Hikmat Al Muta'alyah (book)

Author

Ṣadr ad-Dīn Muḥammad Shīrāzī, also called Mulla Sadrā (Persian: ملا صدرا‎‎; also spelled Molla Sadra, Mollasadra or Sadr-ol-Mote'allehin; Arabic: صدرالمتألهین‎‎) (c. 1571/2 – 1640), was an Iranian Shia Islamic philosopher, theologian and ‘Ālim who led the Iranian cultural renaissance in the 17th century. According to Oliver Leaman, Mulla Sadra is arguably the single most important and influential philosopher in the Muslim world in the last four hundred years. Mulla Sadra brought "a new philosophical insight in dealing with the nature of reality" and created "a major transition from essentialism to existentialism" in Islamic philosophy, although his existentialism should not be too readily compared to Western existentialism. His was a question of existentialist cosmology as it pertained to Allah, and thus differs considerably from the individual, moral, and/or social, questions at the heart of Russian, French, German, or American Existentialism. Mulla Sadra's philosophy ambitiously synthesized Avicennism, Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi's Illuminationist philosophy, Ibn Arabi's Sufi metaphysics, and the theology of the Ash'ari school and Twelvers.

Title

The complete name of the book is Al Hikmat Al Motaaliyyah fi Al Asfar Al Aghliyyah al Arbeah, namely, transcendent philosophy on the four intellectual journeys.

Transcendence philosophy denoted on the special method which applied by Mulla Sadra for collecting between Kalam,wisdom and ishraqi and peripatetic philosophy. Asfar in Arabic means journey and denoted on four journeys which the man of journey concerned with it. Sometimes the book is called Hekmate Motaalyyah and sometimes Asfar. This title both used as his method in philosophy and also used in another book by the name of Al Masa'el Al Qodsiyah.

Characters

Asfar is of the bulk of his philosophy. This book as a philosophical encyclopedia and magnum opus is composed of nine volumes. The book contains different philosophical opinions for different schools of Islamic philosophy. Asfar can also be could considered as a source in history of Islamic philosophies. One of the sources of Mull Sadra's writing of Asfar is borrowing material from Ibn Arabi. The method of Mulla Sadra in writing of Asfar is analytic and critical.

Special opinions in Asfar

In the tenth section of the third journey of Asfar, Mulla Sadra expresses his opinion on the creation of world which is against theologians. He clarified the meaning of the word "universe" and its temporally contingent. He believes that though philosophers premises and conclusion in eternity of the world is correct, but the eternity of world does not derive from them. Also, he advocates of pantheistic doctrine of existence. He believes that God must be have a pure existence. However, Mulla Sadra expresses the unity of intelligiles with the intelligent in Asfar in opposition to Ibn Sina. The discussions in this book start with the issues of being and quiddity, while continuing with the issues of motion, time, perception, substance, and accident. A part is devoted to proving the existence of God and his attributes, as it ends with a discussion of man’s soul and the subjects of death and resurrection.

Translation

According to Hosein Nasr, there is no notable critical translation of Asfar.

Glosses and explanation

Mirza Mahdi Ashtiyyani has a glosses on the book of Asfar. Of course, Asfar was printed in 1865, in Tehran, for four volumes. This print was along with commentary of Mulla Hadi Sabzawari on three volumes. Allameh Muhammad Hosein Tabatabae'i and Allameh Muzaffar edited the book in a new version in 1958. This edition ordered in nine volumes. Ayatullah Abdullah Javadi-Amoli published a Persian commentary in 1989 by the name of Raheeq-e Makhtum. Besides, Javad Mosleh translated Asfar to Persian in 1974.

Sections of the book "Asfar"

In the first book of Asfar, Mulla Sadra focuses solely on and analysis the concept of being (Wujud). This book has four journeys. The first journey is concerned with ontology or the doctrine of being. The second Journey is concerned with substance and accidents. The third journey deals with God and his Attributes. The fourth journey focuses on man and his destiny.