The Wisdom of the Throne: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mulla Sadra

Molla Sadra Külliyati #3

by Mulla Sadra, James Winston Morris (Translator)

The Wisdom of the Throne is an introduction to the writings of Mulla Sadra and to the philosophic and spiritual traditions that culminated in his work. To illustrate Sadra's thought, James Morris provides an annotated translation—the first in English—of one of Sadra's most concise and accessible books, al-Hikmat al-'Arshia. Dr. Morris discusses the traditions leading up to Sadra's work (including Sufism, estoric Shi'ism, Islamic Platonic and Aristotelian schools, and kalam theology) and explains the philosophic issues and intentions underlying all his writings.

Genres: Philosophy, Islam, Religion, Theology, Nonfiction

276 pages, Hardcover

Published December 21, 1981

About the author

Ṣadr ad-Dīn Muḥammad Shīrāzī, also called Mulla Sadrā (Persian: ملا صدرا‎; also spelt Molla Sadra, Mollasadra or Sadr-ol-Mote'allehin; Arabic: صدرالمتألهین‎) (c. 1572–1635), was an Iranian Shia Islamic philosopher, theologian and ‘Ālim who led the Iranian cultural renaissance in the 17th century. According to Oliver Leaman, Mulla Sadra is arguably the single most important and influential philosopher in the Muslim world in the last four hundred years.

Though not its founder, he is considered the master of the Illuminationist (or, Ishraghi or Ishraqi) school of Philosophy, a seminal figure who synthesized the many tracts of the Islamic Golden Age philosophies into what he called the Transcendent Theosophy or al-hikmah al-muta’liyah.

Mulla Sadra brought "a new philosophical insight in dealing with the nature of reality" and created "a major transition from essentialism to existentialism" in Islamic philosophy, although his existentialism should not be too readily compared to Western existentialism. His was a question of existentialist cosmology as it pertained to Allah, and thus differs considerably from the individual, moral, and/or social, questions at the heart of Russian, French, German, or American Existentialism.

Mulla Sadra's philosophy ambitiously synthesized Avicennism, Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi's Illuminationist philosophy, Ibn Arabi's Sufi metaphysics, and the theology of the Ash'ari school and Twelvers.

his main work is The Transcendent theosophy in the Four Journeys of the intellect, or simply Four Journeys.

Reviews

[Rex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just the introduction I was hoping for. "Be most careful that you do not restrict the intentions of the divine Law and the realities of the truly monotheist Religion simply to what you have heard from your teachers and professors since the time of your first formal profession of belief. For (if you do that), you will forever remain frozen in place there at the very threshold of your door and your (true spiritual) station, instead of emigrating toward your Lord.... Therefore you must correct your soul, clarify your inner intention, rectify your belief, and illuminate your heart for those who inquire. And you must purify your house for those who go round and those who seclude themselves (2: 125), turn your face in the direction of (2: 144) the Kaaba of your Goal, and aim your way toward your Lord, the Master of Goodness and Bounty. For This is the End of the journey and of the traveling to the world of Light."

[maryuma · Rating 4 out of 5]

es war fr kompliziert, muss ich auf jeden fall iwann nochmal lesen

[Aria · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a critique of Sadra philosophy’s substantial motion or الحركه الجوهريه Highly recommended the following book:

Remorseless Logicians’ Misadventure in the Inquiry of Nature: A critique of the book: “Nehād-e Nāaram-e Jahān” By Abdolkarim Soroush
https://a.co/d/irqC4Ne

[Dina Kaidir]

Up to this point in my academic endeavor, I have only read "of" Mulla Sadra, and perhaps a few passages from his works, however, this is the first book written by him that I am reading. Excited about this English edition. Mulla Sadra was eemed the "Plato of his time." (Alflatun zamanih)

[reaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book. Glad I was in a reading book for it.

(date finished is approximate).