Mullā Ṣadrā’s Political Legacy: Ṣadrā’s Theory of Justice and the Religio-Political Authority in Post-Revolutionary Iran

Abstract

Apart from its philosophical attractions, the religio-political potentials in the transcendent philosophy of Mullā Ṣadrā Shīrāzī (d. 1050/1641) have helped to its dominance in the seminary and university in contemporary Iran. It seems that one of the reasons for the state’s support for al-Ḥikmah al-mutaʿāliyah in Iran after the Islamic revolution is the potentials existing in this philosophy to justify the establishment of a religious government based on the discourse of Shīʿī political authority, conspicuously the doctrine of walāyat-i faqīh (the guardianship and governance of the jurist). This article aims to demonstrate how Mullā Ṣadrā’s theory of moral and social justice could have provided an intellectual ground for the establishment of an Islamic state in the Shīʿī sense.

Keywords

• Mullā Ṣadrā
• justice
• moral justice
• social justice
• authority of the jurist (walāyat-i faqīh)

References

1. Qaraʿi, ʿAli Quli. trans. The Holy Qur’ān. Mashhad: Behnashr, 2013.
2. Algar, Hamid. Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Berkeley: Mizan Press, 1980.
3. Āmidī, ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Muḥammad. Ghurar al-ḥikam wa-durar al-kalim. Edited by Sayyid Mahdī Rajāʾī. Qom: Dār al-Kitāb al-Islāmī, 1410 H.
4. Āshtiyānī, Sayyid Jalāl al-Dīn. Sharḥ-i Muqaddame-yi Qayṣarī bar Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam. Tehran: Amirkabir Publication, 1370 S.H.
5. Dughaym, Samīḥ. Mawsūʿat muṣṭalaḥāt al-Imām Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī. Beirut: Maktabat Lubnān Nāshirūn, 2001.
6. Elahi, Mohsen. “Jāygāh-i Sīyāsat dar Ḥikmat mutaʿāliyah.” In Sīyāsat-i Mutaʿāliyah az manẓar-i Ḥikmat-i mutaʿāliyah, edited by Sharif Lakzaei, III, 293-332. Qom: Pazhūheshgāh-i ʿUlūm wa-Farhang-i Islāmī, 1390 HS.
7. Fakhry, Majid. Al-Fārābī, Founder of Islamic Neoplatonism: His Life, Works, and Influence. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2002.
8. Al-Fārābī, Abū Naṣr Muḥammad. Kitāb al-millah wa-nuṣūṣ ukhar. Edited by Muḥsin Mahdī. Beirut: Dār al-Mashriq, 1991.

