Mulla Sadra

Sayeh Meisami

• Publisher: Oneworld Academic
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781780743349
• Topic: Theologie & Religion
• Subtopic: Islamische Theologie

A timely biography on the single most important and influential philosopher in the Muslim world in the last four hundred years Mulla Sadra (572 - 1640) is perhaps the single most important and influential philosopher in the Muslim world in the last four hundred years. The author of over forty works, he sought to bring to life the whole heritage of Islamic thought, from philosophy to mysticism, and create a more flexible and conciliatory approach to the problems which seemed to dissociate reason from faith. In this wide-ranging profile, Sayeh Meisami reaches beyond historical narrative to assess the true impact of the man and his ideas. This thought provoking and comprehensive account is ideal for any philosopher wanting to uncover the life and thoughts of a man who represents the climax of intellectual tradition at a crucial point in the history of Islamic civilization.

THE MAN AND HIS WORK

When Mulla Sadra (d. 1045/1635–36) started his intellectual career, Islamic philosophy in Iran had already been through its golden days with great philosophers such as Farabi (d. 339/950), Ibn Sina (d. 428/1037), and Suhrawardi (d. 586/1191). Between Suhrawardi and Mulla Sadra, philosophical endeavors consisted mostly in commentaries, apologies, occasional solutions to past problems, and, above all, attempts to synthesize philosophy with both theology and mysticism. The best known commentators are men such as Qutb al-Din Shirazi (d. 710/1311), Nasir al-Din Tusi (d. 672/1274), Jalal al-Din Dawani (d. 908/1502–03) and the ninth/fifteenth-century Dashtaki family. Thanks to Mulla Sadra, the synthetic vision of Islamic philosophy was given new life. He developed a synthetic approach to philosophy that became the backbone of all that emerged later. It was in line with his role as a system builder that he revived the Ibn Sinan tradition of writing voluminous books on different areas in metaphysics and touching on a variety of subjects such as being, knowledge, the soul–body relation, the beginning and end of cosmos, and God. His magnum opus, al-Hikmat al-muta‘aliya fi’l-‘asfar al-aqliya al-arba’a (referred to subsequently as al-Asfar), is comparable in its magnitude only with al-Shifa (The Metaphysics of The Healing) by Ibn Sina. These two philosophers, though many centuries distant in time, are similar in representing the climax of intellectual tradition at crucial points in the history of Islamic civilization.

Mulla Sadra’s philosophical system is built upon the findings of earlier masters, and in many cases his stand on philosophical and theological issues makes sense only as a response to older views. This does not detract from the originality of his philosophy, which, following the title of his magnum opus, has become famous as “Transcendental Philosophy” (al-Hikmat al-muta‘aliya). Transcendental philosophy belongs to the larger category of mystical philosophy, which is characterized by a synthetic methodology, meaning a combination of gnosis and logic, which also draws on the Qur’an and Hadith. The result is mystical philosophy, a philosophy of the type which is tied to Islamic prophecy and which is often known in the West as theosophy. The rise and development of fully fledged mystical philosophy coincided with the transformation of Iran into a Shi‘i country in the Safavid era though there had been preliminary steps in that direction in the centuries before.

It is a historical fact that many Shi‘i ulama of Sadra’s day were not happy with the esoteric side of his philosophy due to the general distrustful attitude to Sufism under the Safavids. His belief in the unity of Being (wahdat al-wujud), his reliance on interpretation beyond the surface of religious texts (ta’wil), and particularly the unveiling of hidden meanings in the Shi‘i texts, made him the target of attacks. Nevertheless, he himself was a champion of Shi‘i thought, and he identified the central Shi‘i doctrine of imamate with the Sufi sainthood or Friendship of God (wilaya). For Sadra, the Friend of God, whom he also calls the Perfect Human (al-insan al-kamil), borrowing the concept from Ibn ‘Arabi (d. 638/1240), is the ultimate purpose of creation. He considers the Twelve Imams as the most perfect instances of wilaya.

