An Analysis, Critique, and Study of Mulla Sadra’s Life

Shiraz is a historical city in the Fars province of Iran. The ruins of Takht-e Jamshid or Perspolis (a monumental palace which was destroyed and burnt by Alexander the great) are in the vicinity of this city. In Mulla Sadra's time, the Safavid dynasty ruled Iran. These kings granted independence to Fars province, which was ruled by the king's brother. It is said that Mulla Sadra's father Khwajah Ibrahim Qawami, served as the minister of the ruler of Fars.
He was a knowledgeable and extremely faithful politician. He was rich and held a high position, but had no children. However, after much prayer and supplication to the Divine Portal, God gave him a son whom they 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, his title of Mulla Sadra became more famous than his real name and replaced it on people's tongues.
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 aristocrats' children to be educated by private teachers in their own palaces. Sadra was a very intelligent, strict, energetic, studious, and curious boy and mastered all the lessons related to Persian and Arabic literature, as well as the art of calligraphy, during a very short time. Following the old traditions of his time, he might have also learnt horse riding, hunting, and fighting techniques. Mathematics, astronomy, medicine (to some extent), jurisprudence, Islamic law, logic, and philosophy were also among the courses that youngsters were supposed to pass at that time. The young Sadra, acquired something in all those fields of knowledge; 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 Mevlana (1207-1273 A.D), Iraqi (d.c. 1288 A.D), and Ibn-Arabi's (1165-1240 A.D) sophism, in particular.
He was certainly educated in Shiraz for some time, but the main part of his education was most probably completed in the capital of that time, Qazwin. This is because the ruler of Fars came to the throne after the death of the Shah, who was his brother, and, inevitably, moved to Qazwin (985 A.H/1577 A.D), thus it seems highly improbable that his minister and counselor would not have accompanied him, or have done so, but left his family and only son behind.
At this time, Mulla Sadra became familiar with two prominent geniuses and scientists, that is, Shaykh Baha al-Din Amili and Mir Damad, who were not only unique in their own time, but also unparalleled by any scientist appearing during the 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.
Shaykh 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 secret supernatural fields of knowledge; however, it seems that, due to his 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 an equal to Ibn-Sina and Farabi, and the master of all philosophers following them. Mulla Sadra obtained most of his knowledge of philosophy and gnosis from Mir Damad, and always introduced him as his true teacher and spiritual guide.
When the Safavid capital moved to Isfahan (1006 A.H/1598 A.D)[1], Shaykh Baha al-Din and Mir Damad, accompanied by their students, moved there, too, and started their task of spreading knowledge. Mulla Sadra, who was about 26 or 27 years old at that time, no long as needed instruction and had become a master himself, was thinking about establishing new philosophical principles and founding his famous school of thought. All the details of his life are not clear. We do not know 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 town, 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.
There are different dimensions to Mulla Sadra’s life which was 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 worshipper who had some supernatural abilities, so that, as he himself implicitly claimed, he could make his spirit fly 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 use 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, each side holding 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, 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 was never satisfied with what he knew, learned, taught, and wrote. 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 someone who cannot separate his soul from his body and perform extraordinary or supernatural acts 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 (from the age of 30 to 35) in a village (Kahak) near Qum and his solitude, worship, bereavement, and the despair of people together 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 to al-Asfar. His seclusion, which was accompanied by 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 the sensitive and frail young man into an enduring, perseverant, and patient master who could withstand the attacks of envious and superficial scholars of his time like a mountain, and follow his holy mission to the end of his life.
His retreat in Kahak was a significant turning point in his life: it greatly accelerated his spiritual and academic growth, and consolidated his determination in 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 spiritual wayfarers, had chosen his way in advance; however, his retreat and spiritual ascetic practices in that small village of Kahak had made him more determined.
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 where, 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