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Hikma mutaaliya in Qajar Iran: Locatingthe Life and Work of
Mulla HadiSabzawari (d. 1289/1873)Sajjad H. Rizvi
Available online: 24 Jun 2011
To cite this article: Sajjad H. Rizvi (2011): Hikma mutaaliya in
Qajar Iran: Locating the Life andWork of Mulla Hadi Sabzawari (d.
1289/1873), Iranian Studies, 44:4, 473-496
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Sajjad H. Rizvi
Hikma mutaaliya in Qajar Iran: Locating the Life and Work of
MullaHadi Sabzawari (d. 1289/1873)
The Qajar period witnessed a revival of traditional Islamic
philosophy based on thephilosophical method of the Safavid sage
Mulla Sadra Shirazi. This was philosophy asa way of life, an
ethical commitment born of a method that combined both
rationaldiscourse and mystical intuition, deployed to defend the
intellectual and cultural normsof the old learning against the new
European inspired centers in Qajar Iran. Aprominent figure in this
process of revival was Mulla Hadi Sabzavari, who trained inthe
seminaries of Mashhad and Isfahan and became the most famous
teacher of theworks of Mulla Sadra and of philosophy in the second
half of the nineteenth century.This paper examines his life and
intellectual and pedagogical contribution, and tracessome lines of
his impact on seminarian philosophy into the twentieth century
throughthe many students who came to study with him in his
hometown, including hisinfluence on modern trends within Shii
jurisprudence and legal theory.
This age is devoid of wisdom and suffers from a drought of the
waters of the grace ofcertainty (amtar al-yaqin) from the clouds of
Mercy (sahab al-rahma) and from amultitude of sins committed by
those who are negligent and ignorant. The gatesof heaven [acquired
by] the intellect have been barred to them, and true understand-ing
of the Lord of Heaven has been made forbidden to them as deceit has
contami-nated their love. They have forsaken the Truth for
falsehoods and have becomeaddicted to ornamentation and
affectation. They no longer traverse the land of abso-lutes nor
swim in the seas of the realities of Revelation; they have
exchanged everlast-ing, righteous deeds (al-baqiyat al-salihat)1
for partial, transient deeds (al-juziyatal-dathirat) that will
become obsolete. Their deeds reveal the conjectural nature oftheir
aims, and the purpose of their desires is self-centered and
mal-intended
When I saw philosophy, it was woven by spiders of forgetfulness,
and its characterand dominance had been discarded to a corner where
it languished, exiled.2
Sajjad Rizvi is Associate Professor of Islamic Intellectual
History at the Institute of Arab and IslamicStudies at the
University of Exeter where he directs the Centre of Islamic
Philosophy.
1The reference is to Quran 18:46 (and also 19:76).2Hadi
Sabzavari, Sharh al-manzuma: qism al-hikma, ed. Masud Talibi
(Tehran, 1374s./1995),
I: 378.
Iranian Studies, volume 44, number 4, July 2011
ISSN 0021-0862 print/ISSN 1475-4819 online/11/040473242011 The
International Society for Iranian StudiesDOI
10.1080/00210862.2011.569327
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This lament for the state of philosophy in his time was written
at the beginning ofhis major philosophical work by the subject of
this article, Mulla Hadi Sabzawari. It isnot uncommon for
philosophers and thinkers in the Islamic period to lament
theintellectual lassitude and decline of their times; such a
complaint provides a justifica-tion for insisting upon their own
world-historical importance and bombast. It signals aplea for the
reader and the student to take notice of the contents of what is to
followbecause ignorance is cured by knowledge: the absence of
philosophy and its misuserequires a response that establishes
philosophy at the heart of human, religiously com-mitted inquiry.
But in the context of the nineteenth century, the lament
signifiedmore: it punctuated a sense of revolution, change and
anguish in society. The intellec-tual and spiritual turmoil of
Qajar Iran, somewhat mirroring political uncertaintiesand vagaries
allowed for the flourishing both of new (and at times
heterodox)ideas; this was further exacerbated through the
challenges brought on by fresh encoun-ters with European thought
and the revival of modes of traditional reasoning. Theproblems of
the Qajar period were exacerbated by messianic and chiliastic
movementsassociated with the millennium of the disappearance of the
Twelfth Imam. The revivalof charismatic authority and the inflated
claims of extreme social, religious and politi-cal agents coupled
with the social class divisions emerged into the Shaykhi,
Babi,Bahai, and Ismaili revolts and upheavals of the nineteenth
century. Messianism tar-geted at the moral order of society and
eschatological expectation clashed with the tra-ditional orders in
the absence of central authority and its legitimacy, and the sense
ofintellectual and cultural instability heightened by new moves
towards social, politicaland cultural modernization, even soft
colonialism.3 The retreat of the central politi-cal authority and
its lack of a standing army allowed the encroachment of
colonialpowers leading to the major defeats at the hands of the
Russians in the wars of180513 and 182628 culminating in the
humiliating Treaty of Turkmanchay.4
The advent of new learning in philosophy and science triggered a
traditionalist(even nativist) response from the ulema as the class
of specialists with vested interestsin the current systems of
education.5 At the same time, the upheavals of the
eighteenthcentury had given way to relative stability in some major
Iranian cities; in particular,Isfahan had retained some of its past
cultural glories. Despite the calamitous sack of1722 at the hands
of the Afghans that struck a death blow to the Safavid Empire,
3Nikki Keddie, Roots of Revolution: An Interpretive History of
Modern Iran (New Haven, CT, 1981),408; idem, Religion and
Irreligion in Early Iranian Nationalism, Comparative Studies in
Society andHistory, 4 (1962): 270; Abbas Amanat, Resurrection and
Renewal: the Making of the Babi Movementin Iran, 18441850 (Ithaca,
NY, 1989), 29; Said A. Arjomand, The Shadow of God and the
HiddenImam (Chicago, 1984), 14; D. MacEoin, Charismatic Authority
in Qajar Shiism, in Qajar Iran,ed. E. Bosworth and C. Hillenbrand
(Edinburgh, 1983), 169; M. Bayat, Mysticism and Dissent:
Sociore-ligious Thought in Qajar Iran (Syracuse, NY, 1982).
4Abbas Amanat, Pivot of the Universe: Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar
and the Iranian Monarchy, 18311896 (London, 1997), 1516.
5Amanat, Pivot of the Universe, 351405; David Menashri,
Education and the Making of Modern Iran(Ithaca, NY, 1992), 2775;
Monica Ringer, Education, Religion, and the Discourse of Cultural
Reform inQajar Iran (Costa Mesa, CA, 2001). One of the best studies
of the role of the ulema in society and poli-tics in the period
remains Hamid Algar, Religion and State in Iran, 17851906
(Berkeley, CA, 1969).
474 Rizvi
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the pursuit of knowledge and its transmission continued
unabated.6 It was to this citythat students eager to study in the
traditional Shii seminaries, the hawza-ha-yiilmiyya, flocked.7 One
of these students in the early nineteenth century was a khur-asani,
Hadi ibn Mahdi Sabzawari, who would later become the most
importanttraditional philosopher of the Qajar period.8 It was his
training in the revived philo-sophical tradition of Mulla Sadra (d.
c. 1045/1635) and his espousal of that traditionin his commentaries
and especially in his new textbook on philosophy, Sharh
ghuraral-faraid (Commentary on the Whites of the Pearls) better
known as Sharh-imanzuma (Commentary on the Poem), that established
the intellectual hegemonyof the philosophical system known as hikma
mutaaliya (transcendent philosophy)that dominates the hawza (at
least in Iran) to this day. Hikma mutaaliya is a philo-sophical
method that combines rational discourse and mystical intuition, and
thus isconsidered to be superior, on the one hand, to the mere
discourse of the Avicenniantradition and, on the other, to the
mystical claims that lacked logical grounding in theworks of the
Sufis.9 Sabzawari considered the critical intellectual need of his
time wasfor a revived philosophical tradition, one which examined
reality through the twinprisms of intellect and intuition and which
posed a rigorous and religiously rootedresponse to intellectual
challenges in his time, a true philosophy unencumbered bythe weight
of the mere rehearsal of tradition and unrestricted by the cobwebs
of unim-aginative presentation.
I contend that it was the contribution of Sabzawari to the
intellectual history of theQajar period that established the school
of Mulla Sadra, to the exclusion of other intel-lectual trends. He
was the critical link (even if not the sole one) in the
transmission of
6On the sack of Isfahan, see Willem Floor, The Afghan Occupation
of Safavid Persia, 17211729(Paris, 1998); Michael Axworthy, The
Sword of Persia Nader Shah: From Tribal Warrior to ConqueringTyrant
(London, 2006), 1754; Andrew Newman, Safavid Iran (London, 2006),
11516.
7There are now a number of studies on the functioning of the
Shii seminary both at the shrine citiesof Iraq and in Iran, and on
the three stages of becoming a jurist: preliminaries (muqaddimat),
intermedi-ate jurisprudential training (sutuh), and advanced
independent reasoning based on responses to the workon a living
model of emulation (marja) known as bahth (or dars) al-kharij. See
Sabrina Mervin, La qutedu savoir Nag af: Les tudes religieuses chez
les chiites immites de la fin du XIXe sicle 1960, StudiaIslamica,
81 (1995): 16585; Chibli Mallat, The Renewal of Islamic Law:
Muhammad Baqer as-Sadr,Najaf and the Shii International (Cambridge,
1993), 3545; Muhammad Jawad Mughniyyah, Maulama al-najaf al-ashraf
(Beirut, 1992); Nur al-Din al-Shahrudi, Tarikh al-haraka al-ilmiyya
fiKarbala (Beirut, 1990); Roy Mottahedeh, The Mantle of the
Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran(London, 1987); M. M. J.
Fischer, Iran: From Religious Dispute to Revolution (Cambridge,
MA,1980), 12103; Meir Litvak, Shii Scholars of Nineteenth-century
Iraq: The Ulama of Najaf andKarbala (Cambridge, 1998); Abd al-Hadi
al-Fadli, Dalil al-Najaf al-ashraf (Najaf, 1966).