9. Al-Fayẓ al-Kāshānī, Mullā Muḥsin. al-Kalimāt al-maknūnah min ʿulūm ahl al-ḥikmah wa-l-maʿrifah. Edited by Azizollah Atarodi. Tehran: Farahānī, 1360 HS.
10. Darabī, Tālebi. ““Insān wa-Jahān dar Niẓām-i Fikrī-yi Shahīd Beheshtī Beheshtī (Man and the World in the Intellectual System of Shahid Beheshti).” Pigāh-i Ḥawzah, no.185 (1385 S.H.). https://hawzah.net/fa/Magazine/View/3814/5001/43647. Accessed October 11, 2020.
11. Fazlur Rahman. The Philosophy of Mulla Ṣadrā. Albany, New York: State University Press of New York, 1976.
12. “Gozāresh-i neshasthā-yi wujūh-i sīyāsī-yi Ḥikmat-i mutaʿālīyah.” Pigāh-i Ḥawzah 217: 27 (1386 Hs.). https://hawzah.net/fa/Magazine/View/3814/4876/40581. Accessed November 15, 2020.
13. Ibn Sīnā, Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAlī. Al-Najāt min al-gharaq fī baḥr al-ḍalālāt. Edited by Muḥammad Taqī Dānishpazhūh. Tehran: Tehran University Press, 1379 S.H.
14. Ibn Sīnā, Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAlī. Al-Shifāʾ: al-Ilāhīyyāt. Revised by Saʿīd Zāyid. Qom: Maktabat Āyatullāh Marʿashī, 1404 H.
15. Ishraq Ali and Mingli Qin. “On the Relation of City and Soul in Plato and Alfarabi,” Journal of Arts and Humanities 8: 2 (2019), 27-34, http://dx.doi.org/10.18533/journal.v8i2.1568.
16. Jabr, Farīd, Samīḥ Dughaym, Rafīq al-ʿAjam, and Jīrār Jahāmī. Mawsūʿat muṣṭalaḥāt ʿilm al-manṭiq ʿinda l-ʿArab. Beirut: Maktabat Lubnān Nāshirūn, 1996.
17. Javādī Āmulī, ʿAbd Allāh. Adab-i Qaḍāʾ dar Islām. Qom: Esra International Foundation for Revealed Sciences, 1390 S.H.
18. Javādī Āmulī, ʿAbd Allāh. Ḥaqq wa-Taklīf dar Islām. Edited by Muṣṭafá Khalīlī. Qom: Esra International Foundation for Revealed Sciences, 1388 S.H.
19. Javādī Āmulī, ʿAbd Allāh. “Ḥikmat-i Ṣadrāʾī wa-Siyāsat-i Mutaʿāliyah dar neshastī ba Āyat Allāh Javādī Āmulī” (Sadrian Philosophy and Transcendent Politics Discussed in a Session with the presence of Ayatollah Javādī Āmulī). Pigāh-i Ḥawzah 247, no. 19 (1387 HS.). http://ensani.ir/fa/article/64172, Accessed May 1, 2020.
20. Javādī Āmulī, ʿAbd Allāh. Qurʾān-i Ḥakīm az Manẓar-i Imām Riḍā (P.B.U.H.). Qom: Esra International Foundation for Revealed Sciences, 1389 S.H.
21. Javādī Āmulī, ʿAbd Allāh. “Siyāsat-i Mutaʿāliyah az Manẓar-i Ḥikmat-i Mutaʿāliyah (Transcendent Politics from the Viewpoint of Transcendent Philosophy).” Isrāʾ Ḥikmat 7, no. 3 (1390 HS.), 7-18. http://ensani.ir/fa/article/336064SP. Accessed May 10, 2020
22. Javādī Āmulī, ʿAbd Allāh. Ṣūrat wa-Sīrat-i Insān dar Qurʾān. Edited by Gholam Ali Amīn al-Dīn. Qom: Esra International Foundation for Revealed Sciences, 1381 HS.
23. Javādī Āmulī, ʿAbd Allāh. Wilāyat-i Faqīh: Wilāyat-i Faqāhah wa-ʿAdālah (Governance of the Jurist: Governance of Jurisprudence and Justice). Edited by Muḥammad Mehrabī. Qom: Esra International Foundation for Revealed Sciences, 1389 S.H.
24. Kadivar, Mohsen. Ḥukūmat-i Welāʾī. Tehran: Nashr-i Nay, 1377 HS.
25. Kalin, Ibrahim. Knowledge in Later Islamic Philosophy: Mullā Ṣadrā on Existence, Intellect, and Intuition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199735242.001.0001.
26. Kamal, Muhammad. Mulla Sadra’s Transcendent Philosophy. New York: Ashgate, 2006.
27. Khomeini, Rūḥullāh. Governance of the Jurist (Wilāyat-i Faqīh): Islamic Government. Translated by Hamid Algar. Tehran: The Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imām Khomeini’s Works, n.d.
28. Khomeini, Rūḥullāh. al-Ijtihād wa-l-taqlīd. Tehran: Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imām Khomeini’s Works, 1426 H.
29. Khomeini, Rūḥullāh. Kitāb al- bayʿ. 5 vols. Qom: Ismāʿīliyyān, 1363 HS.
30. Khomeini, Rūḥullāh. The Lamp of Guidance into Vicegerency and Sanctity (trans. of (Miṣbāḥ al-hidāyah ilá l-khilāfah wa-l-wilāyah). Translated by Salam Judy. Tehran: Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imām Khomeini’s Works, 2010.
31. Khomeini, Rūḥullāh. Ṣaḥīfa-yi Imām: An Anthology of Imām Khomeini’s Speeches, Messages, Interviews, Decrees, Religious Permissions, and Letters. vol. 21, trans. Mansoor Limba. eds. Husayn Karamyar, Jafar Razi Khan; vol. 13, trans. Hassan Najafi, Dawood Sodagar. ed. Abdol-Husayn Shirazi. Tehran: Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imām Khomeni’s Works, 2008.
