Concluding testament of Mullā Ṣadrā Shīrāzī’s “The Wisdom of the Throne”

[Biradar]

I am posting below the final testament from Mullā Ṣadrā Shīrāzī’s “The Wisdom of the Throne” (al-ḥikma al-ʿarshīya). I don't want to comment on this excerpt, and want others to form their own opinion after a careful reading.

For those who do not know this great Muslim philosopher, the following entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy will be useful. His Wikipedia page is also useful.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mulla-sadra/


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Concluding testament of Mullā Ṣadrā Shīrāzī’s “The Wisdom of the Throne” (al-ḥikma al-ʿarshīya)

These are the words of His humble servant: I seek the protection of God, my Lord, the Sublime, in all of my words and actions and beliefs and writings, against anything that might offend against proper adherence to that Law which was brought to us by the Chief of (God's) Messengers and the Seal of the Prophets-may the most excellent blessings of all worshipers be with him and his Family-and against anything that might indicate some flagging in my resolution and faith or some weakness in my clinging to the Firm Cable (3:103). For I know with absolute certainty that it is not possible for any to worship God as is His right and due, except through the intermediary of him who possesses the Greatest Name, who is the Perfect Man, the Consummate one, God's Viceroy in the Loftiest Viceregency, in the (material) world of Power and in the (psychic and noetic) worlds of the lower and higher Kingdom, in the first state of being and the next (56:62; 53:47).

Now I charge you, those of you who are regarding these pages, that you consider them with the eye of manly virtue and most serious concern! And I beseech you, by God and His Kingdom and all His Messengers, that you leave behind the custom of lowly souls, those that are habituated to whatever is the common opinion among the multitude, who are averse to anything they have not heard from their fathers and their elders, even if it should be demonstrated by the most incontrovertible proof. Do not be among those who give absolutely blind assent (to those popular opinions) without any proof, those whom God has criticized at numerous places in the Koran, such as His saying: And among men there are those who vainly dispute concerning God having neither knowledge nor right Guidance nor an illuminating Book. And when it is said to them "Follow what God has sent down!" they say: "No! We shall rather follow what we found our fathers doing" [even if the Devil were calling them into the torment of Hell] (31:20-21; 22:8).

So 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 (29:26). No, rather you must follow the Religion of our true (that is, spiritual) father Abraham, being a true monotheist and surrendered [to God] (3:67), (taking him as your example) where he said to his metaphorical (that is, bodily) father: "0 my father do not worship Satan!" (19:44), and "I am going to my Lord; He will guide me aright" (37:99). So likewise, you too must go to your Lord and travel from the threshold of your door, from the house of your veiled condition, emigrating toward God and His Messenger (4: 100), so that you may see among the Signs of the (divine) Sovereignty and the wonders of the (heavenly) Kingdom "what no eye has seen and no ear has heard.” And if death should overtake you on this journey, then your reward is incumbent on God, in accordance with His saying-may He be exalted-“Whoever leaves his home, emigrating toward God and His Messenger, and then is overtaken by death, his reward is incumbent on God (4: 100).”

Nor should you be concerned if you are traveling in opposition to the multitude. For the multitude have stopped in their resting-places, while the traveler (on the Way) is moving on from his place. And how can there be any agreement between the sedentary man and the one who is moving, between the one who sets out on the journey and the one who stays behind?! Rather, as it was said by your Imam and ours, The Commander of the Faithful (‘Ali) May the blessings of the “Lord of the Worlds” (1:2) be on him and his Brethren and Family!-"Do not [try to] know the Truth by men [that is, according to their opinions and reputations]. Rather, [first] know the Truth; then through It you will know and recognize Its people."

Know that to attain the true inner divine knowledge one must follow a proof or "unveiling" by immediate vision, just as He, may He be exalted!, said: Say: "Bring your proof, if you are among those who speak truthfully!" (2: 111); and He, may He be exalted!, said: Whoever calls upon another god together with God has no proof for that (23: 117). This proof is a Light that God casts on the Heart of the man of true faith, a Light that illuminates his inner vision so that he "sees things as they really are," as it was stated in the prayer of the Prophet-may God's blessings and peace be with him-for himself and the elect among his community and his close disciples: "0 my God, cause us to see things as they really are!"

Know, too, that those questions concerning which the commonality of the philosophers have disagreed with the prophets-may God bless them!-are not matters that can easily be grasped and attained; nor can they be acquired by rejecting our rational, logical intellects, with their (intrinsic) measures and their contemplative activities of learning and investigating. If this were so, then there would never have been any disagreement (with the prophets) concerning these questions on the part of those intelligent men who were busy all their lives using the tool of thought and reflection to acquire a (true) conception of things; those (philosophers) would never have fallen into error in these questions and there would have been no need for the sending of the prophets (if these metaphysical realities were so easy to grasp). So it should be known that these questions can only be comprehended by taking over Lights from the Lamp-niche of Prophecy, and by earnestly seeking Them. For these are the Secrets which are the true inner meanings of Discipleship and Sainthood.

