Being

Open Access Article

1 - The Brilliant Jewel of Islam in Seville: A Historical Analysis of Ibn Arabi’s Fusus al-Hikam
Masood Ahmadi Afzadi

Ibn Arabi is one of the prominent figures in the field of theoretical gnosis in the world of Islam. He enjoys a unique status among Muslim gnostic-writers thanks to his benefitting from the legacy of distinguished Muslim and, particularly, Iranian gnostics, on the one h More

Ibn Arabi is one of the prominent figures in the field of theoretical gnosis in the world of Islam. He enjoys a unique status among Muslim gnostic-writers thanks to his benefitting from the legacy of distinguished Muslim and, particularly, Iranian gnostics, on the one hand, and the philosophical legacy of Muslim thinkers of the West, especially, of Seville, on the other hand. The cultural center of Andalusia, which was the philosophical meeting point of Islamic gnosis with Christian gnosis and, especially, Jewish gnosis for centuries, clearly reflects Ibn Arabi’s influence over these gnostic schools and indicates the necessity of making a continuous effort at gaining a thorough knowledge of the different aspects of his thoughts and works. From among all his works, Fusus al-hikam seems to be the best criterion for learning about Ibn Arabi because this great book provides a trustworthy account of the history of Islamic gnosis and Andalusia. Several commentators have commented on Fusus al-hikam, but not all of them have praised the writer, and some of them have even criticized his ideas in their commentaries. Nevertheless, all of them have praised the magnificence of his thoughts in this work. The present paper casts an analytic glance at Ibn Arabi’s character and examines this book based on the ideas of its writer and commentators in terms of form and content. It is hoped that the findings of this study can pave the way for more comparative research in the interreligious atmosphere of Andalusia and contribute to a better understanding of this distinguished figure of the Andalusia school as the crossroad of cultures. Manuscript profile

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2 - Principle of the Identity of Quiddity and Existence in the Truth in Islamic Tradition and Greek Philosophy
Huda Habibimanesh Shamsollah Seraj

The problem of the identity of existence and quiddity in Almighty Necessary has been referred to as the identity of existence and quiddity in the Truth in the works of Muslim philosophers and is dealt with as a philosophical principle. The great figures of Islamic philo More

The problem of the identity of existence and quiddity in Almighty Necessary has been referred to as the identity of existence and quiddity in the Truth in the works of Muslim philosophers and is dealt with as a philosophical principle. The great figures of Islamic philosophy have provided different interpretations of this principle and derived various consequences from it. Undoubtedly, the ideas of Greek philosophers and the teachings of Islam have played a significant role in the development of this principle by Muslim philosophers. The present paper intends to analyze the roots and origins of this principle, and it appears that a conceptual analysis of the technical terms used there could help researchers to derive better and more profound conclusions from this principle. Manuscript profile

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3 - Farabi and his Distinction between Existence and Quiddity
Ghasem Purhassan

One of the innovations of Farabi and Islamic philosophy is the theory of the distinction between existence and quiddity. This view was merely developed in the light of understanding the meaning of the reality of being. Islamic philosophers, particularly Farabi and Ibn S More

