1. MULLA SADRA’S
PHILOSOPHY
Lecturer: Dr. Abdelaziz Abbaci
Subject: Comparative Philosophy
By: Wa Ode Zainab Z.T

2. Introduction
• Sadr al-Din Muhammed (Sadr al-Din, 979 A.H/1571 A.D)
• The Transcendent Theosophy (al-hikmat al-muta’aliyah) is one of the
well-known schools of Islamic philosophy.
• The term, “Transcendent Theosophy” was first proposed by Ibn Sina
(Ibn Sina, al-isharat wa’l-tanbihat, vol.3) and was later developed into
a philosophical school by Mulla Sadra.
• His philosophy synthesizes among the Paripatetic (Mashsha’i) and
Illuminationist (Ishraqi) schools, and Gnostic (Irfan).
• So, special feature of Sadra’s philosophy is that he synthesized
revelation (wahy) with intellectual reasoning (burhan) and purification
of the soul.
• He also harmonized his ideas with Islamic teachings in a way that he
could solve the fundamental problems that philosophers were faced
with concerning the teachings of the Qur’an.
• In this presentation, I would like to explain about Ontology,
Epistemology, and Soul-Eschatology.

3. ONTOLOGY

4. The Principality of Existence
(Ashalat al-Wujud)
• Before Suhrawardi, the question of the principality
(asalat) of existence (wujud) or quiddity (al-mahiyyah)
had never been discussed in philosophical books.
• After Sadra, the principality of existence was
acknowledged as a principle and no well-known
opponent has ever questioned it. (Tabataba’i)
• The principality of existence means being the origin
of effects (Tabataba’i, Nihayat al-Hikmah, Phase 11),
having self-existence (essentially), enjoying
objectivity (Sadra, al-Masha’ir, 3rd
Mash’ar), and
making the very reality.

5. • Sadra stresses the objectivity of existence and quiddity
when he says, “Existence and quiddity in a thing which
possesses them are a single thing.” (Sadra, al-Masha’ir, 6th
)
Then, “The existence of anything is identical with its
quiddity.” (Sadra, Asfar, vol.7)
• Sadra believes that existence is primarily and
essentially realizable, and quiddity is existent due to
existence.
• “Just as the existence of a contingent being (mumkin al-
wujud), as we believe, has self-existence quiddity too, is
existent accidentally identical with the same existence owing
to the fact that existence is also the referent of quiddity. This
is also true about the dependence of the existence of the
attributes of God on the existence of His Holy Essence.”
(Sadra, al-Masha’ir, 4th
)

6. • Existence is manifest in all quiddities, that is, those external
existents possessing their own peculiar mould, form, and
characteristics. And in spite of the variety in existence (due to
variety in quiddities and moulds), all of them are of the same
type, i.e., existence.
• Mulla Sadra maintains that if the ‘realization’ of everything or
quiddity is due to the addition of existence to it, thus existence,
itself, is prior to realization in the outside and more attainable
than other things.
• Sadra said that, “Sometimes we assume a quiddity without
existence; that is, we ignore its external existence (while it is not
the case with existence).” In other words, quiddity is not such to
be always concomitant with realization in the objective world;
therefore, it is existence which is principal and necessary for the
realization of things and existents. (http://www.mullasadra.org-
SIPRIn)

7. Contingent Being (mumkin al-wujud)
is Composed of Existence (Wujud)
and Quiddity (Mahiyyah)
• Sadra believes that we derive two concepts from
any contingent being: existence and quiddity.
• The union of quiddity and existence in the
external world is similar to the union of shadow
and the real object.
• The existence is existent itself and quiddity can
be realized by virtue of existence.
• Contingent being is derived with respect to the
contingency and imperfection of that very reality.
(Sadra, Asfar, 1st
)

8. The Unity of Being (Wujud) and the
Multiplicity of Existent (Mawjud)
• The unity of being and the multiplicity of existent unity
is predominant despite of the presence of multiplicity.
• The relation between the unity of being and the
multiplicity of existent is like the relation of the rays of
the sun to the sun itself. Hence, despite its multiplicity,
the world is not only single but also graded.
• Sadra, based on the graded unity of being, nullified
(Sadra, Asfar, vol.1) the objections of the Paripatetic
philosophers with respect to the idea of the gradation
of being (tashkik al-wujud) and proposed the idea of
the unity in multiplicity and multiplicity in unity.

9. • The unity in multiplicity is the movement of the light
of being in the descent and in all various locus of
manifestation and Theophany.
• Multiplicity in unity is the return of existents in the
ascent towards the Necessary being (wajib al-
wujud) after the elimination all the determinations
and limitations in the evolutionary stages of the
entire creature.
• The difference between one (wahid) and many
(kathir) goes back to unity. It means that the
difference is gradational.
• “Everything is from God and will return to Him.”