8Although there is a considerable literature on Sabzawari in
Persian, there is very little in Europeanlanguages. A few useful
studies are: Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Renaissance in Iran: H j Mull Hd
Sabzi-wr, A History of Muslim Philosophy, ed. M. M. Sharif
(Wiesbaden, 1966), II: 154356; ToshihikoIzutsu, The Fundamental
Structure of Sabzawrs Metaphysics, in Sabzawari, Sharh Ghurar
al-faraid maruf bih Sharh-i Manzuma-yi hikmat: qismat-i umur-i amma
wa jawhar wa araz,ed. T. Izutsu and M. Mohaghegh (Tehran, 1969),
1152; and Wahid Akhtar, Sabzawrs Analysis ofBeing, Al-Tawhd, II,
no. 1 (1984): 2970.
9See Sajjad Rizvi, Mull Sadr and Metaphysics: Modulation of
Being (London, 2009), 2126.
The Life and Work of Mulla Hadi Sabzawari 475
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the school to themodern period.He taught the works ofMulla
Sadra, commented uponthem and was instrumental in their
dissemination through the lithographic publicationof the texts in
the middle of the Qajar period. After providing an account of his
intel-lectual formation in Iran, I will discuss his curriculum
formation, pedagogical methodand writings, giving an account of
what has sometimes been described as the school ofKhorasan (by
analogy to the famed Safavid school of Isfahan as defined by
HenryCorbin and Seyyed Hossein Nasr); and finally conclude with
some observations ofhis legacy, the parallel developments in the
so-called school of Tehran and the per-petuation of traditional
Shii philosophy in the face of the encroachment of new Euro-pean
thought in the reformed educational institutions of the late Qajar
state.10
Life and Intellectual Formation
One thousand, two hundred and twelve lunar years after the
migration of the Prophetto Medina (corresponding to the year 179798
of the Common Era), Hadi, son ofMahdi, was born in the town of
Sabzawar (in the district of Bayhaq), a Shii centerof learning some
230 kilometers west of Mashhad, the famous shrine city dedicatedto
the eighth Shii Imam Ali b. Musa al-Rida.11 Some years later, the
European tra-velers and scholars Arthur de Gobineau and Edward
Browne were to meet him at theheight of his fame. Browne famously
described him as the last great Islamic philoso-pher and provided
the following physical description:
[He] was tall of stature, thin and of a slender frame; his
complexion was dark, hisface pleasing to look upon, his speech
eloquent and flowing, his manner gentle,unobtrusive and even
humble.12
10See Isfahan, School of, Encylopaedia Iranica, XIV, 11925. On
the notion of the school of Isfahanand later of Tehran, see Seyyed
Hossein Nasr, Islamic Philosophy from its Origin to the Present:
Philosophyin the Land of Prophecy (Albany, NY, 2006), 20957.
11Sabzawaris modern biographer Ghulam-Husayn Riza-Nizhad Nushin
argues on the basis of achronogram of the author in which he
alludes to his year of birth with the term gharib that he wasborn
in 1212 AHsee Hakim-i Sabzawari: zindagiatharfalsafa (Tehran,
1371s./1992), 35. Animportant source is his own autobiography that
was written in Sabzawar around 1280/186364 and pub-lished by Qasim
Ghani in Yadgar, I, no. 3 (1944): 4547. A short introduction is
Seyyed Hossein Nasr,Hd Sabzavr, EIr. The biographical sources on
his life are: Riza-quli Khan Hidayat (d. 1871), Tadh-kira-yi riyaz
al-arifin (Tehran, 1316s./1937), 41720 (Asrr-i Sabzawari); Muhammad
Hasan KhanItimad al-Saltana (d. 1896), Matla al-shams: tarikh-i
arz-i aqdas wa Mashhad-i muqaddas (Tehran,1363s./1965), III: 984;
Masum-Ali Shah Shirazi (d. 1926), Taraiq al-haqaiq, ed. M. J.
Mahjub(Tehran, 1339s./1960), III: 46566; Muhammad Hirz al-Din (d.
1946), Maarif al-rijal fi tarajim al-ulama wa-l-udaba (Qum, 1985),
III, 22023; Sayyid Muhsin al-Amin (d. 1952), Ayan al-shia,ed. S. H.
al-Amin (Beirut, 1983), X: 234; Muhammad Ali Muallim-i Habibabadi,
Makarim al-athardar ahwal-i rijal-i dawra-yi Qajar (Isfahan,
195863), II: 45052; Mudarris-i Tabrizi (d. 1954), Rayha-nat al-adab
(Tehran, 132633s./194754), II: 15658; Shaykh Abd Allah Nima,
Falasifat al-shia:hayatuhum wa-arauhum (Beirut, 1961), 621;
Manuchihr Saduqi Suha, Tarikh-i hukama wa urafa-yi mutaakhkhirin az
Sadr al-mutaallihin (Tehran, 1980), 10955.
12E. G. Browne, A History of Persian Literature Volume 4
(Cambridge, 1924), 411; idem, A Yearamong the Persians (London,
1983), 133.
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His father Mirza Mahdi ibn Muhammad Sadiq was an educated
merchant andlandowner, whose interest in learning (his son later
referred to him as my noblefatherwaliduna-l-fadil) and relative
wealth provided the conditions of leisureand encouragement for the
young Hadi.13 On his return from the pilgrimage toMecca in
1220/180506, his father died in Shiraz and left the young Sabzawari
anorphan at the age of eight.14 His cousin Mirza Husayn took charge
of the boy as asurrogate father and in pursuit of his education
installed him around 1222/180708 in Mashhad at the Madrasa-yi Hajj
Hasan near the shrine to undertakethe preliminaries (muqaddimat) of
his study.15 There, he shared Mirza Husayns quar-ters and the
latter initiated him into the study of Arabic grammar, syntax and
mor-phology, fiqh and jurisprudence and legal theory and Euclidean
mathematics(riyaziyyat) and some logic (mantiq). Mirza Husayn was
both his paternal and hismaternal cousin (pisar-i amm wa
khala-zad). Sabzawari later gave an account ofthese beginnings:
Until I was ten, I remained in Sabzawar The possessor of
excellences, the complete savant who practiced what he knew,
thecomprehensive sage, the pious and abstemious scholar, the
penitent worshipper, thecream of the notables (zubdat al-ashraf),
who needs no introduction, the son ofmy aunt, Hajj Mulla Husayn
Sabzawari who had studied for years in the holy city ofMashhad took
me from Sabzawar to Mashhad. The late scholar was my teacher
inArabic, law and jurisprudence, but, as for those disciplines to
which I was myselfinclined and desirous of pursuing, namely
systematic theology and philosophy(kalam wa-falsafa), he taught me
little, but he did teach me logic and some math-ematics (mantiq
wa-qalili az riyazi).16
He stayed in Mashhad for ten years and acquired a taste for
mystical speculationand philosophy.17 In 1232/1817, he returned to
Sabzawar and was married. A sonMuhammad was born the following year
and soon after, desiring to perform the pil-grimage to Mecca and to
undertake the study of philosophy in Isfahan, he set outalone from
Sabzavar in 1233/1818 leaving his family in the care of his
cousin.18
13Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 54; Masud Talibi,
Introduction, to Sabzawari, Sharh al-manzuma, 4.
14Riza-Nizhad,Hakim-i Sabzawari, 40. Murtaza Mudarrissi
Chahardahi argues that he died in Meccaduring the Hajjsee Zindagani
wa falsafa-yi Hajj Mulla Hadi Sabzawari (Tehran, 1334s./1955),
16.
15This madrasa no longer exists but was located on the north
side of the khiyaban-i haram-i mutahharbetween the Madrasa-yi
Baqiriyya where Muhammad Baqir Sabzawari (d. 1683) had taught law
and jur-isprudence and the Madrasa-ye Nawwab. The western side of
the Baqiriyya was next to the eastern side ofHajj Hasan. It had
some one hundred students housed in about twenty-five rooms. With
the modernexpansion of the shrine complex, these two madrasas have
been demolished. Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sab-zawari, 46.
16Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 4041.17Browne and Habibabadi
suggest that he only stayed in Mashhad for five years but this
seems to be
incorrectsee Habibabadi, Makarim al-athar, II: 451; cf.
Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 4346.18Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i
Sabzawari, 47.
The Life and Work of Mulla Hadi Sabzawari 477
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There, he lodged and studied at the Madrasa-yi Kasa-Giran also
known as theMadrasa-yi Shamsiyya. This madrasa was founded in
1104/169293 by Shams al-Din Muhammad Yazdi, after whom it was
named, and was located in the neighbor-hood of Kasa-Giran.
Isfahan was witnessing a revival of interest in philosophy and
generally in the studyof the Islamic humanities and he soon became
devoted to the study of the school ofMulla Sadra. In Isfahan, he
studied with major figures. In the scriptural and jurispru-dential
disciplines, he began his studies with a young scholar Shaykh
Muhammad AliNajafi (d. 1245/1829), attending his classes at the
Madrasa-ye Dhu-l-Fiqar for twoyears.19 Najafi was also renowned for
his skill in theology and wrote marginalia onthe Shawariq al-ilham
(Illuminations of Inspiration) of Abd al-Razzaq Lahiji (d.1661) and
on the commentaries on the Tajrid al-Itiqad (Summary of Belief)
ofNasir al-Din Tusi (d. 1274).
However, Sabzawaris main teachers in jurisprudence were famous
in their time. Hehimself said that he was excited by the city of
knowledge that was Isfahan and within amonth of arriving he began
to attend the classes of Hajji Kalbasi and Shaykh Muham-mad Taqi.20
The former was Mulla Muhammad Ibrahim Kalbasi (or Karbasi, d.
1261/1845).21 Kalbasi had studied in the shrine cities of Iraq with
Mulla Mahdi Naraqi (d.1209/1794), Sayyid Muhammad Tabatabai Bahr
al-Ulum (d. 1797) and Muham-mad Baqir Vahid Bihbahani (d. 1791). He
had also studied philosophy with thefamous sage of the later
eighteenth century Aqa Muhammad Bidabadi (d. 1198/1783) and with
his contemporary Mulla Muhammad Rafi Gilani. Kalbasi was themost
important jurist of his time and his works Shawari al-hidaya (Paths
ofGuidance) and Isharat al-usul (Pointers in Jurisprudence) in
jurisprudence andMinhaj al-hidaya (Way of Guidance) and Irshad
al-mustarshidin (Directing thosein Need of Direction) on positive
legal judgments became major sources of studyand reference.22
His other main teacher in jurisprudence was Shaykh Muhammad Taqi
ibn Abd al-Rahim Isfahani (d. 1248/1832), an important jurist and
author of Hidayat al-mustar-shidin (Guidance of those in Need of
Direction).23 He had studied in Najaf with theeminent Shaykh Jafar
Najafi Kashif al-Ghita (d. 1227/1812).