One of the innovations of Farabi and Islamic philosophy is the theory of the distinction between existence and quiddity. This view was merely developed in the light of understanding the meaning of the reality of being. Islamic philosophers, particularly Farabi and Ibn Sina, because of their epistemological rupture with Greek tradition, sought to understand being differently from Aristotle and, in a way, abstained from reducing the question of being to the question of the whatness of objects. In addition to a conceptual and logical distinction, Farabi managed to develop and present an ontological distinction in the field of philosophy. Ibn Sina expanded it so vastly that some might consider this theory as one of his own philosophical achievements. After the problem of the evidence and principliality of existence, the quality of the relationship between existence and quiddity turned out to be one of the most important discussions in Islamic philosophy. At the beginning, under the influence of dividing being into necessary and possible types, Muslim philosophers tried to explain the fundamental difference between them through explaining the relationship between quiddity and existence. As a result, they considered two propositions as the basis of two interpretations of existence and the explanation of its relationship with quiddity. The theory of the synthetic nature of quiddative existents in terms of their existence and quiddity, the existence’s being superadded or accidental to quiddity, and the distinction between existence and quiddity in existents are the views that emerged in Islamic philosophy with Farabi and gradually came to the fore as the most important discussions concerning existence. Furthermore, Farabi’s discussion concerning the individuation of quiddities and the criterion for individuation, which was later accepted by all Islamic philosophers and emphasized by them, was developed under the influence of the above theories. In this paper, the writer has initially tried to provide a correct understanding of the theory of distinction through clarifying its fundamental bases. Then he has clarified its ontological and philosophical consequences and highlighted the importance of this theory in Islamic philosophy. Such an explanation necessitates an extensive investigation of Farabi’s ideas about existence, the meaning of existence, and the existence-quiddity relation. Manuscript profile

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4 - God in Process Theology and Mulla Sadra
Hamed Naji Isfahani

This paper presents a comparative study of two philosophical trends. Therefore, it has been organized in two parts: process theology and Sadrian Transcendent Philosophy. Process theology appeared in the 20th century as one of the developmental thought processes followed More

This paper presents a comparative study of two philosophical trends. Therefore, it has been organized in two parts: process theology and Sadrian Transcendent Philosophy. Process theology appeared in the 20th century as one of the developmental thought processes followed by philosophers in the field of religion. Given all the arguments and conflicts existing in the Middle Ages and Modernity’s atheism, its followers sought to present a new version of theology in which various notions such as God, His pre-eternity, His Power, the existence of evil in the world, the relationship between God and the world of being, and the relationship between the changing world and God are revisited. This new school, which was established by Alfred North Whitehead and expanded by Charles Hartshorne and David Ray Griffin, is presently studied in western academic centers as one of the prevalent theological and religious schools. In general, this school has made two contributions to the field of philosophy: 1) presenting a new version of theology, the conformity of which with holy texts is questionable; 2) presenting a new form of ontology and the quality of God’s relationship with the world. The Transcendent Philosophy was initially founded by Mulla Sadra and developed at three stages: the Avicennan stage of the understanding of existence, gradation of existence, and the individual unity of existence. Although Mulla Sadra has not distinguished these three stages from each other in his magnum opus, al-Asfar, the evolution of his ideas in his various treatises attest to this developmental process. Through discovering the principiality of existence, he proceeded to generalize his understanding of existence from the level of concept to the level of referent. Finally, he presented a new model of God’s relationship with the world of being, which can be practically explored based on the development of his philosophical thoughts. This new approach to the concept of existence affected most theological concepts in the field of religion and prompted him to provide a new version of theology. The writer believes that, unlike Mulla Sadra’s system of individual unity, which is in the process of change, his gradational system is a relatively complete one. It is noteworthy that there is a relative conformity between the fundamental principles of the graded unity of existence and those of the Christian process theology. Of course, as explained in the paper, the Sadrian school is much more efficient and accurate than process theology in understanding religious and comparative teachings. Therefore, in addition to posing the discussion of process theology and its new achievements concerning religious concepts, the present paper compares this school with Mulla Sadra’s system of gradational wisdom and explores it strengths and weaknesses. Manuscript profile

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5 - Mulla Rajabali and Mulla Sadra’s Approach to Uthulujia
Ali Karbasizadeh Isfahani Faride Koohrang Beheshti

Uthulujia by Plotinus, which had been mistakenly attributed to Aristotle for many years, has influenced all Muslim philosophers, including Mulla Rajabali Tabrizi and Mulla Sadra. Although both philosophers were contemporary with each other, followed the School of Isfaha More

