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**He is the Wise, the Omniscient **

Content

Mulla Sadra's Life, Works, and Philosophy

Prof. S. M.Khamenei................................................................. 2

•    Abstract

Cognition in Islamic Philosophy

Seyyed Mohammed Khamenei ........................................................7

Theory of the Living World and its Reflection in the Transcendent Philosophy

Maqsud Mohammedi........................................................7

A Study of Man's Relation to Reality in Mulla Sadra's Philosophy

Mohammed Bidhendi................................................................7

Gnostic's View of the Origination of the Many from the One (The Order of Effusion)

Aynullah Khademi.........................................................................9

A Glance at the Impacts of Islamic Philosophy on Scholasticism

Ali Muradkhani............................................................................. 10

Possibility Through-Preparedness (Potency and non-Potency) in the Transcendent Philosophy

Jamshid Sadri............................................................................... 11

Impact of Sadrian Concept of the Human Soul upon Solving the Problems of Islamic Philosophy

Abbas Haj Zayn al-Abidini........................................................... 12

Ibn Sina's Logical Innovations

AkbarFaydeyi................................................................................. 13

Suspended Images in Suhrawardi's Philosophy

SayyedMohammed Khaled Ghaffari.............................................................. 14

The Perfect Man as the Microcosm and the World as the Macrocom

Sussan Alerasul................................................................................................... 15

Translated by: Dr. R..Khoii

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Mulla Sadra's Life, Works, and Philosophy

 Prof S. M. Khamenei

If it is assumed (this assumption is very close to reality) that until about 1030 AH he lived in solitude, had stopped teaching and socializing with others, and did not have any students and disciples around him, we can claim that Mulla Abdulrazzaq was acquainted with Mulla Sadra and benefited from his teachings at the beginning of the same decade (after 1030 AH).

Accordingly, Lahiji was about 25 to 30 years old at this time and had ended his preliminary studies. He had studied some of the common sciences of his time and was looking for a distinguished master in order to achieve scientific and spiritual perfection. We know that he spent some time in Mashhad and might have also visited some of the other big seminaries of that time in Isfahan, Kashan, or Qazwin.

In an ode in which he has frequently repeated its opening verse, while complaining about the days he spent in Qum (perhaps at a time after Mulla Sadra's return to Shiraz), Fayyadh revives his good memories of his stay in the holy shrine of Imam AH Ibn Musi al-Riza (A). Here he complains that destiny had forced him to leave that place with humiliation and, while ordering him to 'go out', expelled him from the garden of Paradise.

The tone of this ode and the other available pieces of evidence suggest that he stayed in Mashhad for a long time and was a resident rather than a traveler or pilgrim who spent a short time there. Moreover, the residence of a knowledge-seeking person such as Fayyadh in this city was certainly for the purpose of learning, achieving spiritual perfection, and becoming involved in ascetic practice. We might even be able to conclude that after leaving Lahijan and before staying in Qum, he lived the life of a seminary student during his stay in Mashhad and benefited from the blessings of the holy threshold of Imam Riza (A). Then, due to some reasons, he might have necessarily been forced to move to Qum and stay there. He refers to this necessity in the same ode.

In this subtle and artistic ode, Fayyadh both reveals his great attachment to Radhavi (related to Imam Reza) Mashhad and expresses his satisfaction with staying in the threshold of Imam Riza's holy and infallible sister, who was a source of other blessings for him. In this regard we can refer to his finding way into Mulla Sadra's graceful presence, which was considered one of the blessings of Her Grace, M'asumah (A). He has also referred to this point in this ode.

We understand from this poem that, first, his period of stay in Mashhad was long and, like some of the other seminary students from the North of Iran and the regions near the Caspian sea, he had his preliminary and secondary studies of religious and rational sciences in the seminary of that city.

Second, he went from there to the seminary of Qum, which was a smaller one. This departure was due to some necessities or, perhaps, to some political and social problems. He has referred to it as 'wheaten barley', by which he might have intended enjoying some material privileges.

