Mulla Sadra, the Great Philosopher of Islam

Shiraz is a historical city in Fars province in Iran. The ruins of Takht-e Jamshid or Perspolis (a monumental palace which was destroyed and burnt by Alexander the Great) are in its vicinity. In Mulla Sadra’s time, the Safavid dynasty ruled Iran. Safavid kings granted independence to Fars province, which was ruled by the Shah’s brother. It is said that Mulla Sadra’s father served as the minister of the ruler of Fars.
Mulla Sadra’s father, Khwajah Ibrahim Qawami, was a knowledgeable and extremely faithful politician. He was a rich man and held a high position, but had no children. However, after many prayers and supplications to the Divine Portal, God gave him a son whom he named Muhammed (Sadr al-Din, 979 A.H/1571 A.D), but called Sadra. Later he was nicknamed ‘Mulla’, that is, ‘Great Scientist’. In the years to come, the title of ‘Mulla Sadra’ became more famous than his real name and replaced it on people’s lips.
Sadr al-Din Muhammed (or Sadra) was the only child of the minister of the ruler of the vast region of Fars and enjoyed the highest standards of a noble life. It was a common tradition at that time for children of aristocrats’ to be educated by private tutors in their own palaces. Sadra was a very intelligent, strict, energetic, studious, and inquisitive boy who mastered all the lessons related to Persian and Arabic literature, as well as the art of calligraphy, in a very short time. Following the old traditions of his time, he might have also learnt horse riding, hunting, and fighting techniques. Mathematics, astronomy, some medicine, jurisprudence, Islamic law, logic, and philosophy were also among the courses that young people were supposed to follow at that time. The young Sadra, who had not yet reached the age of puberty, acquired some knowledge in all these fields. However, he was mainly interested in philosophy and, particularly, in gnosis.
The notes left from his youth clearly reveal his interest in gnostic literature in general, and the Persian poems of Farid al-Din Attar (1119-1193 A.D), Jalal al-Din Rumi, known as Mawlana (1207-1273 A.D), Iraqi (d.c. 1288 A.D), and Ibn-Arabi’s (1165-1240 A.D) sophism, in particular.
For some time he was certainly educated in Shiraz, but the main part of his education was most probably completed in the capital, Qazwin. This was because the ruler of Fars came to the throne after the death of his brother, the Shah, and, inevitably, moved to Qazwin (985 A.H/1577 A.D). It seems highly improbable that his minister and counselor did not accompany him, or that he did so, but left his only son and family behind in Shiraz.
At this time, Mulla Sadra came to know two prominent geniuses and scientists: that is, Sheikh Baha al-Din Ameli and Mir Damad, who were not only unique in their own time, but also unparalleled by any scientist even 4 centuries afterwards. Mulla Sadra started studying under them and, through his outstanding talents, became the best of all their students in a very short time.
Sheikh Baha was not only an expert in Islamic sciences (particularly in jurisprudence, hadith, interpretation, theology, and gnosis), but also a master of astronomy, theoretical mathematics, engineering, architecture, medicine, and some esoteric supernatural fields of knowledge. However, it seems that, due to his sophist ideas, he did not teach philosophy and theology.
The other genius, Mir Damad, knew all the sciences of his time, but his domain of teaching was limited to jurisprudence, hadith, and, mainly, philosophy. He was a master of both the Peripatetic and Illuminationist branches of Islamic philosophy and considered himself as Ibn-Sina and Farabi’s equal and the master of all the philosophers following them. Mulla Sadra obtained most of his knowledge of philosophy and gnosis from Mir Damad and always introduced him as his real teacher and spiritual guide.
When the Safavid capital moved to Isfahan (1006 A.H/1598 A.D), Sheikh Baha al-Din and Mir Damad, accompanied by their students, moved there too, and started their spread of knowledge. Mulla Sadra, who was about 26 or 27 years old at that time, having become a master himself no longer needed instruction was thinking about* establishing new philosophical principles and founding his famous school of thought. The story of Mulla Sadra’s life is unclear. It is not quite clear how long he stayed in Isfahan and where he went after that. Apparently, he had moved from Isfahan before 1010 A.H. and returned to his own city, Shiraz. His father’s estates and properties were in Shiraz, and although he gave a lot of them to the poor, a part of them still exists in Shiraz and Fars in the form of properties consecrated to pious uses.