Although Sadra has been read by both Sunni and Shi‘i scholars in different parts of the world, including Iran, Iraq, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Turkey, his particular significance for the Shi‘i is undeniable. The one and only World Congress on Mulla Sadra, held in 1999 in Tehran and constantly referred to by Sadra scholars all over the world, is emblematic of this significance. The reason he has turned into the most celebrated philosopher in Iran after the Islamic Revolution cannot simply be reduced to politics, though political use has certainly been made of him. Serious attempts to expand Mulla Sadra scholarship, and to introduce him to Western academia, had already started almost a decade before the revolution inside the Imperial Academy of Iranian Philosophy. And in the Shi‘i seminaries of Qom, Mashhad, and Najaf, studying and teaching Sadra’s works under both rational and revealed sciences has been an established tradition since the Qajar period (1170–1304/1785–1925).

If we exclude the Akhbari (literalist and anti-rationalist) tradition which gathered force during the Safavid period and reduced Shi‘i faith to a mere surface reading of religious texts, and the anti-Sufi campaign of the Safavid regime, Shi‘ism has for the most part been compatible with both philosophical rationalism and Sufi spiritualism. It cannot be a coincidence that the first systematic treatise on Shi‘i theology, al-Tajrid fi’l-i‘tiqad, was written by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi and based on Ibn Sina’s philosophy. It was also he who took up the task of defending Ibn Sina against attacks by Fakhr al-Din Razi (d. 606/1209). Moreover, Shi‘i theology tends for the most part toward Mutazilite ideas and methodology. Mutazilite theology, with its emphasis on logic and rationalism, is the closest to philosophy among the theological schools. From al-Mufid (d. 413/1022) to Hilli (d. 726/1325), the tendency toward Mutazilite rationalism opened the path for more sophisticated philosophical theology among Twelver Shi‘is (Leaman and Rizvi 2008, 92–93).

As for the affinities between Shi‘ism and Sufism, the path taken by Ghazzali to reconcile Sunni doctrines with Sufism became the model for some major Safavid scholars. Despite the fact that Sufism was a Sunni movement in its historical origins, the closeness between the Shi‘i doctrine of imamate and the Sufi wilaya became a source of spiritual confluence between them. For example, almost all Sufi orders regarded Ali ibn Abi Talib, the first Shi‘i Imam, as their first master and spiritual pole (Qutb). There is also evidence that the Shi‘i Imam and the spiritual pole were simply identified. For example, we read in a Hadith attributed to the sixth Imam Jafar Sadiq that: “God has made of our wilaya, we the People of the House (ahl-al-bayt) the axis (qutb) around which the Qur’an gravitates” (Amir-Moezzi 2011, 241). The adaptation of Ibn ‘Arabi’s doctrine of wilaya into Shi‘ism, which had started with Sayyid Haydar Amuli (d. 787/1385) was completed by Mulla Sadra. In the last section of Divine Proofs (al-Shawahid al-rububbiyya) he quotes Ibn ‘Arabi on the continuation of divine guardianship after the death of the Prophet, without mentioning his source, and inserts terms such as “the Infallible Imams” and “People of the House” which refer to the Twelve Shi‘i Imams (al-Shawahid al-rububiyya, 509–511).

Though Sadra seems to be more at home in the Shi‘i world, he has also attracted many scholars from Sunni circles. His disciples in Mughal India, who became interested in his work shortly after his death, were mostly Sunnis. So too were scholars from Pakistan such as Mohammad Iqbal (d. 1938), Mawdudi (d. 1979), and Fazlur Rahman (d. 1988), and the same is true of some of the contemporary writers who specialize in his philosophy. More will be said about his influence in the last chapter of this book.

What makes Mulla Sadra so interesting to such a variety of thinkers is the inclusiveness of his system. His works bring to life the whole heritage of Islamic thought, from the different schools of philosophy to mysticism, Qur’anic hermeneutics (tafsir), and Hadith, and deals with issues which divided the rational and the revealed domains of Islamic traditions. As we shall see, building his philosophical system on the uniqueness of being or existence as a dynamic whole of different degrees, he created a more flexible and conciliatory approach to the problems which seemed to dissociate reason from faith, including those regarding the beginning and the end of the world and bodily resurrection. Moreover, his vast knowledge of the Qur’an and Hadith reinforced his conciliatory enterprise. He developed an organic system in which rational, gnostic, and religious elements naturally merged and helped the growth of the whole.