Uthulujia by Plotinus, which had been mistakenly attributed to Aristotle for many years, has influenced all Muslim philosophers, including Mulla Rajabali Tabrizi and Mulla Sadra. Although both philosophers were contemporary with each other, followed the School of Isfahan, dealt with similar problems, and resorted to Uthulujia in order to confirm their own ideas and theories, they led two completely different philosophical trends in the history of philosophy and, in fact, stood against each other. Mulla Rajabali’s great attachment to Kalami issues persuaded him to believe that accepting the univocality of the Necessary Being and the possible beings and attributing different adjectives and qualities to the divine essence is far from God’s incomparability to other things and against Qur’anic verses and traditions. However, Mulla Sadra, in spite of his interest in Kalami and gnostic issues, believed that such problems could be solved in the light of his theory of the gradation of existence. Nevertheless, the noteworthy point is how is it possible for two philosophers with opposing ideas regarding different problems to have benefitted and quoted from the same book! Although the influence of Uthulujia over the philosophical and ideological principles of these two philosophers is undeniable, it seems that, since both believed that this book was written by Aristotle, whom both considered to be a divine philosopher, they tried to refer to this book in order to confirm their ideas and prove their validity. Thus each looked at Uthulujia from his own point of view and perceived its content based on his own ideas. Wherever they saw it consistent with their own principles, they quoted the related statements in order to confirm their ideas, and wherever they saw its content inconsistent with their views, they ignored it or tried to justify the case. Manuscript profile

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6 - A Comparative Analysis of Heraclitus’ Flux, Parmenides’ Stability, and Plato’s Ideas
Reza Bazeli Mahdi Monfared

The issue of ontology and the problem of authentic and unauthentic types of being have always been debated by philosophers since the time of ancient Greece until now. Among Greek philosophers, Heraclitus, Parmenides, and Plato enjoy particular significance because of th More

The issue of ontology and the problem of authentic and unauthentic types of being have always been debated by philosophers since the time of ancient Greece until now. Among Greek philosophers, Heraclitus, Parmenides, and Plato enjoy particular significance because of their particular theories. Heraclitus believed in flux and everlasting change of things and denied stability in being. By contrast, Parmenides denied change and believed in stability and unchangability in being. These two opposite theories were later reformulated in Plato’s theory of Ideas. He developed his particular theory by benefitting from these two theories and employed Heraclitus’ continuous flux in the world of sensibles and Parmenides’ stability of being in the world of Ideas. The present paper comparatively examines the problem of existence from the viewpoint of these three philosophers in order to clarify Plato’s agreement with his two predecessors. A comparison of the ontological views of these three Greek philosophers revealed that Parmenides’ theory of stability (way of truth) and Heraclitus’ theory of unity can be matched with Plato’s world of Ideas. Moreover, the writers conclude that Heraclitus’ theory of flux and Parmenides’ ways of inquiry are compatible with Plato’s world of sensibles. Manuscript profile

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7 - A Critical Study and Explanation of Mulla Mohammad Na‘im Taleqani’s Approach to the Theory of the Individual Unity of Existence
Seyyed Shahriyar Kamali Sabzewari

In the view of Mulla Mohammad Na‘im Taleqani, the theory of the individual unity of existence necessitates either the absolute identity of Almighty Necessary with objects or His possible being. Therefore, several objections can be advanced against this theory, which ren More

In the view of Mulla Mohammad Na‘im Taleqani, the theory of the individual unity of existence necessitates either the absolute identity of Almighty Necessary with objects or His possible being. Therefore, several objections can be advanced against this theory, which render it into an implausible and unacceptable one. Here, after analyzing his view regarding this theory through using such concepts as the copulative existence of the effect and encompassing plurality and distinction, the writer clarifies the theory of the individual unity of existence and demonstrates that none of the mentioned objections are justified. He finally concludes that Taleqani has failed to explain and analyze gnostics’ views regarding this theory. Manuscript profile

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8 - Aristotelian and Avicennan Background of the Principles of Analogical Theology of Thomas Aquinas
Mohammad Mahdi Gorjian Mojtaba Afsharpour