In philosophy, he studied with two prominent teachers of the
school of MullaSadra: Mulla Ismail and Ali Nuri. Mulla Ismail
Darbkushki Isfahani (d. 1268/1853), known as wahid al-ayn because
he was blind in one eye, taught the majorworks of Mulla Sadra such
as al-Hikma al-mutaaliya fi-l-asfar al-aqliyya al-arbaa(The
Transcendent Philosophy of the Four Journeys of the Intellect) and
al-Shawahidal-rububiyya (Divine Witnessings) and al-Mabda wa-l-maad
(The Beginning and the
19Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 55.20Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i
Sabzawari, 57.21Chahardahi, Sabzawari, 29; Mirza Abu-l-Qasim
Muhammad Mahdi Kashmiri Lakhnawi, Nuju al-
sama (Qum, 1976), 68.22Hossein Modarressi Tabatabai, An
Introduction to Sh Law: a Bibliographical Study (London,
1984), 93, 99.23Chahardahi, Sabzawari, 29. For some reason
unclear to me, Riza-Nizhad does not mention him.
478 Rizvi
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Return), on which he wrote marginalia (hashiya), and the
theological texts of Tusiand Lahiji.24 Mulla Ismail was a
comprehensive scholar known for his piety andSabzawari studied with
him for at least five years. He himself had been a student ofNuri,
Sabzawaris more famous instructor.
Mulla Ali ibn Jamshid Mazandarani Nuri (d. Rajab 1246/1830) was
the true heirand reviver of the school of Mulla Sadra.25 He had
himself studied with Bidabadi andhence had an intellectual
genealogy stretching back to Mulla Sadra in the followingchain:
NuriBidabadiIsmail Khajui (d. 1173/1759)Haydar Amuli (d.
1150/173738)Muhsin Fayd Kashani (d. 1680)Mulla Sadra. He wrote
commentarieson all the major works of Mulla Sadra, and Sabzawari
studied with him for at leastthree years. Along with Kalbasi, he
was the reviver of the intellectual fortunes ofIsfahan and when he
died his funeral prayers were led by the prominent jurist andshaykh
al-islam of the city Mulla Muhammad Baqir Shafti (d.
1260/1844).
In 1240/1824, the (in)famous Shaykh Ahmad ibn Zayn al-Din
al-Ahsai (d. 1241/1826),supposed founder of the controversial
Shaykhi school and a philosopher highlycritical of the school of
Mulla Sadra, came to Isfahan. On the advice of Nuri, Sabza-wari
attended his class for about two months.26 While he respected
Ahsais piety andreputation, he was influenced by Mulla Ismails
hostile attack on his commentary onthe Hikma Arshiyya (Wisdom of
the Throne) of Mulla Sadra, and later back in Sab-zawar, he was
quite critical of the ideas of Shaykh Ahmad.27 Yet in his
autobiography,Sabzawari wrote of Ahsai: He had no equal in
asceticism, but he did not make a showof his excellence and
eminence before the scholars of Isfahan.28
He remained in Isfahan for eight years and in 1242/182627
returned toMashhad to complete his study of jurisprudence.29 This
was the same year that oneof his teachers in philosophy Mulla
Ismail left for Tehran to teach there.30 In thesame year, he began
his magnum opus, the philosophical poem Ghurar al-faraidknown
simply as manzuma (the poem), and then later its commentary which
wascompleted in 1261/1845. Having taught and studied in Mashhad for
a further fiveyears, he returned to Sabzawar and then once again
set out for the pilgrimage toMecca, returning in 1250/1834.31 The
recent death of Fath Ali Shah and the sub-sequent turmoil made a
quick return to Sabzawar dangerous so Sabzawari went toKirman and
stayed at the Madrasa-yi Masumiyya for around a year. There he
24Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 5865.25Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i
Sabzawari, 6569.26Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 6974.27For
example, he defended Fayd Kashani against Ahsais criticism of his
treatise on knowledge in al-
Muhakamat wa-l-muqawamat in Rasail-i hakim-i Sabzawari, ed. S.
J. Ashtiyani (Tehran, 1376s./1997),581601. For a discussion of
these texts, see Todd Lawson, Orthodoxy and heterodoxy in
TwelverShiism: Ah mad al-Ah s on Fayd Kshn, Religion and Society in
Qajar Iran, ed. R. Gleave(London, 2005), 12754.
28Mohaghegh, Introduction,, to Sabzawr, Sharh Ghurar al-faraid,
11.29Browne, A Year among the Persians, 132 mentions a stay of
seven years; Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sab-
zawari, 52.30Talibi, Introduction, 4; Hirz al-Din, Maarif
al-rijal, 220.31Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 82.
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married a woman known as Bibi Kuchik Khanum who bore him two
further sons,Muhammad Ismail and Abd al-Qayyum, and four daughters,
Nuriyya, Zakiyya,Safiyya and Qudsiyya.32 His time in Kirman may
explain some elements of his mys-tical inclinations and even
possible Sufi affiliations. Riza-Nizhad and Ibrahimi Dinaniclaim
that his father-in-law Mulla Muhammad Arif was his spiritual master
in thatcity.33 Of course, some of his students were well known
Sufis and we shall returnto the question of Sabzawari and
Sufism.
In 1252/183637, he returned to his birthplace, stopping in
Mashhad on the wayto teach and perform the visitation to the shrine
of the Imam where it is said that heremained for ten months.34 Back
in Sabzawar, he began to teach at the Madrasa-yeFasihiyya, which
had been founded in 1126/1714 by a Safavid notable Abd al-Sani.35
From here, his fame spread and he attracted students from around
the Persia-nate world. In 1863, Comte Arthur de Gobineau (d. 1882),
the French ambassadorvisited him and was much impressed. In his
Religions et philosophies dans lAsie centrale(first published in
1865), he left an important account of philosophy in Iran
sinceMulla Sadra and the role of Sabzawari:
Son Excellence le Hadjy Moulla Hady, de Sebzewar, qui vit encore
aujourdhui, g peu prs de soixante-dix ans. Il est tout fait hors
ligne. Cest un savant minent,un rudit solide, un matre accompli
dans les tudes mtaphysiques, et dans tout cequi tient aux hautes
connaissances. Il a compos un grand nombre de commentairessur les
uvres diverses de Moulla Sadra.
Ce personnage jouit en Perse dune considration sans gale Sa
rputation descience est tellement tendue, quil lui vient Sebzewar,
son lieu de naissance, oil est rentr depuis de longues annes, pour
nen plus sortir, des lves et des audi-teurs partis de lInde, de la
Turquie et de lArabie Le grand mrite de Hadjy Moulla Hady est
davoir repris luvre de MoullaSadra. De mme que celui-ci restaurait
Avicenne dans la mesure possible, demme celui-l restaure la fois et
Moulla Sadra lui-mme et son auteur, usantde toute la latitude que
peut lui donner la libert plus grande du temps onous vivons. Il
est, en effet, bien que voil encore, plus explicite que lAkhound,et
se rapproche du grand matre avec une plnitude de franchise qui
navait past vue depuis des sicles. L est la cause de lenthousiasme
quil excite, et pourcette raison on ne peut nier quil marque un
moment intressant dans lhistoirephilosophique du pays.36
32Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 8384, 257; Hirz al-Din, Maarif
al-rijal, 220.33Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 82; personal
interview with Prof. Ghulam Husayn Ibrahimi
Dinani at the University of Tehran on 3 January 1996.34Browne, A
Year among the Persians, 132; Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari,
8586.35Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 87.36Arthur de Gobineau,
Religions et philosophies dans lAsie centrale (Paris, 1933),
9597.
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At the height of his fame, he was visited by the ruler Nasir
al-Din Shah Qajar on28 Muharram 1284/1 June 1867 while the king was
on a visit to the shrine atMashhad.37 The king was struck by his
piety and poise and arranged for thecourt photographer Aqa-yi Riza
to make a portrait of him. He also asked the phi-losopher to pray
for him; Sabzawari, not wishing to be drawn into the ambit ofthe
rulers court, insisted that he prayed for all believers but on
being pressed,declaimed, O God, preserve the ruler of Islam!, an
ambiguous formula that didnot name Nasir al-Din. The king also
presented him with a gift of 500 tomansbut Sabzawari did not
directly accept the money; instead, he distributed it amongthe
poor. Nevertheless, he acquiesced to a royal commission to write a
shortPersian work on philosophy; this was Asrar al-hikam (The
Secrets of Philosophy),which was lithographed and distributed to
scholars free of charge at the expenseof the court vizier.38
Sabzawari died at the age of 77 on 22 Dhu-l-Hajja 1289/20
February 1873 and wasburied near his house at the Darvaza-yi
Nisabur. There is some dispute about the dateof his death.39 His
son-in-law Sayyid Hasan stated that he died in 1290. His
sonsMuhammad Ismail and Abd al-Qayyum, however, mentioned late
Dhu-l-Hajja1289. Browne opts for 1295/1878 but this seems to be a
confusion for the date ofthe construction of his shrine built by
the court vizier Mirza Yusuf Ashtiyani Mus-tawfi al-mamalik (d.
1303/1886).40 But some date at the end of 1289 seems mostlikely and
is attested by a number of chronograms such as that composed by
hisstudent Mulla Muhammad Kazim Sirr Sabzawari who was present at
his deathand after:
Asrar [Sabzawaris pen-name] has left the world suchLament
reaches up to the empyrean from the earth.If you ask the date of
his passing,We say: he did not die, but became more alive (kih
na-murd, zinda-tar shud =1289).41
Contribution
Sabzawari was a prolific writer. Before discussing his works and
his legacy through hisstudents, I want to sketch his pedagogy as
expressed in his autobiography and in theaccounts of his many
students.
A demanding teacher, Sabzawari divided his classes by ability.
New and elementarystudents were required to follow the basic
program: grammar through the Alfiyya of
37Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 25961; Amanat, Pivot of the
Universe, 416.38Chahardahi, Sabzawari, 15; Mohaghegh, Introduction,
14.39Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 3539.40Browne, A Year among
the Persians, 133; Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 265;
Mohaghegh,
Introduction, 21.41Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 36.
