Sadrian Metaphysics

Hisham say’s that an Atheist asked Imam Abu Abdullah (as) , “what is it [God]?”, the initial part of the Imam's reply is as follows: ”شئى بخلاف الاشياء ارجع بقولى الى اثبات معنى و انه شئى بحقيقة شيئية“ translation: ““He is something but different from all things. I repeat my statement that speaks about Him as a thing. He is a thing in the sense of the reality of things” [Al-Kafi,kitab-ul-tawhid,hadith#215] God can be referred to as a ‘thing [شئى]’ because according to Mullah Sadra and his foremost commentator Allama Tabataba’i ‘thingness [شيئية]’ is synonymous with existence [وجود] and reality [حقيقة], just as its opposite meaning ‘nothingness [لاشئى]’ is synonymous with non-existence [عدم] and the negation of reality [نفى حقيقة], therefore the assertion of ‘thingness’ in relation to God would simply be an affirmation [اثبات] of His Existence and Reality and the denial of thingness for the Divine would be tantamount to a denial of His Existence & Reality and would imply t...

Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated from Muhammad ibn Khalid al-Tayalisi from Safwan ibn Yahya from ibn Muskan from abu Basir who said the following: “I heard Abu ‘Abd Allah (as),saying; ”لم يزل الله عز و جل ربنا و العلم ذاته و لامعلوم و السمع ذاته و لامسموع و البصر ذاته ولامبصر و القدرته ذاته و لامقدور“ translation: “The Exalted, the Glorious, Allah, our Lord, is eternal. Knowledge [العلم] is His Self [ذاته] even if there is nothing to be known [معلوم ]. Hearing is His Self even if there is nothing to be heard [مسموع]. Seeing is His Self even when there is nothing to be seen [مبصر]. Power is His Self even if there is nothing to exercise the power [مقدور]” [Al-Kafi,kitab-ul-tawhid,hadith#286] Human knowledge [علم] is empirical [حسى] in nature, because our knowledge of the sensible objects [محسوسات] existing around us comes to us by means of sense-perception [حسى ادراك], for instance one’s knowledge of how an apple tastes comes from his experience of consuming an apple, and so one who has...

Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated from his father from ‘Abbass ibn ‘Amr al-Faqimi from Hisham ibn al-Hakam in the narration about the atheist who came to (Imam) abu ‘Abd Allah (as), and the Imam had explained to him the following: “You assume that there are two eternal and powerful powers (who control the universe) or that both are weak or only one of them is weak and the other is powerful. If they both are powerful why then does neither one ever make an effort to remove the other one to have full control of the universe? If you assume that one is powerful and the other is weak then it is proof that there is only one, as we believe; the weakness of the other is so apparent. Besides, if you say that they are two then they either agree with each other in all matters or disagree in the same way” [Al-Kafi,kitab-ul-tawhid,hadith#215] If a plurality of Necessary Beings [واجب الوجود] is asserted so only one of the following three possibilities will be true, a) One of them is the cause [علت] o...

Imam Hussain (as) states: “It is You Who have introduced Yourself to me in all things [فِي كُلِّ شَيْءٍ]; therefore, I have seen You Manifest [ظَاهِراً] in all things”[Dua-e-Arafa] The One or Pure-Existence [وجود محض] is the source that endows all contingent-essences [ماهيات] with existence [وجود]. This existence which emanates [صدور] from Pure-Existence on contingent-essences is neither inside these essences nor external to them, because in order for existence to be eithe r inside or external to them [meaning the essences], these essences must have an existence or a reality prior to receiving the existence emanated upon them from Pure-Being, which means that the essences must have an existence prior to receiving existence, which is evidently absurd, because according to Mullah Sadra’s theory of the ‘Primacy of Existence Over Essence’, [اصالت الوجود واعتبارالماهية] essences do not have any independent reality [حقيقت] in the external-world [خارج] distinct and separate from existence....

Ahmad ibn Idris has narrated from Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al Jabbar from Safwan ibn Yahya from ‘Asim ibn Humayd who said the following: “Once I discussed with (Imam) abu ‘Abd Allah(as) about what he says on witnessing Allah’s Self. The Imam said, ‘The light of the sun has a ratio equal to one seventieth of the light of the Kursi (the Throne). The same is the ratio of the light of Kursi to al-‘Arsh, the light of which is of the same ratio to that of al-Hijab the light of which is of  the same ratio to the light of al-Satr (barrier). If they (people) who say that eye-witnessing Allah is (possible) tell the truth allow them fill their eyes with the light of the sun without a curtain in between." [Al-Kafi,Kitab-ul-Tawhid,hadith#260] According to Shaykh Shahabuddin Suhrawardi's Philosophy of illumination [حكمت الاشراق] the Necessary Being [واجب بالذات] is the Light of all lights [نور الانوار], which means that The One is the brightest of all lights and in fact every other light [نور]...

Muhammad ibn Isma‘il has narrated from al-Fadl ibn Shadhan from Safwan ibn Yahya from Mansur ibn Hazim who said the following: "Once I said to Imam abu ‘Abd Allah (as), ‘Allah by far is Majestic and Gracious to be known through His creatures. In fact, the creatures are known through Allah.’ The Imam (as) said, ‘You have spoken the truth.’[Al-Kafi, Kitab-ul-Hujjah,hadith#426] In order for a thing [شئى] to be known, that thing must first exist in some way in order for it to bec ome known, because something which does not exist in any manner, cannot be known in any way, and therefore no knowledge pertaining to such a thing can be had, and hence that which is non-existent in every manner [معدوم مطلق] will be unknown in every way [مجهول مطلق]. Now here one may state that it is not necessary for a thing to exist, in order for it to be known, because there are many things which do not have any actual-existence [وجود خارج] in reality but are nevertheless known to the intellect through ...

An atheist asked Imam Abu Abdullah (as), ‘How do you prove the truthfulness of the prophets and the messengers?’ “The Imam(as), said, ‘It is a fact that we have established with sufficient evidence, proof of the existence of our Creator, the Most Holy, the Most High and Exalted above all creatures. It is a fact that this Creator is All-wise and Most High. His creatures cannot see, touch, associate and directly communicate with Him. It proves that His deputies must be present among His creatures. It is His deputies and ambassadors who speak to people for Him and provide them guidance to protect their interests; to tell them what is beneficial to them and what are the best means of survival and what may cause their destruction. This proves the presence among people of those who convey the commandments of the Creator, Who is All-wise, All-knowing Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, to them. Such people are the prophets, recipient of divine supreme covenant, the chosen ones from among Hi...