10. The Graded Unity of Being –Gradation of
Being (Tashkik al-Wujud)
• External realities are the various stages of one
single reality, that is, being is a unitary and graded
reality, which possesses stages in which the
distinguishing factor refers to the common factors.
• Existence is a reality that is multiple and at the same
time one.
• The reality of existence is graded is due to the fact
that superior perfection originates from realities
which themselves arise from the reality of existence.
• Thus, being is a single reality that is essentially
multiple and its distinct characteristics refer back to
its common aspect. (Tabataba’i, Bidayah al-Hikmah)

11. • The perfection and imperfection of existents are
completely clarified in the light of the theory of gradation
of existence, the reason being that the narrower the
framework of quiddity, and the less its capacity for
existence, the more imperfect it will be, and the more its
existential capacity (extent), and the fewer its limitations,
the more perfect it will be. What remains here is the
essence of true existence (the Necessary Being) which
is absolute and infinite. Therefore, it is the most perfect,
and there is no defect in it. (http://www.mullasadra.org-
SIPRIn)

12. The Trans-Substantial Motion
(al-harakat al-jawhariyyah)
• Sadra believes that if motion is not analyzed truly,
motion in substance is not only possible, but also
indispensable and definite, because if motion in
substance is not considered to be necessary, motion in
accident (‘arad) would not be demonstrable.
• Sadra believes that every moment a form much more
perfect than the former one is emanated and the form
and matter of an existent become themselves the matter
for the new form, and this process goes on continuously
as if one were to put on one dress on top of another.
• All creatures in the world are moving vertically towards
the world of their immutable archetypes as a result of the
trans-substantial motion.

13. • The doctrine of the trans-substantial motion
is rightly a comprehensive doctrine which
interprets the issues related to physics and
metaphysics, the invisible (ghayb) and visible
(shuhud), the origin (mabda’) and the return
(ma’ad), the soul and the body, the motion
and evolution, and creation and life on the
basis of a new outlook and it presents a
desirable and natural image of all these
issues.

14. EPISTEMOLOGY

15. Mental Existence (Wujud Zihni)
• Muslim philosophers have divided existence into two
types: objective (or external) existence and mental (or
psychological) existence. Mental existence represents
the existence of subjects in the mind when they are
imagined or function as subjects for predicates in
propositions. Such subjects or mental existents might
have an extension in the outside, as well as not.
• The division of existence into mental and external ones
could also be generalized to the division of quiddity.
Accordingly, it can be said that quiddity or essence is of
two types: external and mental.

16. • We can conceive of two different kinds of predication: 1.
This mental existence is conceptually and essentially in
unity with the external existent in terms of quiddity and,
as a result, is predicated on it through the so-
called haml-i awwali(primary and essential predication);
2. However, when we examine its status and existence
in the mind, we see that it is a ‘mental quality’, and,
therefore, of the type of the so-called haml-i shay’a-i
sana’i (prevalent predication, since we are, in fact, faced
with its existentiality. When we imagine an essence or
accident in the outside, we attend to its external effect;
nevertheless, when the external effect is negated, i.e.,
when it enters the mind, it is only a quality, and this is the
key to solving the problem. (www.mullasadra.org-
SIPRIn)

17. The Union of the Intellect and the
Intelligible (ittihad al-’aqil wa al-ma’qul)
• Mulla Sadra responds to the following questions:
• 1. Is our knowledge separate from us and only a mirror-like
reflection of external objects in our mind and senses?
• 2. Is the way knowledge reaches man similar to the pouring of
something into an empty container, and their relation like the one
between the container and the content, or is it a function of man’s
mind (and soul) and its effect?
• Mulla Sadra proves that the perceiver, the mentally perceived
object, and knowledge, itself, are the same and one. As he, himself,
says, ‘the intellect, the intelligent, and the intelligible’, or
‘knowledge, the knower, and the directly known (subject)’ are in
unity with each other. This issue is known as the ‘unity of the
intellect, intelligent, and intelligible’.
• (http://www.mullasadra.org-SIPRIn)

18. • Sadra demonstrates the union of the Intellect and the Intelligible
through the unity of being (wahdat al-wujud) and the trans-substantial
motion.
• The purpose of the union is, rather, the union of intelligent existence
and the essential intelligible.
• The issue of the unity of the intelligent and intelligible is basically
related to the unity of the knower or the perceiver (the knowing agent)
with the directly known, i.e., the same mental existent and the same
intelligible and known in man’s mind, rather than its external
existence. This is because it is a certain fact that objects never enter
our mind exactly as they are through our perception and knowledge of
them.
• The presence of three things is rationally necessary: the perceiver, the
perceived, and the perception. Thus, unity means that these three
concepts have one common referent in the external world and that
referent is the Intellect, Intelligible and intellection at the same time.
The difference among them is merely mentally-posited (I’tibari).

19. SOUL-
ESCHATOLOGY

20. Soul
• In Mulla Sadra’s view, man’s soul is initially solid, and then,
after leaving the stage of solidity behind, turns into an embryo
and steps into the vegetative stage (vegetative soul). Later it
arrives at the animal stage (animal soul), and then, in the
process of its real maturity, reaches the stage of human soul
and becomes a ‘rational soul’. After this stage, in the light of
its efforts, practice, and rational and spiritual training, it can
also achieve human maturity (which he calls the holy soul and
actual intellect (intellectus in actu)). This is a stage which
quite a few are capable of reaching.
• Man’s soul is his very ‘I’ and ‘self’, and, in spite of the graded
difference between the soul and body, man’s ‘self’ or ‘I’
cannot be decomposed. The synthesis of the body and the
soul is in the form of unity, rather than annexation and
external synthesis.

