پژوهشنامه حکمت و فلسفه اسلامی
سال نهم شماره 17 (پاییز و زمستان 1400)

Evidences show that the theory of the unexplained does not include propositions of intuitions in the Islamic mysticism. This paper has been authored in the course of the examination of William James’s argument for the unexplained. His argument owes to al-Ghazali phrases according to which James considers Islamic mysticism under the theory of the unexplained. In the process of his research, the author has come across two points: first that the backgrounds of mystical propositions would be clearer for the truth-seekers; second after discovering those backgrounds such as the opponent’s specific social and political preconditions and linguistic constraints, we may devise a precise method for realizing the truths. The words of Muslim mystics and researchers have been taken into consideration in order to demonstrate that this theory is not valid. The method adopted for this paper is phenomenological and structuralist.

Different entities, according to Suhrawardi, are no more than the light graded in terms of their weakness or intensity. Suhrawardfi’s ontology rest on the system of light and its levels. The worlds, he argues, have different levels the highest of which is that of the Light of lights; it is the source of brightness which all what there is comes from. He holds that the best argument for the Light of lights is that of the righteous (i.e. ontological argument). In his discussion of the attributes, Suhrawardi says that the Light of lights neither has the dark attributes nor the bright ones. Nonetheless, he considers many attributions for the Light of lights such as, those of all-Provider, the Origin, the Knower, and … ; he eventually says that all those attributions go back to that of the Origin. Furthermore, Suhrawardi embraces many negative attributes such as that the Light of lights is not body, pitch-dark, contingent, oriented and so on; all those negative attributes stem from one namely, contingency. All those negative and relative attributes are mentally-constructed none of which is independent concrete attached to the Essence lest they bring about composition in the Holy Essence.

The how-connection of the soul to the high grounds of being particularly the Active Intellect is one of the significant issues of Sadraian philosophy. Through trans-substantial motion, human soul, Mulla Sadra argues, traverse from the world of nature to the higher worlds being unified with the Active Intellect thus knowing the intelligible ones. In such cognitive apparatus, we might perceive the intelligible through the observation of the very entities; it is such that the imagined and intellectual forms are stable and incorporeal in their position and then the soul proceeds to the stage of intellectual perception to know them through transsubstantial motion. Having adopted a descriptive-analytic method, the authors try to offer a clear explanation of how such kind of perception and particularly of how it is unified with the Active Intellect, as per Mulla Sadra’ view. In order to do so, we must first study the views of philosophers prior to Mulla Sadra on the nature of the soul, the intellect, perception and how-unification of the soul with the Active Intellect, howconnection of the intelligible form to intuitive perception of intellectual entities and other intellectual principles so that we pave the way for the solution of the issue.

Man’s role and domination over doing things in the world has been one of the most important issues through history that provoked intense controversies among Islamic sects such as Mu’tazilites, Asharites, Maturidites, Shiites, Salafists and the like. Their theories fluctuate between the two extremes from the absolute negation of man’s role to man’s absolute free will. After the creation of Salafism, this controversy became harsh, because some of them considered the theory a cause of blasphemy and polytheism. In what follows, the authors have tried to analyze and examine man’s share in man’s taking action in contrast to God’s domination in the light of Jajarwi’s view as a prominent scholar of Deobandi, or rather the most influential intellectual of Mamati Deobandi of Pakistan and many eastern parts of Iran. Jajarwi’s important claim is the negation of man’s power and domination whatsoever over the creation of anything in the world of nature; he considers any help or imploring for assistance from God’s saints as a cause of polytheism. This theory comes under a few criticisms such as counter-argument, criticisms of his infrastructure and of the solution.

As a law-abiding philosopher, Mulla Sadra has dealt with different aspects of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). Having stated the four meanings of fiqh, he specified his views about the technical meaning of fiqh, the subject matter, the benefits, and necessity for learning fiqh and its differences from the discipline of religious doctrines (theology). Mulla Sadra is among those who necessitate devotion to Islamic laws, holding that reason fails to comprehend the grounds of religious rulings thus its involvement in fiqh incorrect. Religious rulings, in his view, are legally and rationally confined in five legal categories depending on typical interests or evil consequences all of which go beyond the grasp of reason. Mulla Sadra argues that fiqh and practicing religious duties is a prerequisite for acquiring true knowledge i.e. knowing God; reaching this level of purity of soul and true faithfulness owes to the fulfillment of legal duties.

Self-knowledge and the ontological position of soul in the worlds of being have always been the focus of attention among Muslim philosophers. In the peripatetic explanation in the course of descending arc of existence, man’s soul comes after the creation of natural world or along with it. In the course of ascending arc of existence, the destination of man’s journey is to reach the Acquired Intellect where human soul goes to be transformed into all cognitive forms i.e. the intellectual world goes similar to the concrete world. In his Illumination philosophy in the course of descending arc, Suhrawardi considers the position of the soul at the end of the system of light whose specific deity (archetype), holy Gabriel, has created it. In its ascending arc, he says that the destination of man’s journey is to reach the world of light and incorporeal substances where the soul becomes part of the holy world. In his last viewpoint, Mulla Sadra argues, through some specific incorporeality along with its unity and identity in the course of descending arc, man’s soul may descend from the divine world to the intellects, the imagined and then to the material world. In the course of ascending arc, the soul is able to get into the divine world, again.