The Islamic world · c. 1571–1636
Mullā Ṣadrā
Safavid philosopher of Shiraz, founder of Transcendent Theosophy
Existence, not essence, is what is real; it is one reality in many degrees. Things change in their very substance, so the whole world is in constant motion toward perfection.
Life and thought
Ṣadr al-Dīn Shīrāzī, known as Mullā Ṣadrā, was born around 1571 in Shiraz, into a wealthy family, and studied in Isfahan, the Safavid capital, with Mīr Dāmād and Shaykh Bahāʾī. Attacked by jurists for his views, he withdrew for years to the village of Kahak near Qom, where he began his great Four Journeys in 1606. Later he taught at a new college in Shiraz, finishing the book there in 1628. He died in Basra in 1635–36 while travelling on pilgrimage, though a later tradition gives 1640.
Earlier philosophers argued whether essence or existence is primary. Ṣadrā held that existence is what is real and essences are only the outlines our minds draw around it. Existence is one reality in degrees of intensity, like light in Suhrawardī, from God down to matter. From this he drew a startling thesis: things change not only in their qualities but in their very substance, so the whole world is in constant motion toward perfection. His synthesis still shapes philosophy teaching in Iran.
Works
Shaped by
1165–1240Ibn ʿArabīAndalusian mystic, called “the Greatest Master” by followers980–1037Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna)Persian physician-philosopher, the most influential Islamic philosopherArgued against
1154–1191Shihāb al-Dīn SuhrawardīṢadrā kept Suhrawardī’s gradation of light but reversed his view that existence is a mere mental concept, making existence the primary reality.Meanwhile, in other traditions
1533–1592Michel de MontaigneFrench magistrate who invented the essay as self-examination1536–1584Yi I (Yulgok)Korean statesman-scholar and Toegye’s younger rival1561–1626Francis BaconEnglish statesman who called for science built on experiment1588–1679Thomas HobbesEnglish materialist who grounded the state in fear and consent1596–1650René DescartesFrench mathematician who rebuilt philosophy on the certainty of thought1632–1677Baruch SpinozaDutch lens-grinder, expelled by his synagogue, who equated God with NatureOn the record
Mullā Ṣadrā died in 1640.
1640 (1050 AH) is the traditional date, but there is no clear evidence for it. His grandson reported that he died in Basra in 1045 AH (1635–36), on the way to or from the pilgrimage, and two notes in his manuscripts support this, as does the 1635 completion date of his last works. The Asfār, begun in 1606, was completed in Shiraz in 1628.