32. Khomeini, Rūḥullāh. Sharḥ Ḥadīth junūd ʿaql wa-jahl. Tehran: The Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imām Khomeini’s Works, 1395 HS.
33. Khomeini, Rūḥullāh. Tafsīr-i Sūra-yi Ḥamd. Tehran: The Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imām Khomeni’s Works, 1386 HS.
34. Knysh, Alexander. “Irfan Revisited: Khomeini and the Legacy of Islamic Mystical Philosophy.” Middle East Journal 46, no. 4 (1992), 631-653.
35. Kraut, Richard. “Aristotle’s Ethics.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Summer 2018 Edition. Edited by Edward N. Zalta https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-ethics/. Accessed October 2, 2020.
36. Lāhījī, ʿAbd al-Razzāq ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn. Shawāriq al-ilhām. Introduced by Zain al-Abedin Qhorbani. Tehran: Nashr-i Sayeh, 1383 HS.
37. Martin, Vanessa. “A Comparison between Khumainī’s Government of the Jurist and the Commentary on Plato’s Republic of Ibn Rushd.” Journal of Islamic Studies 7, no. 1 (1996), 16-31. https://doi.org/10.1093/jis/7.1.16.
38. Meisami, Sayeh. Knowledge and Power in the Philosophies of Ḥamīd al-Dīn Kirmānī and Mullā Ṣadrā Shīrāzī. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71192-8.
39. Motahhari, Morteza. Collection of Works (in Persian). Tehran: Sadra, 1373 S.H.
40. Mulla Ṣadrā, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī. al-ʿArshiyyah. Edited by Ghulāmḥusain Āhanī. Tehran: Mawlā, 1361 HS.
41. Mulla Ṣadrā, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī. Asrār al-āyāt. Manama: Maktabat Fakhr al-Rāzī, 2007.
42. Mulla Ṣadrā, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī. “Ajwibat al-masāʾil al-Kāshāniyyah.” In Majmūʿ-i Rasāʿil-i Falsafī-yi Ṣadr al-mutaʾallihīn, edited by Ḥamed Nājī Isfahānī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Ḥikmah, 1375 HS.
43. Mulla Ṣadrā, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī. al-Ḥāshīyah ʿalá Ilāhiyyāt al-Shifāʾ. Qom: Intishārāt-i Bīdār, n.d.
44. Mulla Ṣadrā, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī. “Iksīr al-ʿarifīn.” In Majmūʿat al-rasāʾil al-tisʿah. Tehran: n.p., 1302 H.
45. Mulla Ṣadrā, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī. Īqāẓ al-nāʾimīn. Edited by Mohsin Muʾayyid. Tehran: Islamic Institute for Research in Philosophy, n.p.
46. Mulla Ṣadrā, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī. Kasr aṣnām al-jāhiliyyah. Edited by Jahangiri. Tehran: Sadra Islamic Philosophy Research Institute, 1381 HS.
47. Mulla Ṣadrā, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī. Al-Ḥikmah al-mutaʿāliyah fī l-asfār al-ʿaqliyyah al-arbaʿah (Al-Asfār). 9 vols. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth, 1981.
48. Mulla Ṣadrā, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī. al-Mabdaʾ wa-l-maʿād. Edited by Jalāl al-Dīn Āshtiyānī. Tehran: Islamic Institute for Research in Philosophy, 1354 HS.
49. Mulla Ṣadrā, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī. Mafātīḥ al-ghayb. Edited by Muḥammad Khājawī. Tehran: Muʾassasa-yi Taḥqīqāt-i Farhangī, 1363 HS.
50. Mulla Ṣadrā, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī. Risāla-yi Se aṣl. Edited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr. 3 vols. Tehran: Tehran University, 1340 HS.
51. Mulla Ṣadrā, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī. “Risālah fī l-ḥashr.” In Majmūʿat al-Rasāʾil al-tisʿah. Tehran: n.p., 1302 H.
52. Mulla Ṣadrā, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī. “Risālah fī l-wāridāt al-qalbiyyah.” In Majmūʿat al-Rasāʾil al-tisʿah. Tehran: n.p., 1302 H.
53. Mulla Ṣadrā, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī. “Risālat shawāhid al-rubūbiyyah.” In Majmūʿa-yi Rasāʾil-i Falsafī-yi Ṣadr al-Mutaʾallihīn, edited by Ḥamed Nājī Isfahānī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Ḥikmah, 1375 HS.