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Ibn Malik (d. 672/1274), logic taught with the Sharh al-matali
(Commentary on theRising Places) of al-Sharif al-Jurjani (d.
816/1413) and al-Risala al-Shamsiyya ofDabiran Katibi Qazwini (d.
674/1276), basic Euclidean mathematics and fiqh, theol-ogy through
the Shawariq al-ilham of Lahiji and the Sharh al-hidaya of Mir
HusaynMaybudi (d. 909/1504). The foundational course in philosophy
lasted eight yearsbased almost exclusively on the works of Mulla
Sadra: this emphasis on the work ofthe Safavid sage is a
distinguishing factor in Sabzawaris pedagogy. Later in life,
hedivided his philosophical teaching into three: an introductory
class of three hours aday based on his own Sharh-i manzuma, an
intermediate class based on the worksof Mulla Sadra, and an
advanced class of higher speculation based upon Sabzawarisown
experience.42 For those more interested in philosophical mysticism
(irfan), hetaught the major texts of the school of Ibn Arabi (d.
1240) namely Misbah al-uns(Lamp of Intimacy) of Hamza Fanari (d.
1431), Matla khusus al-kalim fi sharhFusus al-hikam (The
Rising-point of the Properties of Words Commenting uponthe
Ring-settings of Wisdoms) of Dawud Qaysari (d. 1350) and Tamhid
al-qawaid(Introduction to the Rules) of Sain al-Din Turka Isfahani
(d. 830/1437).43 Thisrange of teaching reflected his own interests
and ideas about pedagogy but also therequirements of his students:
some wanted an intellectual training, others wanted aphilosophical
understanding of the faith and a grasp of definitions that could
aidtheir study of jurisprudence, and a small group were attracted
to the introspectiveand mystical speculation and taste. Using a
Sufi motif of the law, the spiritual pathand the truth (shariat,
tariqat, haqiqat), his son-in-law wrote that he adorned thelaw, the
spiritual path and the truth with rays of wisdom and divine sparks
of inspi-ration.44 He was generous and would support and feed the
poor. He had a reputationfor piety, never forsaking the night
prayer (tahajjud) and establishing mourning forImam Husayn in the
month of Muharram. He lived in the same frugal house forforty-five
years near the Darvaza-yi Nisabur. A number of accounts describe
hisascetic way of life and contentment and lack of want (qanaat).
The followingaccount is provided by his son Muhammad Ismail as
recounted by Itimad al-Saltana:
The late Hajji spent the last third of the night awake in the
dark engrossed inprayer, regardless of whether it was winter,
summer, autumn or spring, untilsunrise. He would then drink two
cups of pure, very dark tea with twelve mithqals[about twelve
teaspoons] of sugar in each mixed in and he used to say that I
drinkthis very sweet tea to keep up my strength.He certainly had no
taste or inclination
42Talibi, Introduction, 4.43Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari,
9697; Hamza Fanari, Misbah al-uns sharh Miftah al-ghayb,
ed. M. Khajawi (Tehran, 1996); Dawud Qaysari, Matla khusus
al-kalim fi maani Fusus al-hikam,ed. M. H. Saidi, 2 vols. (Tehran,
1995); Sain al-Din Turka, Tamhid al-qawaid, ed. S. J.
Ashtiyani(Tehran, 1976). On Sain al-Din, see Leonard Lewisohn,
Sufism and Theology in the Confessions ofSin al-Dn Turka Isfahn,
Sufism and Theology, ed. by Ayman Shihadeh (Edinburgh, 2007),
6382,and Sayyid Ali Musawi Bihbahani, Ahwal wa athar-i Sain al-Din
Turka Isfahani, Collected Papersin Islamic Philosophy and
Mysticism, ed. H. Landolt and M. Mohaghegh (Tehran, 1971),
97132.
44Mohaghegh, Introduction, 14.
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to take opium or any sort of tobacco. Two hours into the day, he
would go to themadrasa and teach for four hours. He would then
return home for lunch and wouldeat some simple bread and drink a
thin yogurt drink (dugh) made with little yogurt After lunch he
would sleep for an hour if it were summer. He would not drinktea in
the afternoon. He would spend three to four and a half hours of the
night inprayer in the darkness and then have some supper comprising
some rice and asimple meat-less, usually spinach, soup because of
his old age and lack of teeth.For a half hour before supper, he
would take a walk in the garden He wouldlater sleep on a simple,
hard and uncomfortable bed in the cellar.
He used to wear a simple black Mazandarani cloak (aba), a green
coat (qaba) thatwas tattered and patched. In winter he would wear a
yellow coat and pants(shalwar). He would wear a white imama
[turban] and at night a karbasi hat.He did not have a library, just
a few volumes and a beautiful, hand-crafted Isfahanipen with which
he solved the dilemmas and problems of philosophy He would not keep
the income from his lands but distribute them to the poor.Every
year for the last ten days of Safar, he would convene mourning for
ImamHusayn and lament and wail loudly, inviting people to join him
in the mourning.One day he gave the reciter (rawza-khwan) five
Qurans and would feed the poorbread and abgusht (meat broth) Every
year he would fulfill his duty of paying thezakat and khums
directly into the hands of the sayyids and the needy.45
For those more mystically and spiritually inclined, these
accounts sound more akinto the life of a saint and one who wrought
miracles and possessed spiritual qualities(sahib-i karamat
wa-maqamat). Accounts are given of his miracles: Riza-Nizhad
men-tions eleven such extraordinary events in his life and
significantly after his death (a suresign of sanctity and spiritual
power).46 These incidents cover the normal range of Sufimiracles:
supernatural knowledge, telekinesis, and spiritual healing. Some
commenta-tors have described him as a Sufi master and he certainly
sought the company ofSufis.47 One ambivalent Sufi Mulla Abbas Ali
Kayvan-i Qazvini (d. 1938) claimedthat he was close to the
Nimatullahi Gunabadi shaykh Saadat Ali Shah (d. 1289/1872) and that
Sabzawari was the true Sufi pole (qutb) of his time:
First, it is worth stressing that the sole person who bore the
signs of being the qutb(spiritual pole of his time) was Hajj Mulla
Hadi. In knowledge, wisdom and pietyhe had no peer and no one
possessed deep knowledge like him. He lived frugally andowned
little. He was so liked that if he had ever wanted people to
prostrate to himthey would have done so. He did not seek any
leadership and would even shunleading the prayer. He would not seek
the company of the elites but insteadlived in seclusion, was
ascetic, and would constantly beseech his Lord
45Itimad al-Saltana, Matla al-shams, III: 197201; Suha, Tarikh-i
hukama, 11113.46Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 24449.47Nasr,
Sabziwr, 1544.
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He represented a life without pretence and with simplicity, and
he would not drawattention to his own distinction nor attract
people towards him. He would not pri-vilege his children nor
squander wealth. Thus his disciples of all sorts were free tofollow
spiritual masters as they wished.48
It was through his association that he introduced his student
Muhammad ibnHaydar to Saadat Ali Shah; the student later succeeded
him in the Nimatullahiorder as Sultan Ali Shah (d. 1327/1909) and
was famed for his commentary onthe Quran and his Walayat-nama
(Treatise on Sanctity).49 It is difficult to verifySabzawaris
position in this Sufi order; it is undeniable that he had a close
relationshipto these Sufis but that does not entail his affiliation
to their spiritual lineage. Sufismcan, of course, in a Shii context
be seen rather negatively and it may be that he wantedto keep his
distance. Irfan was acceptable (and remains so) in the hawza;
tasawwuf is,however, more problematic.50
Sabzawari wrote around forty works in Arabic and Persian. They
can be dividedinto four categories: marginalia on the works of
Mulla Sadra, original works in phil-osophy, commentaries on
supplications and Persian literature, and works on theology.He also
composed verse under the pen-name Asrar.51 His commentaries are on
thewhole based on his teaching at the Madrasa-ye Fasihiyya and
included other philoso-phical, theological, grammatical and legal
texts such as Hikmat al-ishraq (The Philos-ophy of Illumination) of
Suhrawardi (d. 1191), Shawariq al-ilham of Lahiji (d. 1661),Zubdat
al-usul (The Essence of Jurisprudence) of Shaykh Baha al-Din Amili
(d.1621), Sharh alfiyyat ibn Malik (Commentary on the Thousand
Verses of IbnMalik) of Jalal al-Din Suyuti (d. 1505), and al-Abhath
al-mufida (Beneficial Discus-sions) of Allama al-Hilli (d. 1325).
None of these works has been published.However, most of the works
from the four categories have been.
Among the marginalia on the works on Mulla Sadra, Sabzawari
wrote thefollowing:
1) Hawashi on al-Asfar al-arbaa, the magnum opus of Mulla
Sadrathis wasplaced in the margins of the first lithographic
printing of the Asfar in 1282/1865.52 The modern edition from the
1950s includes five sets of marginaliabut the most recent critical
edition published by the Sadra Islamic Philosophy
48Kayvan Qazvini, Razgusha: bihin sukhan (Tehran, n.d.),
24.49Masum-Ali Shah, Taraiq al-haqaiq, I: 240; Masud Humayuni,
Tarikh-i silsila-h-yi tariqa-yi
Nimatullahi (Tehran, 1980), 13236; Suha, Tarikh-i hukama, 124;
Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari,1057; Leonard Lewisohn, An
Introduction to the History of Modern Persian Sufism Part I:
TheNimatullhi Orderpersecution, revival and schism, BSOAS, 61
(1998): 45052; Ali TabandaMahbub-Ali Shah, Khurshid-i tabanda
(Tehran, 1377s./1998), 4750; Sultan Ali Shah, Bayan al-saada fi
maqamat al-ibada, 4 vols. (Tehran, 1344s./1965); idem, Walayatnama
(Tehran, 1380s./2001).
50Cf. Ahmad Ahmadi, Irfn and tas awwuf, Al-Tawh d, 1 (1984):
6376.51Diwan-i Asrar, ed. S. H. Amin (Tehran, 1993).52Riza-Nizhad,
Hakim-i Sabzawari, 140; Hirz al-Din, Maarif al-rijal, 223;
Chahardahi, Sabzawari,
68; Suha, Tarikh-i hukama, 116.
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Research Institute only reproduced the marginalia of Sabzawari,
signaling itsparamount importance.
