Islamic Philosophy from Its Origin to the Present: Philosophy in the ...

Study of the History of Islamic Philosophy 117
|adr al-D¥n Sh¥råz¥ (Mullå |adrå) (d. 1050/1640, is considered by many
to be the greatest of all Islamic metaphysicians. In what he called the
“transcendent theosophy” or al-÷ikmah al-muta’åliyah, he integrated the
schools of mashshå˘, ishråq, ‘irfån, and kalåm in a vast synthesis that has
influenced most Islamic philosophy to this day. The message of his
magnum opus, al-Asfår al-arba‘ah (The Four Journeys), a veritable
summa of Islamic philosophy, came to be known as al-÷ikmat alilåhiyyah,
literally “divine wisdom” or “theosophy” which we have
already discussed.
Mullå |adrå’s philosophy was taught in India and was revived
in Qajar Persia by Mullå ‘Al¥ N¨r¥, ¡åjj¥ Mullå Håd¥ Sabziwår¥, Āqå
‘Al¥ Mudarris, and others and has continued as a powerful intellectual
tradition into the present century. 12 Parallel philosophical schools with
distinct features were also active in India and Ottoman Turkey during
this period. But little is known of their history.
ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY IN THE CONTEMPORARY ISLAMIC WORLD
Islamic philosophy has continued as a living intellectual tradition and
plays a significant role in the intellectual life of the Islamic world.
Jamål al-D¥n al-Afghån¥, a student when in Persia of the school of
Mullå |adrå, revived the study of Islamic philosophy in Egypt, where
some of the leading religious and intellectual figures, such as ‘Abd al-
¡al¥m Ma±m¨d, the late Shaykh al-Azhar, have been its devotees. In
the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent, Mu±ammad Iqbal was a student of
Islamic philosophy, and even Mawlånå Mawd¨d¥, the founder of the
Jamå‘at-i Islåm¥ of Pakistan, translated some of Mullå |adrå’s al-Asfår
into Urdu in his youth.
The main arena of Islamic philosophy in modern times has continued
to be Persia despite the opposition of a sector of the Shi‘ite ‘ulamå˘.
Toward the end of the Qajar period a number of outstanding philosophers
appeared, such as M¥rzå Mahd¥ ≈sht¥yån¥ and M¥rzå appleåhir
Tunikåbun¥, who were active into the Pahlavi period, when such outstanding
teachers as Sayyid Ab¨˘l-¡asan Qazw¥n¥, Sayyid Mu±ammad
Kaπ¥m ‘A∑∑år, and ‘Allåmah appleabå†abå˘¥ came to dominate the scene.
From the 1960s onward a veritable revival of Islamic philosophy
occurred in the traditional schools as well as in circles of Westerneducated
Iranians, a revival that continues to this day. It must be remembered
that Ayatollah R¨± Allåh Khumayn¥ (Khomeini) studied and
taught ÷ikmat for decades in Qom before entering the political arena and
that the first head of the Council of the Islamic Revolution after the Iranian