Third, his stay in Qum coincided with Mulla Sadra's presence there, and, as a result, he enjoyed a lot of scientific and practical blessings. This period was probably after Mulla Sadra's breaking 'silence' and leaving Kahak village (or staying in its summer place) in the years after 1030 AH. As mentioned before, Faydh joined him in the same years. Fourth, we might infer from this ode that he wrote it 20 or more years after arriving in Qum. Now, if we assume that he went to Qum when Mulla Sadra left Shiraz for that city and resided there, we can consider the beginning of Fayyadh's stay in Qum in about 1020 or 1021 AH.

Therefore, he must have composed this ode at the end of the third decade of the 11th century or a few years before or after Mulla Sadra's return to Shiraz (in about 1040 AH). Moreover, we can conclude that he wrote it when he was about 20 years old. At this time he was a knowledgeable man, had a poetic talent, could compose eloquent odes, and intended to compete with 'Urfi Shirazi in writing odes with similar rhyme patterns and rhythms. Thus he could not have been younger than twenty.

Considering the above calculations, his date of birth might have been about 1000 AH. Therefore, he was a few years (perhaps 3 or 4 years) older than Faydh.

Of course, we cannot ignore other possibilities, either. For instance, if we consider Fayyadh's presence in Qum at the same time with Mulla Sadra's teaching there, it must have been after Mulla Sadra's long period of solitude in Kahak and giving up speaking and writing. This might have been a few years after 1020 AH or perhaps 1030 AH. We might also assume that Fayyadh composed this ode in the last years of Mulla Sadra's life. However, we require more reliable proof for a more accurate estimation of the related dates.

Another document that reveals Fayyadh's devotion to Mulla Sadra and accepting his mastership is his handwritten copy of Mulla Sadra's treatise, Ajwabat al-masa 'il-i Mulla Shamsay-i Gilani, which was presented before.1

1.    Mulla Sadra's Life, Character, and Works, Persian version, vol. 1, p. 391.

He copied this treatise to comply with his master's order in this regard and wrote at its end, LThis treatise was copied by Lahiji on Thursday, 19th Jamadi al-thani 1034 AH".

If he copied this treatise according to his master's order, we can conclude that the date of its writing and the date of answering Mulla Sadra's letter were the same or very close to each other. This is because the reproduction of a work or making copies of it by one's companions was most probably done in cases when the original work had just been written, was unique, or existed in a few copies and there was the fear of its being lost or destroyed.

As mentioned before,1 the time of people's asking Mulla Sadra about difficult philosophical problems and his answering them goes back to the period of his being a well-known thinker rather than his retreat and solitude. Later, we will see that Mulla Sadra was involved in writing and, perhaps, teaching some of his chosen students not only in the third decade of the 11th Hijri century but also a decade before that. For example, he wrote his interpretation of al-Zilzal, al-Hadid, al-A 'la, and Ay at al-Kursi chapters in Qum in about 1022 AH. He also wrote his interpretations of al-Nur verse and al-Taruq chapter in 1030 AH.

Therefore, it is likely that Fayyadh was Mulla Sadra's student for several years before 1034 AH and learnt the methods of spiritual journey and going on the four-fold journeys (Asfar arba'a) from his master. He copied Mulla Sadra's treatise when he had turned into an experienced thinker. This assumption is more compatible with previous calculations.

Fayyadh was one of Mulla Sadra's selected students. We might also consider him his closest and most prominent student. It is not also an exaggeration to say that he was Mulla Sadra's secret keeper and treasurer

1. Ibid, p. 390.

of spiritual mysteries. As we know, Mulla Sadra was one of the greatest mystics of his time and one of the Sufi masters and spiritual guides of the right path of practical mysticism. Fayyadh, himself, has frequently referred to him in his poems as the alchemist of his human essence and considers himself the pure gold of his master's crucible.