2) Hawashi on al-Mabda wa-l-maadthis was lithographed in
1314/189697.53
3) Hawashi on al-Shawahid al-rububiyyathis marginalia on the
epitome ofSadrian philosophy was lithographed in 1286/1869 and then
reprinted in theedition of the text produced by Sayyid Jalal al-Din
Ashtiyani in 1960.54 Theglosses are extensive and around the same
length as the original text.
4) Hawashi on Mafatih al-ghayb (Keys to the Unseen)these glosses
on theQuranic and philosophical hermeneutics of Mulla Sadra have
never been pub-lished.55 The marginalia of Sabzawaris teacher Ali
Nuri are better known andhave been published in the edition of the
work.56
5) Hawashi on Asrar al-ayat (Secrets of the
Verses/Signs)Ashtiyani claims thathe saw a manuscript of this but
it is not mentioned by other sources and I havenot managed to find
any other reference to it.57 Since the work is often associ-ated
withMafatih al-ghayb, it would not be surprising to find Sabzawari
writingglosses upon it.
Among his original works, three stand out:
1) Al-Laali al-muntazima (493 verses on logic) and Ghurar
al-faraid (1,039verses on philosophy) upon both of which he later
wrote a commentary(sharh) and gloss (taliqa)this is his famous
sharh-i manzuma, a major didacticwork (hence versified) and its
explanation that since its publication in 1298/1881 until well into
the 1980s was the major introduction to philosophy inthe hawza.58
The work is divided mainly into three parts: a section on
logic,semantics and proof theory; al-ilahiyyat bi-l-mana l-amm
covering basicissues of ontology; and al-ilahiyyat bi-l-mana
l-khass on philosophical theol-ogy.59 I discuss this work in more
detail below.
53Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 145; Hirz al-Din, Maarif
al-rijal, 223; Chahardahi, Sabzawari,68; Suha, Tarikh-i hukama,
116.
54Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 143; Hirz al-Din, Maarif
al-rijal, 223; Chahardahi, Sabzawari,68; Suha, Tarikh-i hukama,
116.
55Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 146; Chahardahi, Sabzawari,
68; Suha, Tarikh-i hukama, 116.56Mulla Sadra, Mafatih al-ghayb ma
taliqat Mulla Ali Nuri, ed. M. Khajawi (Tehran, 1984).57Sayyid
Jalal al-Din Ashtiyani, Muqaddima,Mulla Sadra, al-Shawahid
al-rububiyya fi-l-manahij al-
sulukiyya (Mashhad, 1967), cliv.58Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i
Sabzawari, 15055; Hirz al-Din, Maarif al-rijal, 22223; Chahardahi,
Sab-
zawari, 63; Suha, Tarikh-i hukama, 115. The text was supplanted
by Allama Tabatabais Bidayat al-hikma and Nihayat al-hikma (Qum,
1984). The former is available in an excellent translation:
TheElements of Islamic Metaphysics, trans. Ali-quli Qarai (London,
2003).
59There are two editions of the textone is complete in four
volumes edited by Talibi with the mar-ginal glosses of the
contemporary hakim Aqa Hasan Hasanzada Amuli of Qum and published
in 1995,and another edition of the two sections on metaphysics
edited by Mehdi Mohaghegh and ToshihikoIzutsu and originally
published in the 1970s by the Tehran branch of the McGill Institute
of Islamic
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2) Asrar al-hikam fi-l-mufattatah wa-l-mukhattatam (Secrets of
Wisdom concern-ing Openings and Closures)this Persian work on
philosophy was commis-sioned by Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar and
completed in 1286/1869.60 It waslithographed first in 1300/1883 in
Tehran with the glosses of Abu-l-HasanShirani and reprinted in
1972. There are two sections: metaphysics or theoreti-cal
philosophy (hikmat-i nazari) and ethics or practical philosophy
(hikmat-iamali). The former, comprising seven chapters, analyses
philosophical theologyfrom discussions on the nature of being and
the oneness of God to the nature ofthe imamate. The latter includes
four chapters on spiritual explanations ofprayer, fasting and other
ritual practices. The style of the text is consistentwith
Sabzawaris mystical and poetic taste and the work is replete with
quota-tions from the Persian classics. This text played a pivotal
role in the populariza-tion of the thought of Mulla Sadra in the
Qajar period.61
3) Hadi al-mudillin (Guide for the Astray)a Persian epitome of
philosophicaltheology that is attributed to Sabzawari.62 According
to the modern editor,Ali Awjabi, the work was probably written by a
student of Sabzawari and com-pleted in 1290/1874. It examines the
basic elements of Shii doctrine with fourchapters on divine unity
(tawhid), justice (adl), prophecy and the imamate(nubuwwat
wa-wilyat), and the afterlife (maad).
The third category also contains three important works:
1) Sharh al-asma (Commentary on the Divine Names)a commentary on
thefamous supplication of the divine names known as Jawshan kabir
which wasfirst lithographed in 1281/1865 along with the following
commentary.63 Thesupplication itself is transmitted by the third
Shii Imam al-Husayn ibn Alifrom his father and became quite popular
in the revival of Shii heritageunder the Safavids, quoted in the
prayer and supplication manual al-Baladal-amin (The Secure Abode)
of Ibrahim al-Kafami (d. 904/1499) and the ency-clopedia of Shii
tradition Bihar al-anwar (Seas of Lights) of Muhammad Baqir
StudiesSharh Ghurar al-faraid maruf bih Sharh-i manzuma-yi
hikmat: qismat-i umur-i amma wajawhar wa araz (Tehran, 1969);
trans. T. Izutsu and M. Mohaghegh as The Metaphysics of
Sabzavari(Tehran, 1983); Sharh Ghurar al-faraid, maqsad-i siwwum
fi-l-ilahiyyat bi-l-mana l-akhass,ed. M. Mohaghegh (Tehran,
1999).
60Asrar al-hikam, ed. H. M. Farzad (Tehran, 1982); Riza-Nizhad,
Hakim-i Sabzawari, 173; Hirz al-Din, Maarif al-rijal, 223;
Chahardahi, Sabzawari, 68; Suha, Tarikh-i hukama, 115. This work is
thebasis of the assessment of Sabzawaris contribution to philosophy
in Muhammad Iqbals doctoral disser-tation at Heidelberg, The
Development of Metaphysics in Persia (London, 1908), 17679.
61Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Metaphysics of S adr al-Dn Shrz and
Islamic Philosophy in QajarPersia, in Qajar Iran, ed. C.E. Bosworth
and C. Hillenbrand (Edinburgh, 1983), 190.
62Hadi al-mudillin mansub bih Hajj Mulla Hadi Sabzawari, ed. A.
Awjabi (Tehran, 1383s./2004);Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari,
172.
63Sharh al-asma, ed. N. Habibi (Tehran, 1375s./1996);
Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-e Sabzavr, 164; Hirzal-Din, Maarif al-rijal,
223; Chahardahi, Sabzawari, 68; Suha, Tarikh-i hukama, 115.
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Majlisi (d. 1699).64 Sabzawari completed the commentary in
Jumada II 1260/July 1844. It is an extensive philosophical and
mystical meditation upon thesupplication drawing upon the school of
Mulla Sadra, Neoplatonic traditionsin Islam and the rationalizing
mysticism of Ibn Arabi (d. 1240).
2) Sharh dua al-sabahof Imam Ali also known asMiftah
al-falahwa-misbah al-najatfi sharh dua al-sabah (Key to Salvation
and Lamp of Deliverance Commentingupon the Supplication of the
Morning) was originally composed in 1267/1851.65
3) Sharh-i asrar (Commentary of Asrar)a commentary on some one
hundredor so difficult verses of theMathnawi of Jalal al-Din Rumi
(d. 1274) commis-sioned by the Qajar prince Sultan Murad Mirza
Husam al-Saltana, the governorof Khurasan, and lithographed in
1285/1868 by Aqa Muhammad BaqirTihrani.66 The commentary once again
allows Sabzawari to relate his learningin the philosophical and
mystical traditions to an explanation of the poetry.67
Sabzawaris legacy did not reside merely in his works that were
lithographed, copiedand distributed. More significant for the
dissemination of the school of Mulla Sadrawere his students.
Various sources mention between sixty-five and a hundred impor-tant
students, and another twenty-five spiritual disciples. This
significant number andthe roles that they played in Qajar cultural
and intellectual life attests to Sabzawarisimportance in the
period. Alongside the general body of hawza students, there
arethree important groups influenced by Sabzawari. The first group
were his studentswho were cultural figures of the time. One example
was Sayyid Ahmad RizaviAdib-i Pishavari (d. 1349/1930), a
Suhravardi Sufi from India who had fled theBritish repression after
the revolt of 1857 to Afghanistan and then Iran and whostudied in
Sabzawar for the last two years of Sabzawaris life.68
The second group were important jurists whose years of study
ushered in a para-digm shift in jurisprudence. Perhaps the most
important Shii jurist of the middleQajar period, Shaykh Murtaza
Ansari Dizfuli (d. 1864), author of the Faraid al-usul (Gems of
Jurisprudence), studied philosophy and theology at the
Madrasa-yiHajj Hasan with Sabzawari for two years before he moved
to Najaf in 1250/1834.69 The other outstanding jurist of the Qajar
period, Akhund Muhammad
64Al-Kafami, al-Balad al-amin (Tehran, 1963), 402; Majlisi,
Bihar al-anwar (Beirut, 1982), XCI:38297.
65Sharh dua al-sabah (Beirut, 1997); Riza-Nizhad,Hakim-i
Sabzawari, 14849; Hirz al-Din,Maarifal-rijal, 223.
66Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 163; Hirz al-Din, Maarif
al-rijal, 223; Chahardahi, Sabzawari,68; Suha, Tarikh-i hukama,
115. It has been recently published: Sharh-i mathnawi, ed. M.
Burujirdi,3 vols. (Tehran, 137477s./199598).
67For a study of this text, see John Cooper, Rm and h ikmat:
Towards a reading of Sabziwrs com-mentary on the Mathnawi, in The
Heritage of Persian Sufism I: Classical Persian Sufism from its
Originsto Rumi, ed. L. Lewisohn (Oxford, 1999), 40933.
68Suha, Tarikh-i hukama, 12122; Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari,
114; Munibur Rahman, AdbPvar, EIr.
69Chahardahi, Sabzawari, 44.