It is only after we read Sadra that we can figure out why Islamic philosophy and theology never drifted apart with the advent of modernity, contrary to the fate of Christian theology in the modern West. Islamic philosophy had never been the “handmaiden of theology” as it was in the medieval West; but in order to sustain its intellectual position amid accusations of dubious beliefs by certain theologians, it could choose either to claim a truth of its own or else to take a new path of reconciliation. Philosophers in the eastern Muslim world chose the second way and built a system where the truth of faith cannot be separated from the findings of reason. Mulla Sadra’s work is important as the champion of this cause. He not only saved Islamic philosophy from being crushed by dogmatic attacks but also represented the culmination of philosophical debates over theological issues.

LIFE AND WORKS

Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Yahya al-Qawami al-Shirazi, commonly known as Mulla Sadra, lived his life in Iran during the heyday of the Safavid dynasty under Shah Abbas I (d. 1039/1629). His title, Sadr al-Muta’allihin or “the highest among divine philosophers” was bestowed on him by the generations after him. No detailed life story is available for him, but we know that he was born in Shiraz into an influential family in 979/1572, and that his father was a court official. As he was the only son in the family, he received a lot of attention from his father, who encouraged him to begin his studies in his home town. His early education took place in Shiraz where he learned the philosophies of his predecessors, most probably on his own, as it is not clear yet whether he had a teacher there or not. According to recent scholarship, at that time philosophy education was not available at the religious seminaries of Shiraz (Rizvi 2007, 7) and his first encounter with philosophy was in Qazvin. In search of intellectual and spiritual guidance and attracted by the cultural achievements at the Safavid capital, he travelled to Isfahan, which by then had turned into the political and religious heart of Shi‘i Iran.

Much of Sadra’s knowledge, in both rational and revealed sciences, stems from his training in Isfahan. Under the guidance of the most celebrated philosopher of the time, Mir Muhammad Baqir Astarabadi known as Mir Damad (d. 1040/1631), he expanded his knowledge of philosophy both in the Peripatetic and Illuminationist fields. Mir Damad is famous for his reading of Ibn Sina in the light of Suhrawardi, so he must have been a strong influence on his student’s synthetic methodology. Although Mulla Sadra later diverged from some of his teacher’s major principles, he remained grateful and aware of his philosophical debt to him. He also developed some of his ideas in response to questions which had first been raised by Mir Damad.

The next big influence on Sadra was Baha’al-Din al-‘Amili famous as Shaykh Baha’i (984/1576) who, like his intellectual companion Mir Damad, developed a strong spiritual connection with Sadra beyond a mere teacher–student relationship. The first thing Sadra did upon his arrival in Isfahan was to enroll in Baha’ al-Din’s classes (Ziai 1996, 636), having briefly met with him in Shiraz. He learned as much as he could in different branches of Islamic sciences and mysticism from this wonderful teacher, who is still remembered in Iran as a legendary scientist and sage. Baha’al-Din was a top-rank jurisprudent and succeeded his father as Shaykh al-Islam of Isfahan. He was also well-read in Sufi traditions and some scholars believe that he was even attached to a Sufi order (Lewisohn 1999, 89), though there is not sufficient evidence for such a claim. He must have been the most important source of Sadra’s deep knowledge and mystical reading of Shi‘i thought.

Moreover, both his teachers were influential figures of the time due to their affiliation with the court and that they served as head of the jurists or shaykh al-Islam of Isfahan. There is no proof that Sadra also studied under Mir Findiriski, a third leading figure in the intellectual life of Safavid Isfahan. Sadra never mentioned him in any of his works (Nasr 2006, 218).

It was most probably due to the death of his father that he decided to return to his home town Shiraz in 1010/1601. He found the intellectual climate of Shiraz very unwelcoming and described it as showing “little justice, huge oppression, degrading the highest and the noblest, raising the lowest and the vile, and the appearance of the vicious ignorant and the ugly philistine in the guise of the wise” (al-Asfar I, 7). Harassed by hostile jurists, he eventually retreated to a small village named Kahak near Qom, where he lived a life of contemplation for five years or more. Though the details of the conflicts are not available, we can see from his writings that his feelings must have been deeply hurt. In Risala-yi si asl (The Three Principles), the only treatise he ever wrote in Persian, he bitterly addresses his detractors in his mother tongue:

