Fazlur Raḥmān - The philosophy of Mullā Ṣadrā (Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī)

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The Philosophy of Mulla * Sadra*

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STUDIES IN ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE

Published under the auspices of

the Society for the Study of Islamic Philosophy and Science

EDITORIAL BOARD

George F. Hourani, State University

of New York at Buffalo

Muhsin Mahdi, Harvard University

Parviz Morewedge, Baruch College

of City University of New York

Nicholas Rescher, University of Pittsburgh

Ehsan Yar-Shater, Columbia University

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The Philosophy of Mulla * Sadra*

(Sadr* al-Din* al-Shirazi*)

FAZLUR RAHMAN

State University of New York Press

Albany, 1975

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The Philosophy of Mulla * Sadra*

First Edition

Published by State University of New York Press

99 Washington Avenue, Albany, New York 12210

1975 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Rahman, Fazlur, 1919

The philosophy of Mulla* Sadra* (Sadr* al-Din* al-Shira/i*)

(Studies in Islamic philosophy and science)

Includes bibliographical references.

1. Mulla* Sadra*, Muhammad* ibn Ibrahim*, d. 1611.

I. Title. II. Series.

B753.M84R3

181'.07

75-31693

ISBN 0-87395-300-2

ISBN 0-87395-301-0 (microfiche)

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CONTENTS

A. Mulla * Sadra* and the Character of His Philosophy

B. Sadra's* Sources and His Originality

1. General

2. Sadra's* predecessors

3. Evaluation

C. Sadra's* Works and His Influence.

PART I. Ontology

I.The Metaphysics of Existence

A. Existence

B. Controversy with the "Essentialists"

C. Systematic Ambiguity (Tashkik*) of Existence.

D. Tension between Monism and Plualism

II. Essence

III Cause I: Nature of Causation

A. Cause-Effect Relationship

B. Impossibility of Causal Regress

IV. Cause II: God-World Relationship

A. Efficient Cause and Final Cause

B. God-World Relationship

V. Movement, Time, and, World-Order

A. Movement

B. Time

C. World-Order

Part II. Theology

I. God's Nature

A. Proof of God's Existence

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B. God as pure existence

C. God's Unity

II. God's AttributesI

A. God's Being and Attributes

B. Knowledge

III. God's AttributesII

A. Power and Will

1. A Survey of Alternative Views

2. Sadra's * Criticism of These Views and His Position

3. Relationship of God's Will to man

4. Doctrines of Bada'* (change of Mind in God), Naskh

(Abrogation of Laws) and Taraddud (reluctant decision).

B. Divine Speech and Revelation

Part III. Psychology: Man and His Destiny

I. Nature of the Soul

II. Theory of KnowledgeI

A. General Considerations

B. The Problem of "Mental Existence (al-wujud* al-dhihni*)"

III. Theory of KnowledgeII: Perception and Imagination

A. External Sense

B. Internal Sense: Imagination and Wahm

IV. Theory of KnowledgeIII: The Intellect

A. Introduction

B. The Problem of Abstraction

C. Ibn Sina* on the "Simple Intellect"

D. Identity of the Intellect and the Intelligible

V. Eschatology

A. Impossibility of Transmigration

B. Proofs of an Afterlife

C. The Nature of Afterlife

Subject Index

Index of Proper Names

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PREFACE

The present work aims at a critical and analytical statement of the Philosophy of Sadr * al-Din* al-Shirazi* known as Multa* Sadra* (d. 1641), primarily contained in his monumental work al-Asfar* al-Arba'a. As the following pages show, Sadra's* system, despite certain inner difficulties, is a highly original one revealing the extraordinary intellectual calibre of its author. Besides introducing Sadra's* thought to the modern reader, the work, it is hoped, will fully expose the mythical character of the belief, generally prevalent in Western Islamic scholarship, that Islamic Philosophy "died" after al-Ghazali's* attack upon it in the eleventh century.

Indeed, considerable valuable work has been done during the past two and a half decades in the field of post-Ghazali*

Islamic thought, notably on al-Suhrawardi* (d. 1191), the founder of the Illuminationist School. But most leading scholars in this activity, have, through their own spiritual proclivities, been led to emphasize the Sufi and esoteric side of this literature at the cost, as I believe, of its purely intellectual and philosophical hard core, which is of immense value and interest to the modern student of philosophy. I have tried to clarify this in the Introduction to the present work with reference to Sadra* who is hardly esoteric or Sufi, although he does emphasize intellectual intuition vis--

vis purely logical reasoning. It is hoped, therefore, that the present work will further stimulate sorely needed philosophic research into this hitherto little explored but rich field of Islamic thought.

I warmly thank the officers of the Society for the Study of Islamic Philosophy and Science (SSIPS) for having this book published and the State University of New York Press, particularly its director, Norman Mangouni, for publishing it. My grateful thanks are also due to Professor Alford Welch of the Department of Religion, of Michigan State University, who kindly devoted his valuable time not only to reading the proofs but to preparing indices of this work.

FAZLUR RAHMAN

Chicago

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Factual information about the life of Mulla* Sadra* is extremely scarce. He was born in Shiraz* to a certain Ibrahim*

ibn Yahya* at an unnamed date, came to Isfahan at a young age, and studied with the theologian Baha'* al-Din* al

mili* (d. 1031 A.H./1622 A.C.) and to an extent with the Peripatetic philosopher Mir* Fendereski* (d. 1050

A.H./1641 A.C.), but his principal teacher was the philosopher-theologian Muhammad* known as Mir* Damad* (d.

1041 A.H./1631 A.C.). Mir* Damad* appears certainly to have been a thinker of eminence and originality, but there is no modern scholarly study of him as yet. It seems that when our philosopher (named Muhammad*, titled Sadr* al-Din*, and generally known as Mulla* Sadra* or simply Sadra*) appeared, philosophy, as it was generally taught, was the Peripatetic-neo-Platonic tradition of Ibn Sina* and his followers. During the 6th/12th century, al-Suhrawardi* had criticized some of the basic doctrines of Peripatetism and laid the foundations of the mystic Philosophy of Illumination (Hikmat* al-Ishraq*) which subsequently found several followers. In the Peripatetic tradition itself, the important thirteenth century philosopher, scientist, and Shite* theologian Nasir* al-Din* al-Tusi* was influenced by certain views of the Illuminationist philosopher, although the exact extent and nature of this influence still needs to be closely determined. These Illuminationist injections into the Peripatetic tradition chiefly concern the Ishraqi* attack on Ibn Sina's* conception of God's knowledge as forms or accidents inhering in God's mind but later grew in other directions as wellthe most important being the view that existence is an unreal mental concept to which nothing corresponds in external reality. Mir* Damad* himself, for example, held the latter doctrine. For the rest, however, there is little evidence of the existence of any important Ishraqi* school of thought at the time of the appearance of Mulla* Sadra*. Nor is there any palpable evidence for the existence of a scholarly Staff tradition immediately before Mulla* Sadra*, although certain Sufi claims and clichs had become common due to the infusion of Sufi ideas into philosophy and, even more importantly, due to the permeation of Sufi