Mulla Sadra’s life in Shiraz and his later migrations comprise another period of his life which will be discussed in the next chapter.

Mulla Sadra’s Life from Chair of Mastership to Corner of Seclusion
Mulla Sadra must have returned to Shiraz in about 1010 A.H (1602 A.D). He had inherited a great fortune and many estates from his father, of which he had to take control. This might have been one of the reasons for his return to Shiraz.
He had an immense fortune, possessed an enormous ocean of knowledge, especially, of philosophy, and had presented a number of innovative ideas. Therefore, he started teaching in Shiraz, and a lot of students attended his classes from different parts of the country. However, his rivals, who, like many philosophers and theologians, blindly followed previous philosophers, and felt that their social status had been endangered, started ill-treating him, ridiculing his new ideas, and insulting him in order to defend their ideas or perhaps out of jealousy.
Such bad behavior and pressures were not compatible with Mulla Sadra’s delicate soul. On the other hand, his faith, religious beliefs, and piety did not allow him to react and deal with them in the same way. Thus he left Shiraz in resentment and went to Qum, which had not yet turned into an important scientific and philosophical center. This religious city is the burial place of the holy Ma’sumah, the daughter of the seventh Shi’ite Imam, Imam Musa Kazim (a.s), one of the descendents of the Prophet Muhammed (p.b.u.h), and the sister of Imam Reza (the eighth Shi’ites Imam). A number of great men and scholars have been buried in Qum. This city has a long history (more than 15 centuries), and is said to have been called Quriana before the advent of Islam.
Mulla Sadra did not stay in Qum itself and, because of its hot and bad weather, or perhaps because of the similarity between the social conditions there and those in Shiraz, he stayed in a village called Kahak in its suburbs. The remains of his magnificent house can still be seen in this village.
Mulla Sadra’s depression and spiritual breakdown made him put away teaching and discussion for some time, and, as he has written in the introduction of his great book, al-Asfar, he started spending his life in worship, fasting, and ascetic practice. This chance, which had been in fact forced upon him by fate, aided him in going through the spiritual and mystic stages of spirituality and even sanctity.
This period is considered the golden time of his life from a spiritual point of view. In spite of being depressed and stricken by sorrow, he managed to reach the stage of the unveiling and intuition of the hidden or unseen, and see philosophical realities with the hearts eye rather than that of the mind. It was this very accomplishment that contributed to the perfection of his school of philosophy. His seclusion and refusal to write and teach continued until, at the stations of unveiling and intuition of the unseen, he was ordered to return to the society and begin writing, teaching, disseminating and publicizing his school of thought and findings.
If we consider the length of his period of silence and seclusion to about 5 years, he stopped it in about 1015 A.H (1607 A.D). Once again he took his pen in hand and started the composition of some books, including his monumental book, al-Asfar, which is considered a philosophical encyclopedia, and wrote its first part on the issues related to existence.
He did not return to Shiraz until almost 1040 A.H (1632 A.D.). He stayed in Qum, founded a philosophical center there, trained several students, and, during all this time, was busy either writing his famous book or composing treatises in response to contemporary philosophers. Two of his well-known students were called Fayyadh Lahiji and Faydh Kashani, who were both his sons-in-law and propagated his school of thought. We will give an account of his books in the part related to his works.
Mulla Sadra returned to Shiraz in about 1039 or 1040 A.H (1632 A.D). Some believe that the reason for his return was the invitation he received from the ruler of Fars province, Allah Werdi Khan. This was because he had finished the construction of the school which his father, Imam Quli Khan, had started, and prepared it for teaching philosophy, and due to his previous devotion towards Mulla Sadra, he invited this great man to Shiraz to take its scientific supervision in hand.
