The Philosophy of Mulla Sadra and Its Influence in India [subcontinent]

[Introduction]

Sadruddin al-Shirazi, or Mulla Sadra (1571-1640), is perhaps the singlemost important philosopher in the Muslim world in the last 400 years. The author of over 40 works, he was the central figure of the major revival of philosophy in Iran in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Devoting himself almost exclusively to metaphysics he constructed a critical philosophy which brought together Peripatetic (mashsha'i ), Illuminationist (ishraqi ) and Gnostic ('irfan ) philosophy along with Shi'ite theology (kalam ) within the compass of what he termed a 'metaphilosophy' or Transcendental Wisdom (alhikma al-muta'aliya ), the source of which lay in the Islamic revelation and the mystical experience of reality as existence. It was as a result of this philosophy that Mulla Sadra came to be popularly known asSadr al-muta allihin (the foremost of the transcendental philosophers).

In this paper an attempt is made to analyse the philosophy of this notable Shi'ite philosopher and the response which it received in India, where he came to be regarded both as a votary of reason and as a logician within the realm of Muslim theology.