54. Mulla Ṣadrā, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī. Sharḥ al-Hidāyah al-athīriyyah. Edited by Muḥammad Muṣṭafá Fūlādkār. Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Tārīkh al-ʿArabī, 1422 H.
55. Mulla Ṣadrā, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī. Sharḥ Uṣūl al-Kāfī. Edited by Muḥammad Khājawī. 5 vols. Tehran: Muʾassasa-yi Muṭālaʿāt wa-Taḥqīqāt-i Farhangī, 1383 HS.
56. Mulla Ṣadrā, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī. al-Shawāhid al-rubūbiyyah fī l-manāhij al-sulūkiyyah. Edited by Jalāl al-Dīn Āshtiyānī. 5th ed. Qom: Bustān-i Kitāb, 1388 HS.
57. Mulla Ṣadrā, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī. Spiritual Psychology: the fourth intellectual journey in transcendent philosophy (volumes VIII and IX of the Asfār). Translated by Latimah-Parvin Peerwani. ICAS Press, 2008.
58. Mulla Ṣadrā, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī. Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-karīm. Edited by Muḥammad Khājawī. 7 vols. Qom: Intishārāt-i Bīdār, 1366 HS.
59. Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. Introduction to The Sacred Foundations of Justice in Islam: The Teachings of ʿAli ibn Abī Ṭālib. Edited by M. Ali Lakhani. Canada: World Wisdom, Inc. and Sacred Web Publishing, 2006.
60. Rāst-qāmatān-i Jāwdāne-yi Tārīkh-i Islām. Tehran: collected and published by Bunyād-i Shahīd, 1361 HS.
61. Rizvi, Sajjad. “Only the Imām Knows Best: The Maktab-i Tafkīk’s Attack on the Legitimacy of Philosophy in Iran.” The Journal of Royal Asiatic Society 22, no. 3-4 (2012): 487­503. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1356186312000417.
62. Rūmī, Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad. Mathnawī-yi Maʿnawī. Edited by Tawfīq Subḥānī. Tehran: Organization of Publishing of Ministry of Culture, 1373 S.H.
63. Sabzawārī, Mullā Hādī. Asrār al-ḥikam. 2 vols. ed. and intro. Mirza Abū l-Ḥasan Shaʾfsdrānī. Tehran: Islāmiyyah, 1351 HS.
64. Sabzawārī, Mullā Hādī. “Hidāyat al-ṭālibīn fī maʿrifat al-anbīyāʾ wa-l-aʾimmah al-maʿsūmīn,” in Rasāʾil-i Ḥakīm Sabziwārī, edited by Sayyid Jalāl al-Dīn Āshtiyānī. Tehran: Uswah Publication, 1376 HS.
65. Sabzawārī, Mullā Hādī. Sharḥ al-Manẓūmah. 5 vols. Revised by Ḥasan Ḥasanzādah Āmulī. Intro. Masʿūd Ṭālibī. Tehran: Nashr-i Nāb, 1369 HS.
66. Suhrawardī, Shihāb al-Dīn Yaḥyá ibn Ḥabash, Majmūʿat muṣannafāt Shaykh Ishrāq. 4 vols. Revised and introduced by Henry Corbin, Seyed Ḥusain Naṣr and Ḥasanquli Habibi. Tehran: Muʾassasa-yi Muṭālaʿāt-i Farhangī, 1375 HS.
67. Studtmann, Paul. “Aristotle’s Categories.” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Fall 2018 Edition. Edited by Edward N. Zalta. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2018/entries/aristotle-categories/. Aaccessed May 15, 2020.
68. Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Seyyed Muḥammad Ḥusain. Bidāyat al-ḥikmah. Qom: Muʾassasa-yi Intishārāt-i Dār al-ʿIlm, 1382 HS.
69. Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Seyyed Muḥammad Ḥusain. Nihāyat al-ḥikmah. 4 vols. Edited and revised by Ghulāmriḍā Fayyāḍī. Qom: Markaz Intishārāt-i Muʾassasa-yi Imām Khomeinī, 1385 HS.
70. Tawassulī, Ḥusain. Mabānī-yi Naẓarī-yi ʿAdālat-i Ijtimā’ī. 2 vols. Tehran: Bunyād-i Mustaḍʾafān-i Inqilāb-i Islāmī, 1375 HS. Toussi, Seyyed Khalil. The Political Philosophy of Mullā Sadrā. London, UK: Routledge, forthcoming.
71. al-Ṭūsī, Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan al-Jahrūdī. Sharḥ al-Ishārāt wa-l-tanbīhāt. 3 vols. Qom: Nashr al-balāghah, 1383 HS.
72. Walzer, Richard. “Al-Fārābī.” In Encyclopedia of Islam, edited by Lewis B, Pellat C, Schacht J., new ed., vol 2, 778-781. Leiden: Brill, 1991.
73. Walzer, Richard. Al-Farabi on the Perfect State: Abū Nasr al-Fārābī Mabādiʾ ārāʾ ahl al-madīnah al-fāḍilah. The University of Michigan, Clarendon Press, 1985. https://books.google.nl/books?id=EdzWAAAAMAAJ. Accessed May 12, 2020.
74. Winston Morris, James. The wisdom of the throne: An introduction to the philosophy of Mulla Sadra. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981.