Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

Alhassanain (p) Network for Islamic Heritage and Thought

STUDIES IN ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE

The Philosophy of Mulla Sadra (Sadr al-Din al-Shirazi)

FAZLUR RAHMAN

State University of New York Press

Albany, 1975

www.alhassanain.org/english

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

The Philosophy of Mulla Sadra (Sadr al-Din al-Shirazi)

FAZLUR RAHMAN

State University of New York Press

Albany, 1975

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-Shirazi)

(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)

Table of Contents

PREFACE 7

INTRODUCTION 8

A. Mulla Sadra and the Character of His Philosophy 8

B. Sadra's Sources and His Originality 13

1. General 13

2. Sadra's Predecessors 15

3. Evaluation 18

C. Sadra's Works and His Influence 21

Notes 24

PART I: ONTOLOGY 27

Chapter I: The Metaphysics of Existence 28

A. Existence 28

B. Controversy with the “Essentialists” 31

C. Systematic Ambiguity (Tashkik ) of Existence 34

D. Tension between Monism and Pluralism 36

Notes 40

Chapter II: Essence 42

Notes 50

Chapter III: Cause I: Nature of Causation 53

A. Cause-Effect Relationship 53

B. Impossibility of Causal Regress 58

Notes 64

Chapter IV: Cause II: God-World Relationship 65

A. Efficient Cause and Final Cause 65

B. God-World Relationship 71

Notes 79

Chapter V: Movement, Time, and World-Order 82

A. Movement 82

B. Time 94

C. World-Order 99

Notes 102

PART II: THEOLOGY 106

Chapter I: God's Nature 107

A. Proof of God's Existence 107

B. God as Pure Existence 109

C. God's Unity 114

Notes 118

Chapter II: God's Attributes - I 120

A. God's Being and Attributes 120

B. Knowledge 124

Notes 139

Chapter III: God's Attributes - II 142

A. Power and Will 142

1. A Survey of Alternative Views 142

2. Sadra's Criticism of These Views and His Position 145

3. Relationship of God's Will to Man 148

4. Doctrines of Bada' (Change of Mind in God), Naskh (Abrogation of Laws) and Taraddud (Reluctant Decision) 153

B. Divine Speech and Revelation 156

Notes 160

PART III: PSYCHOLOGY; MAN AND HIS DESTINY 163

Chapter I: Nature of the Soul 164

Notes 174

Chapter II : Theory of Knowledge - I 176

A. General Considerations 176

B. The Problem of “Mental Existence (al-wujud al-dhihni )” 180

Notes 183

Chapter III: Theory of Knowledge - II: Perception and Imagination 185

A. External Sense 185

B. Internal Sense: Imagination and Wahm 188

Notes 192

Chapter IV: Theory of Knowlege - III: The Intellect 193

A. Introduction 193

B. The Problem of Abstraction 193

C. Ibn Sina on the “Simple Intellect” 194

D. Identity of the Intellect and the Intelligible 196

Notes 203

Chapter V: Eschatology 204

A. Impossibility of Transmigration 204

B. Proofs of an Afterlife 207

C. The Nature of Afterlife 212

Notes 216

EPILOGUE 219

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-à-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