A Comparative Study of Annihilation from the Perspective of Ibn Sina, Suhrawardī and Mullā Ṣadrā

One of the most important and fundamental issues in the field of ascending act of creation (arc of ascent) is the issues related to the end of the ascension arc and the issue of annihilation in God. In the present article, we will make a comparative study of this issue from the perspective of the leaders of the three important schools of Islamic philosophy, namely Ibn Sina, Suhrawardī and Mullā Ṣadrā. The two issues of the substantial motion of the soul and unity (whether the identity of subject and object or the union of the soul with the active intellect) are considered as the most fundamental principles influencing the quality of explaining and drawing annihilation in God. It cannot be considered true annihilation for Ibn Sina; because of the negation of the substantial motion of the soul and the negation of unity (unification), as well as the implicitness of its mystical expressions. Similarly, Suhrawardī has similar principles to Ibn Sina, and by not explicitly believing in the substantial motion of the soul and by denying unity, offers a special and unreal meaning of annihilation, and means it as the intense attention of a pure man to the supreme principles and the loss of a spiritual state with intense passion and a state of immersion (absorption). But Mullā Ṣadrā, with his own basics and principles (including proving the substantial motion of the soul and accepting unity), accepts annihilation in a real way and, in addition, considers the end point of the ascending act of creation (arc of ascent) to be something higher than the view of Ibn Sina and Suhrawardī and believes in the real annihilation in God.