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

Al-¡ikmat al-Ilåhiyyah and Kalåm 59
not able to conceive of real perfection. 16 It is certain that
simply to imitate philosophers and to consider perfection
to reside solely in transmitting their words and guidance to
reside solely in following them is pure error and the very
essence of wretchedness. Rather, the sure way of acquiring
the divine sciences (ma‘årif) is pure demonstration and the
simple acquiring of certainty. Therefore, it is neither necessary
to be a mutakallim nor a philosopher. Rather, one must
be a believer (mu’min) who has faith in Divine Unity
(muwa÷÷id) and one must have confidence in correct action,
begging assistance in one’s action from the true Shar¥‘ah.
And if a person is not capable of achieving true perfection,
he must never cease to imitate the truly perfect men. 17
Shi‘ite kalåm soon became eclipsed completely in Persia with the
revival of ÷ikmah, especially of the school of Mullå S • adrå at the end of
the twelfth/eighteenth and beginning of the thirteenth/nineteenth
centuries. Two of the sons of Låh¥j¥, M¥rzå Ibråh¥m and M¥rzå ¡asan,
were also authorities in both kalåm and ÷ikmah. Hasan is the more
important of the two. He studied in Qom where he died in 1121/
1709. 18 He wrote on both kalåm and philosophy, which he defended
against its opponents. His works include Zawåhir al-÷ikam (The Flowers
of Philosophical Sciences) which has a strong Avicennan color;
Ā˘¥na-yi ÷ikmat (The Mirror of Philosophy) which is also of a philosophical
nature; and glosses upon the Shawåriq of his father on kalåm.
It is said that he first began to write on ÷ikmah and the relation between
÷ikmah and Sufism and only after being condemned by some of
the exoteric religious authorities turned to writing on kalåm and ethics.
It is also interesting to note that although he was the grandson of
Mullå S • adrå, he does not refer to the ÷ikmat al-muta‘åliyah at all.
The life of ¡asan Låh¥j¥ coincides with the end of the Safavid
period and opposition to both ÷ikmah and ‘irfån in Shi‘ite religious
circles in Persia and Iraq. But strangely enough it also coincides with
the swan song of Shi‘ite kalåm as the al-÷ikmat al-ilåhiyyah tradition
becomes revived and soon replaces kalåm almost completely. Henceforth,
great religious scholars appear such as Mullå Mahd¥ Naråq¥
who are both jurisprudents and philosophers, but no authority on
Shi‘ite kalåm appears with the prominence of an al-¡ill¥ or Låh¥j¥. Only
in the past two decades has a new school of kalåm called “kalåm-i
jad¥d” been established in Qom and other centers of Shi‘ite learning to
confront the challenges of modernism and postmodernism. But even
in this domain of providing religious and theological responses to the