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

236 Part 3: Islamic Philosophy in History
expositor of gnosis, Qå∂¥ Sa‘¥d, taught. Yet, despite all the opposition
to ÷ikmat in Isfahan during the latter part of Safavid rule, and despite
the devastation brought about by the Afghan invasion, ÷ikmat continued
to survive albeit precariously in Isfahan, and once the political
situation settled down, it was in this city that philosophical activity
and especially the teachings of Mullå |adrå ‘s al-÷ikmat al-muta‘åliyah
were revived.
A number of philosophers were witness to the storm at the end
of the Safavid period, chief among them Mullå Ismå‘¥l Khåj¨˘¥ (d.1173/
1760), who survived into the Zand period. In one of his works he
describes the devastation caused by the conquest of Isfahan and the
suffering he underwent. His own life was endangered, and many of
his works were lost, but he survived to continue to teach ÷ikmat and
trained an important student such as Naråq¥, among others. 4 The major
reviver of |adrean philosophy in Isfahan was, however, Mullå ‘Al¥
N¨r¥, who lived about a century and taught ÷ikmat in Isfahan for some
seventy years until his death in 1246/1830–31. No one after Mullå
|adrå has done so much to propagate the doctrines of al-÷ikmat almuta‘åliyah,
through the teaching of numerous important students and
writing glosses, commentaries, and annotations upon the works of
Mullå |adrå, including the Asfår. 5 N¨r¥’s most important students include
his own son M¥rzå ¡asan N¨r¥, as well as Mullå ‘Abd Allåh
Zun¨z¥, Mullå Mu±ammad Ismå‘¥l Darbk¨shk¥ I∑fahån¥, Sayyid Ra∂¥
Lår¥jån¥, ≈qå Mu±ammad R¥∂å Qumsha˘¥, Mullå Mu±ammad Ja‘far
Langar¨d¥ , Mullå ≈qå-i Qazw¥n¥, and many other well-known figures.
The origin of the School of Tehran is to be sought in the Isfahan of the
early thirteenth/nineteenth centuries and the circle of Mullå ‘Al¥ N¨r¥.
Even after the center of philosophical activity shifted to Tehran,
Isfahan remained a vibrant philosophical center, producing such famous
philosophers as Jahång¥r Khån Qashqå˘¥ and in more recent
times ≈qå M¥rzå Ra±¥m Arbåb, who died in the Pahlavi period.
Whether one can call the long period of philosophical activity stretching
from M¥r Dåmåd to someone like Arbåb or Jalål Humå˘¥, who
died just two decades ago, the “School of Isfahan” is open to debate, 6
but certainly something of the earlier School of Isfahan survived after
the Safavid period into the Qajar period and even into the contemporary
era and served as the source for the School of Tehran, which
became central in Persia from the thirteenth/nineteenth century onward.
The School of Tehran represents both a continuity with the
School of Isfahan as far as major philosophical issues and position are
concerned, and discontinuity created by the fact that it was in Tehran
where the Islamic philosophical tradition in Persia encountered West-