21. • Although the body is made of the matter,
and consists of several components, the
human ‘I’ or soul is simple and indivisible.
• The more the soul is developed in the
course of the trans-substantial motion, the
less its dependence upon the body will be.
Natural death (one that is not due to
accidents) is the result of the voluntary
separation of the soul from the body and
its actual abstraction.

22. Death and Resurrection
• One of the important topics of the philosophical discussions
related to the soul is ‘death’.
• Mulla Sadra views death as the soul’s desertion of the body.
• He maintains that death is of two types: natural death and
accidental death. In natural death, the soul, in its journey
towards perfection, leaves the body when it does not need it
anymore.
• Mulla Sadra states that, after death, man takes the faculty of
imagination away with himself. This faculty is his substance,
contains all forms and data of the worldly man, and is
immaterial and independent from the material world. The
personality of the same worldly man is reconstructed in the
Hereafter with more abilities and faculties in the light of this
very faculty of imagination.

23. • By reference to a hadith from the Holy Prophet (saas),
stating that ‘the soil will rot the whole body except for the
substance.
• Death does not ruin the body; rather it disperses it, and,
while maintaining its origin and substance, takes its
attributes away from it, and ,whenever it wishes, it can
return those attributes to the original substance of the
body.
• The issue of resurrection can be considered as one of
the neglected themes in philosophy and metaphysics.
Although resurrection is one of the subcategories of the
issue of the soul, and although its mortality or immortality
after death is among the themes dealt with in philosophy,
before Mulla Sadra, it was classified under the subjects
studied in theology.

24. • Mulla Sadra stated in a new theory that 'revivification', or collective
presence in the resurrection day, is not restricted to human beings
and includes all existents.[7] This theory of resurrection is more in
conformity with the theories of the end of the transformation of the
physical quiddity of the world.
• In Mulla Sadra’s view, after death or the destruction of the world,
although man apparently loses his outward body, he will own
another body which is like his previous one, and has its
characteristics.[8]
He also possesses in the new mould the scientific
data which had been stored in his faculty of imagination (it was
previously mentioned that, according to Mulla Sadra, this faculty is
immaterial). As a result, after his death, man’s ‘I’ appears as a body
possessing a soul with all his attributes, characteristics, and worldly
desires. And all human beings will see each other in that world in
the same form (without matter), and with the same worldly
characteristics, and will recognize each other quite clearly.
• (www.mullasadra.org/ SIPRIn)

25. Closing
• Mutahhari considers the following elements as the pillars
of Sadrian Philosophy (Mutahhari, The Collection of
Works, vol.13)
• 1. The principality of existence (asalat al wujud),
• 2. The unity of being (wahdat al-wujud),
• 3. The solution of the problems related to mental
existence (wujud-I dhihni),
• 4. Inquiry into the reality of the essential eternal
necessity, and the reality of possibility in possible things,
and unveiling a kind of possibility known as the
possibility by way of dependence (imkan-i faqri),
• 5. Research on the need for a cause,

26. • 6. Inquiry into the reality of causality, and the relationship
between effect and the cause, and the fact that relation
between effect and the cause is an illuminative (ishraqi)
relation, and that effect refers to self-disclosure (tajalli
and tasha’un),
• 7. Proving the trans-substantial motion (harakah al-
jawhariyyah),
• Inquiry into the relationship between the changing
(mutaghayyir) and the immutably fixed (thabit), and
between the temporally created (hadith) and the eternal
(qadim),
• Proving the union of the intellect and the intelligible
(ittihad al-’aqil wa al-ma’qul),
• Proving the temporal origination of the world,

27. • 11. Proving a kind of union that he calls “the true union of
reality” (wahdat-i haqqai haqiqah),
• 12. Proving the fact that the body’s combination of matter
and form is a unitary combination,
• The argument of the righteous (siddiqin) for proving the
existence of the Necessary,
• 14. A special proof, based on the above-mentioned proof,
for the Unity of God,
• 15. Inquiry into the fact that the Necessary’s knowledge of
things is an undifferentiated simple knowledge and that, at
the same time, it is differentiated unveiling,
• 16. Research on the rule according to which the truth in its
simplicity contains all things (basit al-haqiqah kull al-
ashiya),

28. • 17. Proving the fact that the soul is corporeally
originated, and spiritually subsistent (jismaniyyat al-
huduth wa ruhbaniyyat al-baqa’),
• 18. Inquiry into the reality of vision and other sense
perceptions,
• 19. The immaterially of the faculty of imagination,
• 20. Proving the fact that the soul, as a whole, contains all
faculties,
• 21. Proving the fact that “universality” is in the mode of
transcendence, not a pure abstraction, and
• 22. Proving corporeal resurrection.