Sadrian Metaphysics

God is a Necessary Being, and a Necessary Being [wajib bil zat] must be Necessary [wajib] from every aspect [jihat] including the aspect of Independence [ghina], which means that he must not be dependent upon another for anything, because that which is dependent is contingent in essence [zat/mahiyat] and that which is essentially-contingent [mumkin bil zat] cannot simultaneously be Necessary in Itself [wajib bil zat], it therefore follows that God does not need or desire us to praise Him for His Own benefit, because lacking nothing He desires nothing. Desire for something arises only due to a lacking or an imperfection hence that which is Absolute Perfection itself does not lack anything. Therefore the reason why God wants us to pray and praise Him is for our benefit not His, worshiping the divine in terms of seeking perfection and developing within ourselves divine attributes and thereby becoming existentially-perfect, therefore remembrance of an All-Perfect and an All-Good Div...

"GOD, THE ABSOLUTE OR PURE GOOD" God, the Necessary Existent, is either Absolute or Pure Good [ khayr e mehaz ], Absolute or Pure Evil [ sharr e mehaz ] or a composite [ murakkab ] of Good and Evil. Now evil [ sharr ] is described as a negation of good and as such has no independent and entified external reality, but can only exist accidentally as a negation or a privation of goodness [ khayr ] such as darkness [ zulmah ] which is the negation of light [ nur ] or death which is the negation of life [ hayat ], in other words evil is said to be a non-entity identified as non-being and is therefore synonymous with non-existence [ adum ]; therefore if the Necessary Existent is said to be Absolute or Pure Evil so such an assertion would be tantamount to equating the Divine Essence with Absolute-Non-existence [ adum e matlaq ] because evil as has been explained above is a negation of goodness and hence absolute-evil is the absolute or  complete negation of goodne...

The Divine Essence at the level or station of Essential Unity ( Maqam al Ahadiyat ) is absolutely transcendent, completely unknown, inaccessible to all and sundry, too distant to be approached by anyone. At this level the Essence ( Dhat ) and the Attributes ( Sifat ) are one, meaning that the Attributes are identical to the Essence ( Ain al Dhat ) without there being any distinction between the two, because therein is no duality but only unity. It is this Essential Unity at the station of “ Ahadiyat”  that is the subject of the Quranic Chapter of Al-Ikhlas in the verse “ قُل هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ ”. The Essence is absolutely concealed & hidden such that it cannot even be apprehended by the most perceptive intellects, as is explained by the Prince of the Monotheists Imam Ali (as)  “ يَا هُوَ يَا مَنْ لاَ يَعْلَمُ مَا هُوَ ”, translation: “  O He Whom none knows what He is ”( Dua-e-Mashlul ). This Essential Unity has no manifestation since nothing can manifest the Divine...

Just as every existent in the lower worlds has an intelligible reality subsisting in the higher realms namely the World of Intellects ( alam al aqal ) which happens to be absolutely perfect, sublime and actual, similarly Man also has an intelligible human reality (  Haqiqat al Insaniya ) which is absolutely perfect, sublime and actual without any blemish ( nuqs ) and potentiality subsisting in that higher world of Immaterial Intellects ( Al Uqul al Mujarred ); this intelligible human reality (  Haqiqat al Insaniya ) is none other than the sublime Muhammadan Reality ( Haqiqat al Muhammadiya ), which represents the reality of Man in all its perfection, nobility and sublimity. The Muhammadan Reality ( Haqiqat al Muhammadiya ) is the universal or the immutable source form ( al a’yan al thabit ) of The Perfect Man ( al insan al kamil ) and the Perfect Man is the earthly image, reflection or manifestation of the Muhammadan Reality. It has been mentioned in the first part of this di...

“The existence of an effect is among the necessary concomitants of the existence of its perfect and complete cause such that the twain are inseparable. The question is that is the agent-cause effective in the existence of its effect directly through it own ipseity [zat] or not; now if the agent-cause is not effective in the existence of its effect directly through it own ipseity, so it is obvious that an additional factor is required for the causal-agency to be effective for instance a condition [shart] or will [irada] would have to be increased over and above the ipseity of the agent-cause, and in that case the entity which had been presumed to be the agent-cause would no longer remain the agent-cause, and instead the ipseity of that agent together with that additional feature in combination will have to be regarded as the true agent-cause and the question which was asked concerning the existent which had initially been presumed to be the agent-cause will then revert to this combinati...

A perfect cause علت تامه is one, which when its existence وجود is realized, it simultaneously also realizes the existence of its effect معلول, without any delay or interval between the realization of the existence of the said perfect cause and the realization of the existence of its effect; in other words, a perfect cause is one that is sufficient in itself for the emanation صدور of its act فعل or effect, without needing the addition to its essence ذات, of any further attribute or part جزء; conversely speaking, a cause is said to be imperfect علت ناقصه if by its existence, it fails to realize the existence of its effect; to elaborate further, any delay or interval between the realization of the existence of a cause and the realization of the existence of its effect, implies that the said cause is not sufficient in its essence for the emanation of its act or effect; and is therefore dependent محتاج upon some factor extraneous to its essence, in combination with which it could perform th...

Is it beyond God's power قدرت to bring the world عالم into existence وجود from a prior non-existence عدم; is it impossible for an Omnipotent Being قادر مطلق to create something from absolute nothingness?; An adequate resolution of these questions involves an analysis of the concept of Divine Power; power in relation to the Necessary Being واجب بالذات is defined by the Philosophers as the emanation صدور from the Divine Essence ذات حق of the Divine Act فعل الاھی, with God's will ارادہ; as per this definition it is nowhere necessary for God to bring into existence His act from a prior non-existence, in order for Him to qualify as an Agent with Might or Power فاعل قادر و مختار; in fact the only attribute صفت necessary for the said qualification is for the Divine Act to proceed from the Essence with His Will, such that if the act were to proceed or emanate from the Essence without His Will, as is the case with natural فاعل بالطبیعه and coerced agents فاعل بالقسر, then He would fail ...