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Kazim Khurasani (d. 1329/1911), a prominent constitutionalist
and author of themain hawza text in legal theory and jurisprudence
of the modern period Kifayat al-usul (The Sufficient in
Jurisprudence), studied in Sabzawar for two years before
hetransferred to Najaf in 1861.70 Usul al-fiqh had always been
influenced by epistem-ology and logic from the medieval period,
especially in what was known as theShafii method (al-tariqa
al-shafiiyya) exemplified in al-Mustasfa (The Clarification)of
Ghazali (d. 1111).71 But the metaphysical shift, particularly
noticeable in the pro-cedural principles in jurisprudence (usul
amaliyya), was influenced by Sabzawariwhich made the teaching of
philosophy more acceptable in Najaf, a center of
learningtraditionally hostile to philosophy.72 Shii jurisprudence
broadly comprises two sets ofdiscussions: semantic theory (mabahith
al-alfaz) and procedural principles (usul ama-liyya). The latter
has seen a considerable growth, complication and sophistication
thatcan be traced to the work of Ansari and especially Khurasani.
The philosophicalimpact of Khurasani, reflecting the incorporation
of the school of Mulla Sadra via Sab-zawari, was particularly
mediated by his student Shaykh Muhammad Husayn IsfahaniKumpani (d.
1361/1942) in his commentary Nihayat al-diraya fi sharh
al-Kifaya(Culmination of Study Commenting upon the Sufficient).73
For most of the medievalperiod, the main textbook in jurisprudence
and legal theory was Mabadi al-wusul ilailm al-usul (Principles for
Achieving Knowledge of Jurisprudence), a short work byAllama
al-Hilli.74 It is almost exclusively concerned with semantics and
hermeneuticsand engages in two areas of concern in Sunni
jurisprudence: the nature of scholarlyconsensus (ijma) and
evaluation and adjudication of contradictory hadith
reports(tarjih). The structure and contents of Khurasanis Kifayat
al-usul are quite distinct.The text begins with an epistemological
introduction and considers categorization andits metaphysical
implication. It then progresses to discuss semantics and
hermeneuticsand the nature of legal commands and prohibitions. Even
in this section, there is amore systematic appreciation that
linguistic analysis involves an appreciation of therelationship
between three metaphysical realities: ideas and concepts, speech
and com-munication, and objective reality. There is also a final
section on the nature of legalreasoning (ijtihad) and the necessity
to follow (taqlid) and emulate a model jurist.Before that comes the
crucial section on procedural principles namely, exemption(al-baraa
al-asliyya), presumption of continuity (istishab), precaution
(ihtiyat), andoptional choice (takhyir).75 These principles pertain
to issues in the absence of scrip-tural evidence and the inability
to formulate clear rational judgments in a case.
70Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 123; Abdol-Hadi Hairi, khnd
Korsn, EIr, I, 73234.71For a useful sketch of the history of usul
al-fiqh in the Shii seminary, see Sayyid Mundhir al-Hakim,
Tatawwur al-dars al-usuli fi-l-Najaf al-ashraf, Mawsuat al-Najaf
al-ashraf, ed. Jafar al-Dujayli (Beirut,1997), VII: 173216.
72Sabrina Mervin, La qute du savoir Najaf, Studia Islamica, 81
(1995): 181.73Al-bahth al-falsafi fi usul al-fiqh, Mawsuat al-Najaf
al-ashraf, VIII: 6166; Gharawi Kumpani,
Nihayat al-diraya fi sharh al-kifaya, 6 vols. (Qum,
1998).74Allama Al-Hilli, Mabadi al-wusul ila ilm al-usul, ed. Abd
al-Husayn al-Baqqal (Qum, 1983).75Khurasani, Kifayat al-usul (Qum,
2001), 384495. Similarly, roughly half of Ansaris text concerns
these procedural principles.
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The third group, and most central to the perpetuation of the
Sadrian legacy, werethose students who comprised the next
generation of philosophers. Luminariesincluded the philosopher
known for his proclivity to irfan Husayn-quli Hamadani(d.
1311/1893) who later taught in Karbala and whose own disciples
included theinfamous agitator Sayyid Jamal al-Din Afghani (d.
1897), Sayyid Ahmad Tihrani Kar-balai (d. 1332/1914) and Sayyid Ali
Qazi Tabatabai (d. 1365/1947).76 The lattertwo taught the
philosopher par excellence of the twentieth century Sayyid
MuhammadHusayn Tabatabai (d. 1981) whose students Sayyid Muhammad
Husayn HusayniTihrani (d. 1995), Shaykh Murtaza Mutahhari (d.
1979), Ayatollah HasanzadaAmuli and Ayatollah Abd Allah Javadi
Amuli have since dominated the school ofMulla Sadra in Iran.77
Another prominent student was Mirza Javad Malaki Tabrizi(d.
1343/1924), author of Asrar al-salat (Secrets of Prayer) and
teacher of ethics inQum where his disciples included Ayatollah
Khumayni.78 A student of Sabzawari pro-minent in Tehran later was
Mirza Husayn Sabzawari, who taught at the Madrasa-yiAbd Allah
Khan.79
Establishing Mulla Sadra in the Curriculum
Alongside the glosses on the works of the Shirazi philosopher
that were printed in themargins of the Qajar lithographs produced
in Tehran (and hence it was with the aidand guidance of Sabzawari
that students read and understood Mulla Sadra), it wasthrough the
Asrar al-hikam and the Sharh-i manzuma that the thought of
MullaSadra was simplified, vernacularized and disseminated.
76Muhammad Jarfadaqani, Ulama-yi buzurg-i shia az Kulayni ta
Khumayni (Qum, 1364s./1985),2956; Hirz al-Din, Maarif al-rijal, I:
270; Tabrizi, Rayhanat al-adab, IV: 325; Suha, Tarikh-ihukama,
13233; Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 13435.
77On Tabatabai and his lineage, see Ayatollah Husayni-yi
Tihrani, Mihr-i taban: yadnama wa musa-hibat-i tilmidh wa Allama
Tabatabai (Mashhad, 1996); Hamid Dabashi, Theology of Discontent:
TheIdeological Foundation of the Islamic Revolution in Iran (New
York, 1993), 273323; Hamid Algar,Allma Sayyid Muhammad H usayn Tabt
ab: Philosopher, Exegete, and Gnostic, Journal ofIslamic Studies,
17 (2006): 32651. The spiritual lineage of Tabatabai, which
survives through hisstudent Husayni-yi Tihrani and his circle in
Mashhad as well as his disciples in Qum, is a continuationof the
lineage of Husayn-quli Hamadani which traces back to the famous
Sufi Qutb al-Din Nayrizi in thefollowing manner: HamadaniSayyid Ali
Shushtari (d. 1283/1866)Sayyid Sadr al-Din al-Kashif (d.Shaban
1257/1841)Aqa Muhammad Bidabadi (d. 1197/1783)the Dhahabi Sufi
Sayyid Qutb al-Din Muhammad Nayrizi (d. 1173/1760)see Suha,
Tarikh-i hukama, 1513. On Nayrizi himself,see Leonard Lewisohn, An
Introduction to the History of Modern Persian Sufism, Part II,
BSOAS,62 (1999): 367; Hidayat, Riyaz al-arifin, 4826; Masum-Ali
Shah, Taraiq al-haqaiq, III: 978;Asad Allah Khavari, Dhahabiyya:
tasawwuf-i ilmi wa athar-i adabi (Tehran, 1362s./1983), 297307.The
Hamadani lineage survives in Karbala and its most prominent
twentieth century figure wasSayyid Hashim al-Haddad (d. 1984)see
Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Husayni Tihrani, Ruh-i mujarrad(Mashhad,
1375s./1996). One of the texts of this lineage that is taught is
Risala-yi sayr wa-suluk attrib-uted to Sayyid Mahdi Tabatabai Bahr
al-Ulum who was a disciple of Nayrizi (ed. H. Mustafawi,[Tehran,
1367s./1988]).
78Jarfadaqani, Ulama-yi buzurg-i shia, 3545; Suha, Tarikh-i
hukama, 13334.79Suha, Tarikh-i hukama, 121; Nasr, Islamic
Philosophy, 246; Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 112.
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Let us consider the Sharh-i manzuma first. As one twentieth
century author wrote,the sharh-i manzuma from its composition to
the present has been the central textfor students of the
intellectual disciplines (maqulat).80 While in recent years it
hasbeen eclipsed as the preliminary text by the Bidayat al-hikma
(Beginning Philosophy)and Nihayat al-hikma (Completing Philosophy)
of Allama Tabatabai, it remains theframework for these works and
has been transformed into a more exacting intermedi-ate text to be
read and digested after these two textbooks. Through some
commen-taries, it functions as a touchstone and inspiration for the
development of the new(liberation) theology (kalam-i jadid)
pioneered by Mutahhari among others.
The text ismadeupof three layers.The first level is the poetic
form, the dense collectionof words demanding explanation and
commentary. The medieval tradition of themadrasa often privileged
short versified tests designed for memorization as a vehicle
forteaching ideas; it was a popular genre particularly in the study
ofArabic grammar andmor-phology as well as jurisprudence and
creedal theology. While Sabzawari was a respectedpoet in Persian,
the Arabic of these verses is typical of its genre and perhaps not
intendedto be the most elegant. But given that the function of the
verse was ease of memorization,this is to be expected. The second
level is the commentary that expounds the sense of thewords and
their connotation and significations. This was based on his own
classes and thedefinitive explanation of the poem, expounding on
some obscurities. The third level com-prises the later glosses that
Sabzawari himself wrote on the poem and in it he expands onsome
issues unresolved in the commentary. Already inhis lifetime it was
used as a textbookin philosophy and soon after his deathwith the
appearance of the lithograph it was taughtin Tehran. The first part
(maqsad) on general ontology reads like a more systematicsummary of
the first safar of Mulla Sadras Asfsr and is divided into the
followinggems ( fardas): properties of being and non-being
(al-wujud wa-l-adam), necessityand possibility (al-wujub
wa-l-imkan), eternity and incipience (al-huduth
wa-l-qidam),actuality and potentiality (al-fil wa-l-quwwa), essence
and its properties (al-mahiyyawa-lawahiquha), unity and
multiplicity (al-wahda wa-l-kathra), and cause and effect(al-illa
wa-l-malul). The Asfar actually has three further sections on
mental being, onthe intellect and on motion that are not covered
separately in the Sharh-i manzumabut that is partly because aspects
of these discussions are subsumed in the existing sections;for
example, the discussion of mental being is found in the first gem
on the properties ofbeing.81
The comprehensive character of the text mirrors earlier
encyclopedic works such asal-Shifa of Avicenna and the Asfar of
Mulla Sadra. The preliminary part concernslogic. But it is more
than the Aristotelian or even Avicennian organon. Rather, itdraws
upon semantic theory, hermeneutics and category theory. It is
divided intoseven dives (ghaws) evoking the image of diving for
pearls (laali): on universalsand particulars, on the isagogic
predicables, on definition (tarif), on propositional
80Chahardahi, Sabzawari, 28.81Cf. Mulla Sadra, al-hikma
al-mutaaliya fi-l-asfar al-aqliyya al-arbaa, ed. G. Awani and
M. Muhammadi, 3 vols. of the first safar (Tehran,
138083s./200105).