Given its emphasis upon the text of the Holy Scripture, Thomas Aquinas’s theory of analogical theology is one of the most influential and multi-faceted theories regarding the knowledge of God and analysis of His names and attributes. Aquinas’s main purpose in discussing More

Given its emphasis upon the text of the Holy Scripture, Thomas Aquinas’s theory of analogical theology is one of the most influential and multi-faceted theories regarding the knowledge of God and analysis of His names and attributes. Aquinas’s main purpose in discussing this issue in both of his great works, Summa Theologia and Summa Contra Gentiles, was to predicate the perfectional attributes of all creatures, including human beings as the most perfect of them, on God. He believed that this is possible by employing an analogical method of predication as opposed to equivocation and unequivocation. In this way, he attained a knowledge of the names and attributes of the Truth that enabled him to leave the negative theology of the Middle Ages behind and, in this way, avoid the trap of assimilating the Truth to the created. The essential element of Aquinas’s analogical theology is the “principle of the perfections of cause and effect”. The perfections of effect have an apriori supreme presence in the cause. There are two other principles in his works called the “argument of degrees of perfection” and the “principle of the priority of cause to effect”. He insists on attributing all these three principles to Aristotle and Ibn Rushd in order to introduce his own analogical predication as being rooted in Aristotle’s philosophy. However, the truth is that Aristotle never made any explicit reference to any of the claims made by Aquinas. Rather, the idea of God’s being above perfection and pure good, in the sense that Pure Perfection embodies all perfections of finite things, is among Ibn Sina’s achievements and innovations in theological discussions. In fact, Ibn Rushd’s words in this regard explain Ibn Sina’s theories although he wrote them in his commentaries on Aristotle’s words. Manuscript profile

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9 - Kalami, Philosophical, and Gnostic Approaches to the Hadith of ‘Ama
Mahdi Zamani

It has been narrated in a famous hadith from the Holy Prophet (s) that, before the creation of people, God was in “‘ama” (cloud). There have been several different and contradictory ideas concerning the content of this hadith. Muslim mutikallimun, gnostics, philosophers More

It has been narrated in a famous hadith from the Holy Prophet (s) that, before the creation of people, God was in “‘ama” (cloud). There have been several different and contradictory ideas concerning the content of this hadith. Muslim mutikallimun, gnostics, philosophers, and interpreters have studied this hadith based on their own principles and have benefitted from it in their own philosophical system. Mutikallimun have interpreted it based on their tanzihi (transcendent) and tashbihi (comparative) views and either confirmed or rejected it. Some Muslim gnostics assume that “‘ama” refers to God’s henas, and others believe that it represents the station of monas. They have matched this term with “merciful breath”, “truth of the creature”, “absolute imagination, and “substance of the world” and have granted it a sublime place. In his Transcendent Philosophy, Mulla Sadra equates ‘ama with “unfolded being”, “unity of bringing together” and “truth of truths” and, through the interpretation of hadith, reaches some conclusions about the dominance of divine existence over all places and times and attempts to reconcile tanzih with tashbih. Manuscript profile

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10 - Sinian Transcendent Philosophy: Ibn Sīnā’s Move from Peripatetic Philosophy to Transcendent Philosophy
Mostafa Momeni

Although Ibn Sīnā has been frequently introduced as a Peripatetic philosopher and the “Master of Peripatetic Philosophers” in the world of Islam, one might wonder if such a reading of his philosophy is absolutely correct. Undoubtedly, his major works have been written o More

