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

Philosophy in Azarbaijan and the School of Shiraz 195
Isfahan was begun culminating in the rise of the most famous philosopher
of Shiraz, Mullå |adrå, who had studied in his early years in his
city of birth, Shiraz, probably under figures associated with the circle
of Jamål al-D¥n Ma±m¨d Sh¥råz¥, who was still teaching in 965/1557,
and possibly also the circle of Jalål al-D¥n Dawån¥ (d. 908/1501). The
greatest figures of the School of Shiraz 18 such as ‘A∂ud al-D¥n Áj¥ (d.
756/1355), M¥r Sayyid Shar¥f Jurjån¥ (d. 816/1413), the Dashtak¥s, Jalål
al-D¥n Dawån¥, and Shams al-D¥n Khafr¥ (d. 957/1549) were in fact
known far beyond the borders of Fars, and many of them exercised
the greatest influence on Islamic thinkers of the Ottoman world and
Muslim India.
THE MAJOR PHILOSOPHERS OF THE SCHOOL OF SHIRAZ
Technically one should start the School of Shiraz with Qu†b al-D¥n
Sh¥råz¥, who, however, left Shiraz as a young man and who belongs
more to the School of Maraghah and Azarbaijan as mentioned earlier.
As for famous figures such as Áj¥ and Jurjån¥, they produced works of
philosophical theology and were essentially experts on kalåm rather
than falsafah. We shall therefore confine ourselves to four figures who
dominated the philosophical scene in Shiraz from the eighth/fourteenth
century to the tenth/sixteenth century before the time of Mullå
|adrå and who were full-fledged philosophers. These figures are |adr
al-D¥n Dashtak¥ and his son, Ghiyåth al-D¥n Man∑¨r, Jalål al-D¥n
Dawån¥, and Shams al-D¥n Khafr¥.
M¥r S.adr al-D¥n Dashtak¥ known also as Sayyid-i Sanad
|adr al-D¥n Mu±ammad Dashtak¥, the real founder of the School of
Shiraz was born in 828/1424 in the quarter of Dashtak in Shiraz into
a family who descended from the Prophet and who migrated to Shiraz
in the fifth/eleventh century. 19 Later in life he was given the honorific
title of |adr al-‘ulamå˘ (Foremost among Scholars) and Sayyid almudaqqiq¥n
(Master of Knowledge of the Minutiae of Things), the
first title being often the cause of his being confused with |adr almuta˘allih¥n
or Mullå |adrå. |adr al-D¥n Dashtak¥ studied Arabic and
the transmitted sciences with his uncle Sayyid ¡ab¥b Allåh Dashtak¥
and philosophy with Muslim Fårs¥, an otherwise unknown figure.
Some have also mentioned Mawlå Qawåm al-D¥n Mu±ammad Kulbår¥
as his teacher in logic and philosophy. Since the chain of transmission
of philosophical knowledge is of great importance, it is worthwhile to