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logic, on opposition and contradiction, on the syllogistic
(qiyas) and on types of dem-onstration (burhan).
The philosophical work also comprises seven parts that cover the
totality of issues inmetaphysics and philosophical theology,
culminating in ethics which is a distinguish-ing feature often
absent from such works in the medieval period. The first section
onontology deals with core issues around the question of being and
its properties andconstitutes the sort of speculative metaphysics
that was starting to be disapprovedin Europe at his time. The
second section on substance and accident deals with theAvicennian
modification of Aristotelian category theory. In this he follows
MullaSadra. But it is worth bearing in mind that, in effect, the
metaphysical shift inSadrian philosophy towards focusing upon
events and acts of being-becominginstead of Aristotelian immutable
substances made category theory redundant. Sabza-wari did not,
however, reflect upon this processual turn in philosophy. The
thirdsection on philosophical theology concerns the nature of God
and the Godhumanrelationship and includes a discussion of
determinism and will. It is only these firstthree sections that
have ever been published. Section four concerns natural
philosophyor medieval physics and includes some of his stranger
ideas such as the cause of earth-quakes lying with subterranean
monsters. Not surprisingly, this is the section of thetext made
wholly obsolete by modern science and consequently has not be
taughtfor some time. The fifth section moves on to prophecy and the
its features such asmiracles and oneiromancy. He also raises the
question of why and how God commu-nicates to humans. A corollary of
this discussion and its extension is the exposition ofthe imamate,
since we are dealing with a Shii philosophy. The sixth section is
difficultbut critical on the nature of resurrection and the
afterlife. Sabzawari extends MullaSadras desire to prove the
elusive or what had been hitherto undemonstrable,namely the
orthodox position of corporeal resurrection. Since the section on
the after-life in the Asfar was criticized for failing to adhere
closely to Shii doctrine, this textprovides a more grounded Shii
disquisition on the question. The final and in someways rather
unique aspect of the text is a section on the science of character
traits(akhlaq) better known as ethics, remarkable given that by
this point in the intellectualhistory ethics had been broadly
expunged from the philosophical tradition and wasconfined to fiqh,
belles-lettres, mirrors-for-princes, the akhlaq-andarz literature
andpoetry.
A number of later students and scholars in the line of Sabzawari
have commented,expanded upon and translated the text.82 Over forty
such works have been written.This number attests to the
significance of the work given that it was written only150 years
ago. The earliest commentaries (which have never been published)
werecomposed by his direct students who had benefited from directly
reading the textand they are often closer in style and taste to the
original work. Probably the firstamong these were the brief
marginalia of the jurist Akhund Khurasani. More exten-sive was an
Arabic commentary by Sayyid Muhammad Assar Tihrani (d.
1356/1937),
82Riza-Nizhad, Hakim-i Sabzawari, 20825.
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father of the renowned Sayyid Kazim Assar (d. 1975).83 This work
entitled Ishraqatal-radawiyya is extant in a manuscript numbered
324 in the Astan-i Quds Library atthe shrine in Mashhad and dated
16 Jumada II 1349/8 November 1930. Anotherstudent who wrote a gloss
was Sayyid al-Atibba Ali Marashi, the father of themarja and
founder of one of the great Islamic manuscript collections,
SayyidShihab al-Din Marashi (d. 1990).
Popular commentaries for a wider non-hawza readership include
Jafar Zahidisthree volume work Khwud-amuz-i manzuma (Teach Yourself
the Poem), writtenby a Mashhad university professor, an extensive
multi-volume work by SayyidJawad Dhihni Tihrani, and a sharh-i
jadid by Manuchihr Saduqi Suha.84 Themost creative commentary in
Persian is the Sharh-i mabsut-i manzuma (DetailedCommentary on the
Poem) penned in four volumes by Mutahhari.85 It is a criticalwork
that juxtaposes and engages with modern European philosophy and may
beregarded as a premier and even foundational work of kalam-i
jadid. One can seehow it emerged from his theology classes at
Tehran University. The roots of thisnew theology lie in the Qajar
period but it was formulated in the twentieth centurydefending
realism, rationalism and religious epistemology against materialist
empiri-cism, positivism and scientism. Mutahharis commentary is one
of two centralworks of the new theology; the other is Allama
Tabatabais Usul-i falsafa warawish-i rializm (Principles of
Philosophy and the Method of Realism) with theglosses of
Mutahhari.86
Another category of commentaries are glosses by teachers of
philosophy in thehawza. One set of scholia are written by the
twentieth century hakim MirzaAhmad Ashtiyani. The glosses of Mulla
Muhammad Tihrani, known as Akhund-iHidaji, were completed in
1346/1927.87 It is a sophisticated Avicennian commentarythat is one
of the few to deal systematically with the section on logic.
Perhaps the bestone volume introduction for students is Durar
al-fawaid fi sharh ghurar al-faraid(Beneficial Pearls: Commentary
on the Whites of Pearls) of Shaykh MuhammadTaqi Amuli.88 More
recently, there is a good extensive set of glosses written by
Aya-tollah Sayyid Rida Sadr.89 Another Avicennian commentary by
Ziya al-Din Durri isconsistently hostile. Durri was a student of
Mirza Hasan Kirmanshahi (d. 1917) andan accomplished teacher,
translator and commentator upon the works of Avicenna in
83On Sayyid Kazim Assar, see the account of his daughter Shusha
Guppy, The Blind Horse: Memoriesof a Persian Childhood (London,
1988), especially 3947. One collection of treatises was published
in hislifetime: Thalath rasail fi-l-hikmaa al-islamiyya (Tehran,
1971). Other posthumous publications include:Majmua-yi athar-i
Assar, ed. S. J. Ashtiyani (Tehran, 1376s./1997); Durus-i mantiq wa
falsafa (Qum,1383s./2004).
84Two elementary paraphrases by jurists in Arabic need not
detain us much: one by the late marjaSayyid Muhammad Husayni
Shirazi (d. 2001), and another by the London-based Sayyid Fadil
Milani.
85Murtaza Mutahhari, Sharh-i mabsut-i manzuma, 4 vols. (Tehran,
1404/1983).86Tabatabai, Usul-i falsafa wa rawish-i rializm, ed.
with notes of Mutahhari, 4 vols. (Qum, 1368s./
1990).87Taliqat al-Hidaji ala-l-Manzuma (Tehran,
1363s./1984).88Shaykh Muhammad Taqi Amuli, Durar al-fawaid fi sharh
ghurar al-faraid (Tehran, 1960).89Sayyid Rida Sadr, Sahaif min
al-falsafa [taliqa ala Sharh al-manzuma] (Qum, 1379s./2000).
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Tehran. Critical evaluation and modification is often rejected
in the hawza; outrightattacks upon canonical authors are considered
quite unacceptable. While Durri makessome significant and telling
criticisms, his tone and style jar and thus make it unlikelyfor his
critique to find a place in the commentary culture.
The final category of commentary I want to discuss is the
philosophically mysticalor irfani. The Tehrani rationalizing
mystics Sayyid Abu-l-Hasan Qazwini and SayyidKazim Assar both wrote
scholia in this vein. However, the outstanding example is
theTaliqat of Mirza Mahdi Ashtiyani (d. 1952).90
Beyond the hawza, the role of the Asrar al-hikam in
disseminating the philosophy ofMulla Sadra is perhaps more
critical. The style of the text is worthy of mention: it iswritten
in accessible prose and the demonstrative nature of the argument
set forthclearly with discursive explanations of the premises of
each syllogistic argument, corro-borated and supplemented by poetic
citations and allusions to famous scripturalsources. On numerous
points, he follows the method of Mulla Sadra in the Asfar: hefirst
sets forth the argument in a demonstrative manner, and follows it
with a discussionof the scriptural sources that corroborate it. I
want to consider two examples that rep-resent the Shii philosophy
that Sabzawari and his mentor espoused. The first sectionof the
ontology is concerned with knowledge of the origins of being,
addressing thefamed question in philosophy: why is there something
rather than nothing? The firstchapter of this broaches a central
issue in Islamicmetaphysics: the proof for the existenceof
aCreator, aGod, and a Principle. Sabzawari presents fiveways of
establishing the exist-ence of God: the way of the metaphysicians
(hukama-yi ilahiyyin) and their Avicennianontological proof for the
Necessary Being (wujib al-wujud), the way of the natural
phi-losophers (hukama-yi tabiiyyun) who infer from motion the
existence of an UnmovedMover (the argument originates in Aristotles
Physics VIII), the psychological way of themetaphysicians which is
a form of teleological proof based on the analysis of the
humansoul, the way of the theologians (mutakallimin), and finally
his preferred method thatderives from Mulla Sadra, namely, the way
of the veracious (tariqa-yi siddiqin).91 Thisfinalmode of proving
the existence ofGod is preferable but also difficult to
comprehend.Sabzawari uses poetic citations to explain it, drawing
upon Rumi and Firdowsi. He alsocites the famous hadith man arafa
nafsahu faqad-arafa rabbahu (whosoever knows hisself, knows his
Lord) and the language that considers the cosmos to be a series of
mani-festations and disclosures of divine being at whose pinnacle
is the perfect man (insankamil), exemplified in the person of Ali
ibn Abi Talib.
The second case occurs in the sixth chapter on prophecy and the
imamate. A centralShii concept is walayah, the intimacy, sanctity
and spiritual and ontological authority
90Mahdi Ashtiyani, Taliqa bar Sharh-i manzuma-yi hikmat-i
Sabzawari, ed. J. Falaturi andM. Mohaghegh (Tehran,
1352s./1973).