Therefore you must completely free the Heart (from any attachments to the body) and totally purify the innermost self. You must be rigorously detached from created being, and (devote yourself to) repeated intimate communion with the Truly Real, in spiritual retreat. And you must shun the carnal desires, the various forms of the will to dominate, and the other animal ends (which follow from our bodily condition), by means of a pure and untroubled inner intention and sincere faith. In this way your action will itself become your reward, and your knowledge will be precisely the same as your attaining the Goal of your aspiration, so that when the dark covering is removed (50:22) and the veil is lifted (from your heart and inner vision), you will be standing in the Presence of the Lord of Lords just as you already were in your innermost heart (2:269; etc.).

For tomorrow you will only be joined with what you have known. And on the Day of the Rising you will only be gathered up to what you have loved-to such a degree that, as it is related in the Prophetic tradition, "Even if someone should love a stone, he will be gathered up together with it!" So take care that you do not love what you can never attain, and that you do not (believe that you) know what has no reality in the other world, lest you perish consumed in the Fire of the Blaze (3:181; etc.) or be hurled to a Place far away (22:31). For you have already learned that no one is "gathered up" to anything but his (own soul) and that pleasure or pain comes only from what is there.

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 Ka’aba 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. And This is the ultimate Outcome of that trade which will never be unprofitable: giving up the articles of this insubstantial aspect (of the material world) in exchange for recompense from the Everlasting. What is with God is better for the truly pious (3: 198).

So this is the arrival at the Ka’aba of the ultimate Goal and the encounter with the One Who is worshiped. But it is only possible by traveling rapidly the Way of knowledge, on the feet of thought and inquiry, and not simply by means of bodily movements, whose only outcome is to add to the troubles of the Journey, without helping to acquire any provisions or to gather any goods for the Return. This is why (the Prophet)-may God's blessing and peace be with him-said: "An hour's reflection is better than seventy years of [purely formal] worship." And he said to the best of his people and the Gate of the City of his knowledge: "0 Ali! Since mankind seek to come near to their Creator through all kinds of piety, bring yourself close to Him through all kinds [of activities] of the Intellect, so that you may arrive There before all of them."

From this (saying) you may surmise that the aim of the bodily acts of worship and particular religious prescriptions, such as performing the ritual prayer, fasting, and others, is only (to be attained) through the purification of the heart and the refinement of the innermost self, by sincere inner purpose in (performing) them and by inward thought-inasmuch as they are really service of the Truly Real Object of Worship and drawing near to the Absolute God, not the motions of the limbs and the agitation of the tongue! God-may He be exalted!-said: True piety is not that you turn your faces toward the East and the West. Rather, the truly pious man is he who has true faith in God and the Last Day ...(2:177)•

Finally, the worst of all hindrances to true religion and the greatest obstacle on the path of those journeying toward God is that they may respond to the call of those scholars who are "learned" (only) in evil, and that they may follow the misleading opinions and misguided writings of such men. For the deception of those (travelling in the Way of God) by these so-called "learned men" and legal scholars and their so-called "wisdom" is the same as deluding the thirsty man with a mirage (24:39), and thereby turning him away from the Fountain of the Waters of Life. (This is) just as He-may He be exalted!-said: And if you were to obey most of those who are on the earth, they would lead you far astray from the Path of God. For they follow nothing but their own conjecture, and they are only guessing (6: 116). [Indeed most of them follow nothing but conjecture,] And conjecture is no substitute at all for the Truth! (10:36).

May God protect us and our brethren who have true faith against the evil of (all such) devils and those who lead astray! And may He illumine our hearts with the Lights of wisdom and certainty, by the right of Muhammad and his immaculate Family-may God's peace be with them all!

[fayyaaz]

I conclude that all the speculations of Mulla Sadra is not going to put food on the table but sow dissensions among gullible religious people. The 'truth' is somewhere else. It is in the emerging 'superstring theory' or 'M theory'. It is gratifying to observe how cosmologists and physicists of different hues and colors, Americans, British, Chinese, Japanese, Blacks, Whites, Indians, Orientals all converge to a single viewpoint in describing the universe that has emerged from their joint efforts. You can catch them on Youtube.

What has emerged from the efforts of scientists is the modern world, internet, space travel, Apple Watch, Samsung S6 Edge and so on.

Unless the heirs of Mulla Sadra get their act together and relegate religion, including Islam, to an interesting bookshelf of history, Muslims will be the new barbarians of the 21st century. In fact, they are 90% of the way there already. Witness the news on any channel today.

[Biradar]

My friend fayyaaz, I agree with a lot of what you say, but I must say that everything in life in not about putting food on the table. The questions which philosophers have asked, Muslim and otherwise, still are of great importance. Their proposed answers are subtle and not easy to understand, but bear study. In fact, in the above extract Mullah Sadra is saying the same thing. His point is not to accept the answers which "the commonality" give you, but to seek your own path, even though it may be against the flow of the majority. That was the reason I pointed this particular extract out.