Although Ibn Sīnā has been frequently introduced as a Peripatetic philosopher and the “Master of Peripatetic Philosophers” in the world of Islam, one might wonder if such a reading of his philosophy is absolutely correct. Undoubtedly, his major works have been written on the basis of the principles of Peripatetic philosophy. However, the question is whether one can find some indications of his departure from this school of philosophy in the same works. Ibn Sīnā neither remained a Peripatetic philosopher nor followed Peripatetic thoughts to the end of his life. Through coining the term “Transcendent Philosophy” for his own school and inviting the seekers of truths to follow it in order to have an accurate grasp of what they sought for, Ibn Sīnā added a completely new dimension to his identity. Finally, the Transcendent Philosophy reached its peak of development in Sadrian thoughts. Here, the author intends to explain the “transcendence of Sinian philosophy” and, at the same time, trace the roots of the principles of the Transcendent Philosophy in Sinian philosophy and highlight them in his works and words. Although the political occupations of Ibn Sīnā and his short life did not allow him to provide a new synthesis of such principles, he managed to pave the way for the creation of the Transcendent Philosophy by his successors. Manuscript profile

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11 - A Study of the Development of the Subject of Metaphysics in Francisco Suárez
Asghar Fathi Emadabadi Ali Karbasizadeh Isfahani

Fancisco Suárez (1548-1617) was the last great scholastic philosopher of the Western Renaissance. He opened up new horizons for his contemporary Scholars regarding certain philosophical and metaphysical discussions. Although he was an advocate of Aristotelian- Thomistic More

Fancisco Suárez (1548-1617) was the last great scholastic philosopher of the Western Renaissance. He opened up new horizons for his contemporary Scholars regarding certain philosophical and metaphysical discussions. Although he was an advocate of Aristotelian- Thomistic tradition, he believed that metaphysics was in demand of certain fundamental modifications. Aristotle, on the one hand, emphasized the unity of the subject of science and, on the other hand, spoke as if he believed in the existence of multiple subjects for metaphysics. Post-Aristotle philosophers, from Greek and Alexandrian philosophers to Islamic and Christian ones, particularly and most importantly Ibn Sīnā, made great efforts to remove the existing inconsistencies. In his Disputationes Metaphysicae (Metaphysical Disputations), through examining the various ideas that had been propounded in this regard until his time, Suárez presented a new approach and introduced “being qua being” as the subject of metaphysics. In order to further explain his view, he elaborated on certain expressions such as “real being” as opposed to actual being and “mental being” as opposed to formal being. Moreover, he maintained that real being is a “general mental concept of being in its nominal sense”. In this paper, through a meticulous study of the meaning of “real being” in Suárez’s view, the authors intend to investigate and evaluate his place in the tradition and history of philosophy regarding the subject of metaphysics. Manuscript profile

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12 - Fārābī and the Question of the Truth of Perception: A Critical Review of Mullā Ṣadrā’s View
Ghasem Purhasan Ali Piri

20.1001.1.20089589.1400.11.4.5.4

One of the most important and accurate problems in Fārābī’s epistemological philosophy is the question of perception and its relationship with the soul, reason, and ontological promotion. In sharp contrast to Aristotle, Fārābī challenges the theory of the passivity of t More

One of the most important and accurate problems in Fārābī’s epistemological philosophy is the question of perception and its relationship with the soul, reason, and ontological promotion. In sharp contrast to Aristotle, Fārābī challenges the theory of the passivity of the soul in perception, considers the soul to be the creator of perception and, in this way, founds the theory of the soul as an active agent. This theory has influenced the ideas of all the philosophers after him in the field of Islamic philosophy, from Ibn Sīnā to ‘Allamāh Ṭabāṭabā’ī. Fārābī connects perception with manifestation and presence, which are mainly discussed in the philosophical schools of Suhrawardī and Mullā Ṣadrā and defends it from the view point of ontology. Some of Fārābī’s innovations include acknowledging the creativity of the soul in perception, granting a graded nature to perception and knowledge, paying attention to the emergent and ontological mode of knowledge, understanding the generous and giving nature of knowledge alongside attaching fundamental importance to sense perception, criticizing non-certain types of knowledge and presenting a fundamental view regarding certain knowledge and, finally, introducing perception as a process. Following a comparative approach, the present study examines the problem of perception and its nature in Fārābī’s philosophy, while considering the views of other Muslim philosophers, and portrays the significance of his theory of perception. Manuscript profile

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