Mulla Sadra 1572 – 1640
Mulla Sadra was a Persian Shia Islamic philosopher and the most important figure of the Iranian School of Isfahan. Synthesizing Avicennan philosophy, Suhrawardi's illuminationism, and the Sufism of Ibn Arabi, he developed what he called transcendent theosophy. His central doctrines are the primacy of existence over essence and substantial motion, the view that things undergo continuous existential change at the level of their substance. His magnum opus, the Asfar, in nine volumes, remains a foundational text of modern Iranian philosophical instruction.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Persian
- Era
- Modern
- Movements
- Islamic
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Mulla Sadra:
“Existence is the only reality; quiddity is an abstraction of the mind.”
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Attributed to Mulla Sadra:
“Existence is in continuous motion, becoming more intense.”
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Attributed to Mulla Sadra:
“The soul is corporeal in its origination but spiritual in its subsistence.”
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Attributed to Mulla Sadra:
“Knowledge of the soul is the key to the knowledge of the Lord.”
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Attributed to Mulla Sadra:
“The intelligible world is in the soul, and the soul is in the intelligible world.”