Abstracts

Cognition in Islamic Philosophy

Seyyed Mohammed Khamenei

In the Transcendent Philosophy, the issue of the truth of cognition and its conformity with external objectivity is conceivable in the light of understanding quiddity and accepting the notion of mental existence, the interference of presential knowledge, and man's creative power. The basic points concerning the issue of cognition are the concordance between the mind and the external world and the representativeness of knowledge.

The writer has quoted some of the well-known views in this regard in this paper. He has also referred to the conformity between the microcosm and macrocosm to clarify the issue further.

Key words:

cognition                                        mental existence
presential knowledge                               representativeness
human creativity                                      macrocosm
microcosm

Theory of the Living World and its Reflection in the

Transcendent Philosophy

Maqsud Mohammedi

The idea of the living world has a long history. In the process of development of philosophy, a great number of philosophers, as well as gnostics, considered the entire world of being a living existent and called it the 'macroanthropo'.

In their view, the mass of the whole world comprises the body of the 'macroanthropo' and 'the universal body', and that different bodies comprise its parts. This 'universal body' has a 'universal soul' that controls the various natures of bodies and makes them move.

However, Mulla Sadra clarifies and demonstrates the theory of the living world on the bases of his own philosophical principles and grants it a specific place in his philosophical system. According to his philosophy (considering the principles of the principiality and graded unity of being and trans-substantial motion, etc.), the material world is a living system. At the same time, it is a single collection whose parts are all related to each other through a connecting network. This connecting network, which is called the 'universal soul', is the administrator and governor of the parts. It grants form to matter and meaning to the life of the living system. It also protects this system and guarantees its survival. Moreover, all parts of this material world, even inanimate bodies, possess a kind of life and awareness proportionate to their ontological breadth that can be referred to as the source of the power of love for pure perfection. This power permeates in the essence of all parts and pillars of the world.

Key Terms

living world                                    macroanthropo
connecting network                                  life
awareness                                                 living system
space and time                                         world of occurrence
world of manifestation

A Study of Man's Relation to Reality in Mulla Sadra's

Philosophy

Mohammed Bidhendi

According to Mulla Sadra, reality in the sense of posing a proposition or judgment is a tenuous level of reality and is referred to as 'truth' or 'logical truth'.

In the light of his interpretation of man, he propounds reality in relation to existence and within the domain of presential knowledge. He seeks the reality of everything in man and, accordingly, conceives of it in the sense of'unveiling of existence'. In fact, he considers reality as being meaningful merely in relation to man.

An inquiry into this sense of reality and how it compares with what is discussed in this regard in Aristotle's philosophy constitutes the focus of this paper.

 

Key words:

 Reality                                                unveiling of existence

 Outward                                             truth

 inwar

 

Gnostic's View of the Origination of the Many from

the One (The Order of Effusion)

Aynullah Khademi

In gnostics' view, the first emanated is the simple non-conditioned dividing (qismi) existence - since it is limited by application - rather than the non-conditioned divided existence (maqsami), which, through simplicity and nobility, contains all the perfections of lower than itself. They refer to it by means of various names such as the Universal Spirit, the Supreme Spirit, the Supreme Holy Spirit, the Highest Pen, the Holy Effusion, the Mohammedan Reality, etc. They have also provided some reasons for such denominations and demonstrated their views in this regard. In order to gain familiarity with gnostics' ideas concerning the order of effusion, it is best to start with the discussion of Five Divine Presences. They have expressed the hierarchy of manifestations of existence (creation) under this topic as follows: 1) holy effusion (the world of immutable archetypes), 2) the world of Dominion and Divine spirits, 3) the world of Ideas, 4) the world of Kingdom, 5) the world of the perfect man (generation or all-comprehensive presence).

