic grammar. He notes that excessive concern with language is characteristic of the approach of the exoteric scholars who “have the outward [ẓāhir] and the legal aspects [ḥadd],¹⁶ whereas we have the inward aspect [bāṭin] and the transcendent perspective [maṭlaʿ]! It has been said, ‘He who comments [upon the Qurʾān] using his own opinion has concealed the truth [fa-qad kafara].’”¹⁷ Ṣadrā then provides us with a theoretical definition of taʾwīl:

As for taʾwīl, it does not spare nor leave anything out [lā tubqīwa-lā tadhar] [Q 74:28],¹⁸ for it comes—thanks be to God!—as a discourse [kalām] in which there is no crookedness, nor do doubt or confusion assail it.¹⁹

Before this definition of taʾwīl, Ṣadrā lists some of the spiritual prerequisites which are absolutely necessary in order for one to penetrate the Qurʾān's symbols.²⁰ The interpreter is expected to do the following:

1. Have patience and purity
2. Continuously profess the shahāda or statement of God's oneness
3. Undergo spiritual discipline
4. Spend time in solitary retreat
5. Abstain from the sciences and character traits of the common folk
6. Learn the “science of swimming in the Ocean (baḥr)”
7. Know the “language of the birds” (a reference to Q 27:16 and the allusive language of the Sufis)
8. Understand the “language of the Dominion” (malakūt)
9. Have access to the secrets of the “realms of the Divinity (lāhūt) and Invincibility (jabarūt).”

Although he does not elaborate at great length upon these conditions, nor is this exposition systematic, the point that Ṣadrā's wants to make is that without meeting these basic spiritual prerequisites, taʾwīl is impossible.

Yet he lays out another “condition” when it comes to interpreting the Qurʾān. He addresses his readers in the following manner:

O intelligent, discerning one! If you want to investigate the science of the Qurʾān, the wisdom of...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Transliterations and Abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1. Qur’ānic Hermeneutics
• 2. Formal Considerations
• 3. Metaphysics
• 4. Cosmology
• 5. Theology
• 6. Soteriology I
• 7. Soteriology II
• Conclusion
• Appendix 1: Some Key Texts from the Mafātīh al-Ghayb
• Appendix 2: Key Texts from the Tafsīr Sūrat al-Fātiha
• Appendix 3: Passages from the Futūhāt Reworked into the Tafsīr Sūrat al-Fātiha
• Notes
• Bibliography