Mulla Sadra was also involved in teaching philosophy, interpretation, and hadith in Shiraz, and trained some students there. We understand from his book of Si Asl (Three Principles), which was apparently written at that time in Shiraz in Persian, and which harshly attacked the scholars of that time, including philosophers, theologians, jurisprudents, and physicists, that in that period, like in his first period of residence in Shiraz, Mulla Sadra was under the pressure of the slanders and vicious conduct of the scientists of his town. This time, however, he had become stronger and decided to stand against their pressures and establish, introduce, and publicize his own school of philosophy.
One of the dimensions of Mulla Sadra’s eventful life was his frequent visitations to Ka’ba in Makkah. This worship and religious pilgrimage is called Haj and Umra (lesser pilgrimage). It has been written that Mulla Sadra went to seven (pay attention to the holy figure ‘7’) pilgrimages (apparently on foot). Nowadays, in spite of the comforts offered by traveling by plane, there are still some difficulties associated with going on this pilgrimage. Nevertheless, four hundred years ago, they made this journey on horse or camel, and through the dry central desert of Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the Haj pilgrimage was also considered a kind of ascetic practice.
On this journey, which was made in the form of big Caravans of hajjis (Mecca pilgrims) moving towards Mecca, several people died from heat, thirst, or exhaustion on the way. Thus, making such a journey, which meant traveling for some thousands of kilometers on foot, certainly involved much more hardships than it does today, and required a strong will and profound faith.
To add such an endeavor to his other ascetic practices, Mulla Sadra stepped on this way seven times, and eventually, on his seventh journey to Mecca for the visitation of Ka’ba, fell ill in the city of Basra in Iraq and passed away, leaving this world for those who were obsessed by it.
The route of his journey, if we consider its place of origin as Shiraz, was the waterway from the eastern coast of Persian Gulf towards its western coast, and to Basra port in Iraq, which was a part of Iran at that time.
It is commonly said that Mulla Sadra passed away in 1050 A.H/1640 A.D; however, we believe that a more exact date is 1045 A.H/1635 A.D, which his grandson, Ilm al-Huda, one of the stars of the sky of knowledge of his time and the son of ‘Allamah Faydh Kashani, has recorded in his notes. The sudden discontinuation of some of his compositions, such as Interpretation of Qu’ran and Sharh-i Usul Kafi (Muhadith Kulayni), in about 1044 A.H/1634 A.D are good pieces of evidence supporting this claim.
Mulla Sadra died in Basra, but according to the Shi’ite tradition, he was taken to Najaf (in Iraq), which houses the tomb of Imam Ali (A.S.), the vicegerent, cousin, and son-in-law of prophet Muhammed (S.A.W.), and the first leader of Shi’ites, and, as his grandson, Ilm al-Huda, says, he was buried in the left side of the court of Imam Ali’s (A.S.) haram (sacred shrine).

Mulla Sadra's Works
Mulla Sadra’s character is of different dimensions, and his life is an eventful one. Unlike other philosophers, he did not live a normal life. He was not merely a philosopher, thinker, and founder of a philosophical school of thought, possessing the knowledge of the common sciences of his time, including mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and Islamic sciences such as interpretation and hadith. He was also a successful teacher of philosophy and a distinguished writer of several useful philosophical books. From another point of view, he was a gnostic and pious ascetic and worshiper who had some supernatural abilities, so that, as he himself implicitly claimed, he could fly his spirit out of his body whenever he wished and go with it to observe the supernatural.
Undoubtedly, the title of philosopher is not enough for Mulla Sadra, and even if we also call him by titles such as gnostic and expert in theoretical gnosis, they will not be sufficient to introduce his sublime station.
Mulla Sadra was like a polygon, holding on each dimension one of the common sciences of his period. He was a Peripatetic philosopher, an expert in Illuminationist philosophy, a conversant scholar of the science of Islamic theology, a master of theoretical gnosis, an outstanding commentator, a unique expert in hadith, a master of Persian and Arabic literature, and a mathematician. He also possessed the knowledge of old medicine, astronomy, natural sciences, and even those branches of science known as secret ones, which should, of course, not be mistaken with magic and wizardry.
