The Review and Investigation of Hierarchy of Divine Knowledge In Mulla Sadra's View

One of the most important and most complicated discussions in theology is the divine knowledge rooted in God's essence and extending to His attributes and actions. We have investigated this issue under the title of the orders of divine knowledge in the transcendental philosophy and concluded that those orders are four. They are as follows: (a) Grace (ʿināyat) with fifteen features, the most important among which are knowledge, causality and divine eternal consent of the best system; (b) Divine Decree (qaḍāy rabbānī) which includes rational and general forms of all beings in the universe in divine domain with features of collectiveness, synopticness, simplicity, and innovativeness; (c) Providential Knowledge (qadar ʿilmī) which includes minute and detailed forms of all beings in the world of celestial souls; and (d) External Providence (qadar khārijī) including the minute forms in the external matters. The Grace has no position, and the Providence and Decree have [certain] positions. The position of Decree is the Sublime Pen and the Preserved Tablet, and the position of Providential Knowledge is the non-sublime pen and the Effacement and Affirmation Tablet. And the position of the External Providence is the material world. Due to regarding both the immateriality of 'the known' and the immateriality of 'the knower' as [necessary] condition in knowledge, Mulla Sadra does not consider the external providence as the last order of divine knowledge, except through the scientific providence, which is free from objections for some thinkers.