An Evaluation of the Theories of Suhrawardī Versus the Mu‘tazilites on God’s Will
Subject Areas : Geneology of philosophical schools and Ideas
Mostafa Esfandiari
1
,
Mohammad Mahdi Salami
2
,
Rasool Padashpour
3
*
1 - Assistant Professor, Razavi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
2 - PhD candidate, Razavi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
3 - Lecturer and Researcher at Khorasan Seminary, Mashhad, Iran
Keywords: God’s Will, Suhrawardī, light of all lights, Mu‘tazilites, addition of attributes to essence,
Abstract :
One of the attributes and perfections of God is Will, a correct perception of which, similar to other attributes, can lead to the perfection of the knower. Although all Muslim phosphors attribute this Will to God, the quality of this attribution has always created some clash of ideas. Most Mu‘tazilite mutikallimūn negate God’s affirmative attributes, including will, to essence and consider them to be additional to it. They maintain that the Divine Essence is the vicegerent for attributes. Among pre-Suhrawardī philosophers, some interpret the free will as the knowledge of the higher order, and some others have referred it to the attribute of knowledge to clarify its meaning. As a result, these two attributes are in unity with each other in terms of concept and referents. Regarding Suhrawardī, some believe that he denies the free will, while a study of the fundamental principles of his philosophical system reveals that the opposite holds true. From among such principles, reference can be made to the gracefulness of the light of all lights (nūr al-anwār), identity of Divine Attributes with Essence, and the light of all lights as the sum of all perfections. According to these principles, all the perfections at lower levels exist in the highest level in a more complete and nobler form. The attribute of will is also an existential perfection, the demonstration of which leads to honor and eminence, and the denial of which leads to the negation of perfection. Hence, given the general content of Shurawardī’s philosophy, he must have necessarily agreed with attributing will to Almighty God. Regarding the inclusiveness of will, the Mu‘tazilites do not view Man as possessing the necessary will, while Suhrawardī considers the attributes of the light of all lights to belong to all existents, including Man in the light of introducing the light of all lights as an all-inclusive truth.