All the above indicates that his domain of knowledge was incredibly vast; however, Mulla Sadra had two other scholarly characteristics rarely witnessed in other scientists. The first was related to the depth of his knowledge. He never sufficed to knowing, learning, teaching, and writing; rather, he used to delve into philosophical problems as deeply as possible, and discover all there was to know. It was in the light of this characteristic that he managed to plant the seed of a great revolution in philosophy.
His second scholarly characteristic was related to the peak of his philosophical knowledge. He always tried to utilize research as wings to go beyond the common inferences and perceptions of philosophers, and examine difficult philosophical problems following a more general and pervasive approach. Thus we can consider him a creative philosopher who introduced a number of unprecedented theories in the area of philosophy. His innovations in this regard are world-famous.
Like Suhrawardi (the Iranian Illuminationist philosopher of the 6th century) and Plotinus, Mulla Sadra believed that one who cannot separate his soul from his body and perform extraordinary or supernatural deeds is not a true sage and philosopher. Both of his teachers, Shaykh Baha al-Din and Mir Damad, possessed great spiritual powers. Mulla Sadra studied under these two prominent scholars and remained in their company for some time; nevertheless, he believed that his retreat in a village (Kahak) near Qum and his solitude, worship, bereavement, and despair of people, altogether, helped to open a new window before his eyes towards the truth and the hidden world.
He has written about this issue in the introduction of Asfar. His seclusion, which was accompanied with a kind of spiritual failure, aided him in becoming a strong man with a strong soul, so that, like Plato, he could perceive the realities of philosophy not only through reasoning but also through intuition. Such ascetic practices turned that sensitive and frail young man into an enduring, perseverant, and patient master who could stand against the attacks of envious and superficial scholars of his time like a mountain, and follow his holy mission to the end of life.
His retreat in Kahak was a significant turning point in Mulla Sadra’s life, accelerated his spiritual and academic growth to a great extent, and consolidated his determination for choosing his path of life. The history of his youth and even adolescence reveals that, from the very beginning of his education, he was as interested in acquiring knowledge as he was in purification and training of his soul and, like other farers, had chosen his way in advance; however, his retreat and spiritual ascetic practices in that small village of Kahak had made him more determined in depicting his way of life.
Mulla Sadra has no equal either in philosophy or in character and spirit among western philosophers. Professor Henry Corbin believes that if we could put Jacob Boheme and Emanuel Swedenborg together, and add them to Thomas Aquinas, Mulla Sadra would be born.
However, the writer is of the view that this admiration is not enough to celebrate Mulla Sadra’s greatness. The history of his life and works indicates that he can only be equated with a figure like Pythagoras or, at least, Plato. A close study of his philosophy reveals that it has some roots in the thoughts of these two prominent philosophers, so that Henry Corbin and some others have called him a Neo-Pythagorean or Neo-Platonic philosopher.
Apart from his extraordinary perfections, we must admit that he was a typical example of a true human being, possessing a sublime character, admirable manners, a purified soul, and a profound knowledge of all sciences, particularly, of philosophy, and all this characteristics had been accumulated in this very man in the most perfect way possible. What is more, in addition to his reputable school of thought, he supervised a teaching center in which, even years after him, a great number of prominent scholars were trained.
Mulla Sadra’s personal characteristics can be studied from different dimensions, as follows:
1. His psychology, manners, religiously trained spirit, and freedom from worldly interests
2. His vast knowledge of all sciences of his time, particularly, of philosophy and gnosis
3. His holding a sublime social station, in spite of the enmity of envious, proud, and superficial people
4. His role in reviving and publicizing the science of philosophy, promoting the declining status of philosophy in Iran, and introducing the philosophy of Islam
5. The magnitude of his works and their scientific, qualitative, and quantitative value
6. His academic courage, innovations, and defense of his ideas
7. His religious faith and inclinations
8. His creativity, the ability to infer other’s ideas, and a great power of reasoning, intuition, and illumination