Mulla Sadra

Mulla Sadra, whose full name was Sadr al-Din Muhammad Shirazi (Persian: ملا صدرا; 1571, Shiraz – 1641, Basra), was an Iranian philosopher and Islamic scholar. He combined the Peripatetic, Illuminationist (Ishraqi) and Akbari schools of thought.

Biography

He was born in the city of Shiraz in Iran. For his studies in philosophy, kalam (theology), hadith and tafsir (Quranic exegesis) he travelled first to Qazvin (1591) and later to Isfahan (1597). In these cities, which were among the important Imamiyya centres of Twelver Shiism, he studied under Mir Damad and Baha al-Din al-Amili.

After completing his education in Isfahan, he produced his work titled al-Asfar al-Arba'a (The Four Journeys), which set out his philosophy and at the same time reflected the influence of the experiences he gained from fifteen years of ascetic life spent in a village called Kahak near the city of Qom in Iran.

Regarded by Iranians as the greatest philosopher of their country, Mulla Sadra founded the school of al-Hikma al-Muta'aliya (Transcendent Theosophy) by bringing together rationalism and intuitionism. Mulla Sadra's philosophy was influenced by the Peripateticism of Avicenna, the Illuminationist philosophy of Suhrawardi, the theoretical gnosis (Nazari Irfan) school of Muhyi al-Din Ibn Arabi, and Twelver Shiism. In his works he sought to bring together the rationalist, intuitionist and scriptural schools of the Islamic world of thought in a distinctive synthesis.

Towards the end of his life he returned to Shiraz. He was accused of heresy by some Twelver Shia theologians such as Muhammad Baqir Majlisi, but thanks to the power of the family to which he belonged he was able to continue writing. His life came to an end in Basra when he set out on the pilgrimage (Hajj), and he was buried in what is today Iraqi territory.

His Books

al-Asfar al-Arba'a (The Four Journeys: (a) the journey from the creatures to the Truth (God), (b) the journey in the Truth with the Truth, (c) the journey from the Truth to the creatures with the Truth, (d) the journey among the creatures with the Truth.)

al-Shawahid al-Rububiyya fi'l-Manahij al-Sulukiyya

al-Mabda' wa'l-Ma'ad (The Origin and the Return)

al-Mazahir al-Ilahiyya fi Asrar al-Ulum al-Kamaliyya

Mafatih al-Ghayb (The Keys to the Unseen)

Kasr Asnam al-Jahiliyya (Breaking the Idols of the Age of Ignorance)

Risala fi Huduth al-Alam

Risala ila Mir Damad (a letter to Mir Damad).

Books written about him

Molla Sadra'nin Bilgi Teorisi ve Anti-Subjektivist bir Epistemolojinin İmkânı [Mulla Sadra's Theory of Knowledge and the Possibility of an Anti-Subjectivist Epistemology] (thesis), İbrahim Kalın

His teachers

Muhammad Baqir al-Husayni, Muhaqqiq Damad (an Iranian philosopher also known as Mir Damad),

Sayyid Abu al-Qasim, known as Mir Findiriski,

Shaykh Muhammad ibn Husayn al-Harithi (known as Shaykh Baha'i).

His students

Shaykh Muhammad ibn Muhsin (known as Fayd Kashani),

Shaykh Abd al-Razzaq al-Lahiji,

Shaykh Husayn ibn Ibrahim Tunikabuni,

Sources

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