 

Key words:

order of effusion                                  simple existence

 Five Divine Presences                          holy effusion

 Dominion and Divine spirits                  Idea

 Kingdom                                             perfect man

                       

A Glance at the Impacts of Islamic Philosophy on

Scholasticism

Ali Muradkhani

The Present paper, in addition to discussing the indebtedness of Scholastic philosophy to Islamic thought in the 12th and 13th centuries, provides a short account of Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd's metaphysics along with their influence over the medieval philosophy. When discussing Ibn Sina, the author explicitly emphasizes his originality of thoughts with reference to his philosophical sources, such as Aristotle, neo-Platonists, Kindi, and Farabi. The author believes that this originality lies in Ibn Sina's discussions of existence, the relation of existence to reality and necessity, the distinction between existence and quiddity and its importance for the issue of creation in Scholasticism, as well as in posing Ibn Sina's argument for the demonstration of the Creator and explaining its difference from Arsitotle's argument of motion.

Later, through referring to the issue of the soul and its argument of disengagement (tajarrud) in the suspended man, and, finally, by resorting to the Avicennan-Augustinian school concerning the issue of knowledge, the writer discusses Ibn Rushd's ideas and his influence in the 13th and 14th centuries and even in the Renaissance period. He restates Ibn Rushd's view of the mission of religion and philosophy and their common ultimate end, poses the issue of the laymen, theologians, and philosophers and their various levels of perception in Ibn Rushd's eyes, and, finally, refers to his

influence on his Latin followers, as well as to his opponents such as Duns Scotus and Thomas Aquinas.

Key words:

Scholasticism                                     Ibn Rushd

Quiddity                                             existence

Motion                                               soul

Ibn Rushd                                         Thomas Aquinas

Ishraq (Illumination)                             Augustine

                           

Possibility Through-Preparedness (Potency and non-

Potency) in the Transcendent Philosophy

Jamshid Sadri

Possibility in the sense of negating the necessity of existence and non-existence is one of the three modalities of being. If we evaluate any quiddity in terms of existence, we see that it requires the necessity of either existence or non-existence, or none of them. A quiddity that enjoys no necessity is called 'possible'. However, this word has other meanings, some of which contain particular possibility, some of which are classified under it, and some of which are in contrast to it. This paper deals with possibility through-preparedness. The presuppositions here consist of the following: a) the existents of the world of nature are continually in change and transformation; b) not everything changes into anything; c) there is always a prepared and an object of preparedness; d) the prepared has the preparedness to become the object of preparedness, and this object has a possibility through-preparedness in the prepared; e) the preparedness and possibility through-preparedness are the same and one thing. However, if this thing is attributed to the prepared, it is called preparedness, and if it is attributed to the object of preparedness, it is called the possibility through-preparedness. Mulla Sadra stipulates the univocality of essential and possibilities through- preparedness and sees the difference between the two in their object of qualification, i.e. he views sometimes quiddity and

sometimes matter as their object. Thus the difference between them is not a conceptual one; rather, it is a positional one. The possibility through-preparedness is a quality depending on matter. When matter is qualified with it, from among various acceptable actualities, it only accepts one of them at different levels of intensity, weakness, closeness, and remoteness. The object of preparedness is annihilated with the realization of actuality.

Key words:

Preparedness                             possibility through-preparedness

potency and non-potency             matter

possibility                                           actuality

hyle

Impact of Sadrian Concept of the Human Soul upon

Solving the Problems of Islamic Philosophy

Abbas Haj Zayn al-Abidini

There are some fundamental differences between the principles and foundations of Sadrain philosophical psychology (ilm al-nafs) and those of his predecessors. It is in the light of these very differences that Mulla Sadra appears more successful in solving and clarifying the existing complicated problems in the divine wisdom.

In this paper, after giving a brief account of the basic principles of Sadrian philosophical psychology, the writer examines a number of typical problems which have attained some acceptable solutions in the light of those principles.

