A Review and Critique of Man's Free Will from the Viewpoint of Ghazzali on the Basis of Mullah Sadra's Works

This paper seeks to investigate and explain Ghazzali's theories and criticize them on the basis of Mullah Sadra's views. Ghazzali does not present an accurate explanation of man’s free will and only resort to the outward aspects of Quranic and traditional documents. He regards that man’s freewill is incompatible with monotheism of God, divine knowledge and power and only seeks to prove God’s will. Thus, even if it is assumed that man has a share of free will, questions will arise about monotheism in creative power. For this reason, the issue of determinism is raised. Mullah Sadra, on the other hand, considers man’s free will as a human factor and something connected with soul. He also believes that man is an agent by self-manifestation in as far as his internal acts are concerned and proves that his free will does not contradict divine priori knowledge and unity of Divine Acts. In Mullah Sadra's philosophy, the necessity of cause and effect by no means contradicts man’s free will. He accepts man’s free will and authority, yet he considers God as the proximate agent of man's acts.