O grand scholar and arrogant theologian! How long will you put the mole of fear on the face of intimacy, and throw the dust of foulness in the eyes of trust to cause pain; keep on rejecting and scolding and oppressing the people of purity and the companions of constancy; put on the garb of pietism and hypocrisy and the cloak of deceit and guile; drink from the chalice of hubris at the hand of the charming devil; do your best to refute truthfulness and spread falsity, condemn the wise and applaud the ignorant …

(Risala-yi si asl, 8–9)

As the Persian proverb goes, “Even your enemy may do you good if that is supposed to be,” and Sadra’s retreat actually proved intellectually and spiritually fruitful. It was in this period that he laid the foundations of transcendental philosophy and began working on his al-Asfar. Around 1022/1613 he returned to Shiraz but continued to visit other cities and went on several pilgrimages.

Later, at the peak of his intellectual career in 1040/1630, Sadra resumed his teaching in Shiraz. He was invited to teach in Shiraz by Imamquli Khan (d. 1042/1633), who had succeeded his father Allahwirdi Khan as the governor of Fars, Sadra’s home province, and did so at the Khan School (Madrasa-yi Khan) which had been built in 1024/1615 by Allahwirdi Khan (most probably in Sadra’s honor). He stayed in Shiraz and taught at the Khan School for the rest of his life, though he travelled a great deal. According to recent scholarship (Rizvi 2007, 30), he died in 1045/1635–36 in Basra, on the way home from his seventh pilgrimage to Mecca. There is no good evidence as to where he was buried.

Mulla Sadra and his wife Ma’suma (d. 1061/1651) had six children, three sons and three daughters. All three sons followed in their father’s footsteps and became scholars, though only a few works by the first son, Ibrahim, survive. He specialized in Islamic Law, Hadith, theology, and philosophy, completely turning his back on Sufism. In line with the ways of the world in those days nothing much is reported about the daughters except that they were married to three of Sadra’s students. Sadra treated all his students as members of his own family.

There is hardly any major philosopher or theologian in the east of the Muslim lands that Mulla Sadra had not read. His vast knowledge of earlier ideas and schools is noticeable in all his works, particularly al-Asfar. Three people, however, influenced him more than anyone else: Ibn Sina, Suhrawardi, and, above all, the Andalusian mystic, Ibn ‘Arabi.

While Ibn Sina provided the philosophical framework, concepts, and terminologies, Suhrawardi was the source of inspiration for Sadra’s new methodology, in which discursive thought is effective only where intuitive wisdom is available. As for Ibn ‘Arabi, his mystical worldview constitutes the foundation of transcendental philosophy. As we shall see, the ideas and methods of these three can be traced everywhere in Sadra’s works.

Mulla Sadra wrote over fifty books and treatises on a variety of topics which we can categorize under two main headings: rational and religious sciences. The first includes all the philosophical domains which, in modern categorizations, fall under ontology, epistemology, cosmology, metaphysical psychology, eschatology, moral, and political philosophy. We should add to this list the philosophical commentaries that he wrote on books by other philosophers. His two great commentaries, one on Ibn Sina’s al-Shifa (The Metaphysics of The Healing) and the other on Suhrawardi’s al-Hikmat al-ishraq (The Philosophy of Illumination), are among the great classics of Islamic philosophy.

Mulla Sadra’s best-known work under the first heading is the voluminous Transcendental Philosophy in Four Intellectual Journeys (al-Hikmat al-muta‘liya fi’l-asfar al-aqliya al-arba‘a), commonly referred to as al-Asfar, which includes ontology, epistemology, psychology, cosmology, eschatology, and theology. He started writing al-Asfar in Qom and finished it after returning to Shiraz. It has been published in nine volumes, and is both a collection of Sadra’s philosophical speculations and an encyclopedia of Islamic philosophy and theology. All the characteristic principles and ideas of the Sadrian system appear in it, and most of his other philosophical treatises simply repeat and expound the same ideas with occasional changes. The synthetic methodology of al-Asfar became the hallmark of transcendental philosophy. Sadra not only incorporated different schools of philosophy, theology, and mysticism into his system but also created a dialogical context in which we can judge his position in comparison with and in contrast to earlier Muslim scholars.

Divine Proofs (al-Shawahid al...