Now, whether string theory or M-theory are correct or not, it actually irrelevant to most of our lives. Besides the external universe, we have a very deep and intensive internal universe, which is very real and probably more important. The questions which Mullah Sadra, Suhrawardi, Ibn Arabi, The Bab, etc are asking, and attempting to answer, are of the internal universe. For them, this is more real than the external universe, as it is how we define ourselves. Yes, understanding the external universe is important, but the question still remains: what makes us human, what determines morality and ethics, and what constitutes our interior, mental experiences. No material explanation will be sufficient and satisfactory, and perhaps some form of esoteric religion is required.

As to your statement about Muslims being barbarians of the 21st century. I am not sure I agree with you. It is true that a lot of madness in the world at present is propagated by takfiri Salafi/Wahabbis, but let us not let the Western barbarians off the hook either. Just because they wear suites and talk in English, and use sophisticated missiles, it does not hide the fact that the imperialism, colonialism and racism of the Western powers is a form of barbarism. The barbarism of these daylight robbers is not limited to destroying everything in order to earn a profit, but also extends to destroying their own people. Witness the financial crash by the barbarian bankers, who not only did not get punished, but were rewarded with huge bailouts and massive bonuses. Meanwhile, people lost their lifetime savings, lost their homes, and their livelihood. This, in some ways, is worse form of barbarism.

[KA786110]

@Biradar: Kudos to you for bringing in this topic to the forum.

Use of individual intellect and search for the true meaning of ones existence has gone missing from majority of Muslims. They have become blind 'taqlidis'.

I like a poem by Mulla Sadra about Imam Ali (A.S). It is in his majumue (poem collection) titled 'In praise of the Prince of Believers and the Ahl al bayt' (dar manqbat-e hadrat-e amir al-momenin val ahl-e beyt)

I have scanned images of the poem's English translation. Insha-Allah I will post it on this forum after converting it into a PDF.

[fayyaaz]

Biradar,

Just as Superstring or M-theory have no relevance to our day-to-day life, that is the case too with medieval Muslim philosophies. However, I feel that going deep into scientific investigations of the 'physical' Universe have led many scientists to speculate on deeply philosophical issues concerning the ultimate nature of human existence.

We are not going to get agreement on Muslim 'religious' philosophies because, in these days, they set up one group against another not on deep philosophical issues which most do not understand but rather on superficial aspects of ritual, appearance and dress.

The scientific enterprise is the one in which there is a meeting of minds. It is an enterprise where the ultimate authority is the experimental verification of hypotheses, models and speculations. Our best minds should take note. 'Food on the table' is a useful by-product of such efforts. Conflicts among Muslim ideologues deplete the table; witness hunger in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, the daily fodder for TV news.

[KA786110]

Some very valid points. But just as we have religious bigots, so do we have scientific bigots as well. For example climate change has two camps which are similar to Catholic/Protestants and Shia/Sunni camps. In the end what can be of help is to become objective in your analysis/study/search, whether it is for physical world matters or spiritual world matters. The commonality in both endeavor is the human intellect.

[Biradar]

Biradar,

Just as Superstring or M-theory have no relevance to our day-to-day life, that is the case too with medieval Muslim philosophies. However, I feel that going deep into scientific investigations of the 'physical' Universe have led many scientists to speculate on deeply philosophical issues concerning the ultimate nature of human existence.

I agree. Actually, I should say that I am inclined to the scientific enterprise, and am involved in it, in a small way, myself. I find it very fascinating that such deep philosophical ideas arise from such abstract theories.

We are not going to get agreement on Muslim 'religious' philosophies because, in these days, they set up one group against another not on deep philosophical issues which most do not understand but rather on superficial aspects of ritual, appearance and dress.

Hence, more need to focus on these philosophies and not on ritual practice. As you will notice, in the above extract, Mullah Sadra says that the Prophet said that an hour of reflection is better than seventy years of ritual worship. One can take this as hint from the Prophet that one should engage in philosophy and science, and not be so obsessed with rituals.

The scientific enterprise is the one in which there is a meeting of minds. It is an enterprise where the ultimate authority is the experimental verification of hypotheses, models and speculations. Our best minds should take note. 'Food on the table' is a useful by-product of such efforts. Conflicts among Muslim ideologues deplete the table; witness hunger in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, the daily fodder for TV news.

I agree. However, I should say that neither M-theory or string theory have any experimental evidence at all. It is possible that some may exist, but we may not be able to access the energy regimes needed.

However, again, I want to repeat: the physical universe is only a part of what is accessible to our minds. We also are conscious, and this needs to be explained, specially as in our speculative thought we are able to imagine contra-factual worlds, in which the standard flow of time and laws of physics can be suspended. These philosophers were more concerned about this inner life, and not just the external physical universe. In many ways, as you have pointed out, we have made huge progress in understanding the external universe. However, not so much in our internal universes. Hence, the speculative thought of such philosophers is important. These were careful and rigorous thinkers.

My suggestion is not to let prejudice guide you. Come to it with an open mind. You don't need to believe everything, but there is value to these thinkers. They are not the shallow stone-age barbarians like ISIS or the takfiri Salafi/Wahabis. They deserve careful study. Thats all I am saying.