Key words:

human soul                                         origination and pre-eternity of the soul

subsistence of the soul                 mental existence

vision                                                  union of the intellect and the intelligible

corporeal resurrection

 

Ibn Sina's Logical Innovations

Akbar Faydeyi

Aristotle's logical system was such that even for several centuries after him, most scholars considered it perfect in every respect. As a result, it dominated thinkers' ideas and thoughts for many centuries. Ibn Sina was the first to deviate from this method in devising the science of logic and create certain changes in various dimensions of Aristotelian logic.

In addition to limiting certain logical issues such as the categories, the extensive discussion of poetry, rhetoric, and dialectics, and introducing some other changes with regard to, for example, conversion, definition, and description, Ibn Sina has numerous innovations in logic as follows:

1.  Changing the nine-fold logic to a two-fold one;

2.  Dividing verbal positional connotation to three types: comparison, implication, and indication per nexum;

3.  Extending the domain of the division of propositions in terms of their mode, specific system, and new consistencies;

4.  Allowing the combination of two absolute propositions which differ in quantity and quality;

5.  Introducing the conformity between the quantity of definition and the limited essence, as well as demonstrating the weakness of the principle of conciseness and limiting the definition of the real;

6.  Proposing a criterion which is needless of definition and showing the difficulty in accessing the real definition of objects;

7.  Introducing conditional disjunctive syllogism and its types;

8.  Revealing the actuality of the affirmation of the topical description of the subject for its essence concerning the act of position (aqd al-wad');

9. Reflecting the necessary affirmative proposition in the form of the general, absolute, particular affirmative proposition.

Key words:

 

Logic                     indication

Mode                     definition

Conversion             syllogism

Contradiction

Suspended Images in Suhrawardi's Philosophy

Sayyed Mo hammed Khaled Ghaffari

Shaykh Shihab al-Din Yahya Suhrawardi is one of the few truly pragmatist sages who has employed all his philosophical achievements in putting his religious and epistemic beliefs into practice consciously. One of the extremely important topics discussed in his philosophical system is ' suspended images or Ideas'. He has presented a new version of this issue in the light of which he has tried to justify a great number of prophets' promises and miracles, saints' act of Divine grace, and certain paranormal human acts.

The writer has tried to examine this issue extensively through relying on Shaykh's own works and those of some of his most distinguished commentators. He has also dealt with the effects and consequences of this issue in this paper.

 

Key words:

Suspended Ideas                        ghasiqah substances

 Ispahhudi lights                         people of idols

 suspended images

The Perfect Man as the Microcosm and the World as the

Macrocosm

Sussan Alerasul

Researchers have repeatedly referred to a perfect man who possesses all the levels of existence and is the loci of theophany and manifestation of divine attributes. His entification stems from the station of the unity of the One, and he encompasses all the levels of oneness, the levels of the worlds of vertical and horizontal intellects, the levels of the world of the Images, and the level of the world of corporeal bodies. He is identical with each level in a sense and other than it in another sense. Thus he is also called the microcosm.

The issue of the perfect man and, following it, the idea of macrocosm are among the topics which are discussed both in Mulla Sadra's Transcendent Philosophy and in Ibn Arabi's theory of the oneness of being. However, Ibn Arabi and his commentators have not dealt with this issue as meticulously as Mulla Sadra. He has, in fact, explained some of the very delicate aspects of this issue on the basis of his own accurate philosophical principles. Nevertheless, we must admit that these two schools of thought share so many common points that there is great conformity among many of their parts, particularly, their consequences and effects.

This article deals with the ideas of Abdul Rahman Jami concerning the discussion of the perfect man. He was one of the most distinguished Persian speaking commentators and disseminators of Ibn Arabi's thoughts and lived two centuries before Mulla Sadra. The writer has extracted these ideas from among his various works so that other researchers clearly observe the similarities between them and that of Mulla Sadra in this regard and learn about their common roots.

Key words:

perfect man                                       microcosm

macroanthropo                                  macrocosm

Transcendent Philosophy                   oneness of being