91Sabzawari, Asrar al-hikam, 3657. The Avicennian tradition held
to the three-fold division of theontological (philosophers),
cosmological (theologians) and from motion (natural philosophers)
proofs forthe existence of God that one finds mentioned in Nasir
al-Din Tusi, Sharh al-isharat wa-l-tanbihat,ed. M. Shihabi (Qum,
1375s./1996), III: 66. Sabzawari is faithful to Sadras language: he
describes theargument as a way and not as a demonstration (burhan),
which is the common mode of referring toit in modern secondary
discussions.
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that the Prophets and Imams possess.92 This reality arises from
the divine truthshidden within the essence and from proper
recognition of the divine essence, attri-butes and acts through
vision. Being is hidden (deus absconditus) and it is onlythrough
sanctity that it is manifest in the cosmos (deus revelatus) and
then onlythrough the seekers contemplation of the transcendent that
it becomes apparent.Concomitantly, it is only those with vision who
truly recognize the saints andImams. It is the perfect man who is
the summation and loftiest degree of humanity,of intellect, and of
being after the One. Below the saint and Imam is a spiritual
hier-archy, comprising worshippers (abid), ascetics (zahid) and
gnostics (arif). Theseinsights and the affirmation of horizontal
and vertical hierarchies in existence andwithin the category of
sanctity is an expression of the concept of the singular butgraded
reality of being (tashkik al-wujud) articulated by Mulla Sadra;
this is arguablythe central doctrine of Sadrian metaphysics.
Philosophers in the Qajar Period
Sabzawari was one of the four axial philosophers of the Qajar
period who representedthe major tendencies in philosophical and
rational mystical speculation.93 The otherthree are often cited as
the pillars of the school of Tehran: Aqa Ali mudarrisZunuzi (d.
1307/1890), son of Abd Allah Zunuzi (d. 1841) who was a teacher
ofMulla Sadras work in Isfahan, Aqa Muhammad Riza Qumshihi (d.
1306/1889),and Mirza Sayyid Abu-l-Hasan ibn Muhammad Tabatabai
Jilwa (d. 1314/1896).94
Like Sabzawari, these three thinkers had trained in Isfahan
either with Ali Nuri orwith his circle of students: Zunuzi and
Qumshihi had studied with Mulla MuhammadJafar Langarudi Lahiji (d.
after 1255/1839), a commentator on the philosophicalepitome Kitab
al-mashair (Book of Ontological Inspirations) of Mulla Sadra;
Qum-shihi had also read with Mirza Hasan (d. 1306/1888), son of
Nuri, as had Jilwa. FromIsfahan, Sabzawari had returned to his
hometown while the other three went toTehran in response to the
royal request: Zunuzi taught at the new Madrasa-yiMadar-i Shah and
Madrasa-yi Sipahsalar (now renamed Mutahhari), Qumshihi wasan
instructor at Madrasa-yi Sadr-i Azam, and Jilwa resided at the
Madrasa-yi Daral-Shifa. They were all recipients of the Shahs
patronage in different ways andresponded to requests to write in
defense of Iranian Shii intellectual culture. We
92Sabzawari, Asrar al-hikam, 372.93Suha, Tarikh-i hukama, 45174;
Nasr, Islamic Philosophy, 23946; Ali-quli Qarai, Post-Ibn
Rushd Islamic philosophy in Iran, Al-Tawhd, III, no. 3 (1985):
2455. For a useful sketch of thehistory of philosophy from the
circle of Nuri to the later Qajar period, see Ashtiyani,
Muqaddima,cxxivcxliv.
94Another thinker who was a student of Nuri and who later taught
Qumshihi and moved to Tehranwas Sayyid Razi Larijani (d.
1270/185354). The Nuri circle and the study of Mulla Sadra did not
die inIsfahan after the middle of the nineteenth century but
continued with Jahangir Khan Qashqai (d. 1328/1910) and Mirza Rahim
Arbabsee Suha, Tarikh-i hukama, 8490. Famous students in the next
gen-eration of this school included the prominent jurisprudent Diya
al-Din Iraqi (d. 1942), the jurist andmodel of emulation Sayyid
Husayn Burujirdi (d. 1962), and Aqa Najafi Quchani.
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have already seen how Sabzawari reciprocated through his
writings; Zunuzi, too, at therequest of the Shah, wroteBadayi
al-hikam (Wonders ofWisdom), a defense of Sadrianphilosophy against
the new ideas emanating from Europe and being disseminated at
theDar al-funun.95
Their students inTehran perpetuated the legacy ofMulla Sadra up
to the present.Qum-shihis studentMirzaHashimAshkivari Lahiji (d.
1332/1914) taught at the Sipahsalar. Hisstudents there included two
of the most significant teachers of philosophy and irfan in
thetwentieth century.MirzaMahdi Ashtiyani (d. 1372/1952, who had
also studiedwith Jilwa)wrote an illuminating andmystically
inclinedmarginaliaon theSharh-imanzuma aswell asan independent
metaphysical treatise Asas al-tawhid (Foundation of Divine
Unity).96 Hehad also studiedwith another important student
ofQumshihi and conduit for the school ofTehran in the twentieth
century, Mirza Hasan Kirmanshahi (d. 1336/1917). Ashtiyani inturn
taught a significant generation of twentieth century thinkers:
Abu-l-Hasan Shirani,Murtaza Mutahhari (d. 1979), Shaykh Muhammad
Taqi Jafari (d. 1998), Jawad Falaturi(b. 1926), Mahdi Hairi Yazdi
(d. 1999), and Sayyid Jalal al-Din Ashtiyani (d. 2005).97
The other famous student of Hashim Ashkivari was Sayyid
Abu-l-Hasan Rafii Qazvini(d. 1976).98He did not publish in his
lifetime but he was known as an excellent and criticalteacher of
theAsfar ofMulla Sadra and the Sharh-i manzuma.99 His students
included theaforementioned Jalal al-DinAshtiyani andMahdiHairi
aswell as SeyyedHosseinNasr, theone academic who has done most to
introduce the philosophical traditions in Iran to theacademic study
of Islamic philosophy.100 Zunuzi had a number of significant
studentssuch as Aqa Muhammad Baqir Istahbanati who taught in Najaf
and later in Shiraz and
95Badayi al-hikam, ed. A. Vaizi (Tehran, 1376s./1997). The
collected works of Zunuzi have beenpublished: Majmua-yi
musannafat-i hakim-i muassis Aqa Ali Zunuzi Tihrani, ed. M.
Kadivar, 3 vols.(Tehran, 1378s./1999).
96Mahdi Ashtiyani, Taliqa bar Sharh-i manzuma-yi hikmat-i
Sabzawari, ed. J. Falaturi andM. Mohaghegh (Tehran, 1352s./1973);
idem, Asas al-tawhid (Tehran, 1952).
97Nasr, Islamic Philosophy, 24748. Shirani edited some crucial
works including Asrar al-hikam ofSabzawari and the theological
treatise Kashf al-murad sharh tajrid al-Itiqad of Allama al-Hilli
(d.1325). Jafari was a prolific writer and taught at the hawza in
Qum for many years as well as TehranUniversity, engaging with
contemporary European philosophy and theology. He is best known for
hisvoluminous commentaries on the Mathnawi of Rumi and the Nahj
al-balagha, the famous collectionof sermons, letters and sayings of
Imam Ali. Mutahhari was a prominent thinker of the revolutionand
professor in the theology department of Tehran University. As an
ideologue, he wrote an influentialwork on theodicy, Adl-i ilahi, as
well as important glosses and explanations on the Sharh-i manzuma
andthe Usul-i falsafa of Tabatabai. Falaturi taught in Germany for
many years. Hairi received his doctoratein philosophy from the
University of Toronto in 1978. He has written some important
analyses ofIslamic philosophy from the perspective of an
Anglo-American analytical philosopher: Kavush-ha-yiaql-i nazari
(Tehran, 1968), Kavush-ha-yi aql-i amal (Tehran, 1982), Ilm-i kulli
(Tehran, 1980),Knowledge by Presence (Tehran, 1982). Ashtiyani was
the most prolific of this group as an editor andhas produced far
too much to mention in detail.
98Nasr, Islamic Philosophy, 24849.99Ghawsi dar bahr-i marifat,
ed. Hasanzada Amuli (Tehran, 1376s./1997). The volume includes
a
treatise that criticizes Mulla Sadras notion of intellection by
union (ittihad al-aqil bi-l-maql).100Nasr also wrote a useful
article on Qajar philosophyThe Metaphysics of S adr al-Dn Shrz
and
Islamic philosophy in Qajar Persia, Qajar Iran, 17798.
The Life and Work of Mulla Hadi Sabzawari 495
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whose students included the famous (recently deceased)
philosopher Sayyid Jalal al-DinAshtiyani.101 Jilwas students
included Sayyid Husayn Badkubihi (d. 1358/1939), whotaught
philosophy in Najaf (and was one of the teachers of Tabatabai), Aqa
MuhammadAli Shahabadi (d. 1950), the famed preceptor of Ayatollah
Khumayni (d. 1989) in philos-ophy, and Akhund Muhammad Hidaji (d.
1314s./1935), commentator on the Sharh-imanzuma of
Sabzawari.102
Zunuzi was famed as a teacher of Sadrian philosophy, Jilwa was
best known for hisespousal of Avicennism and critique of Mulla
Sadra, while Qumshihi was primarily ateacher of irfan, rational
mysticism based on the texts of the school of Ibn Arabi.However,
Sabzawari dwarfed the others by his reputation and fame as well as
thedepth of his learning and teaching, encompassing the core
curriculum of themadrasa, the work of Mulla Sadra, Avicennism and
irfan.
The success of this revival of Sadrian philosophy lay in its
claim to constitute a rigorousShii philosophy that could survive in
the modern world and provide the intellectual foun-dations for
faith in the Qajar period. All of the four philosophers pursued
this goal by ana-lyzing the relationship between Being (wujud) and
its perfect manifestation in walayah orthe being of the
PerfectManwho encompasses and discloses the totality of the
perfection oftheOne.103Walayah is the hermeneutics of being and the
parousia of Being. As the pivot ofreality, the Imamaswali discloses
the divine realities (al-haqaiq al-ilahiyya).104 Just asMullaSadras
theory of the modulated but singular reality of being (tashkik
al-wujud) offers anaccount that reconciles our desire for a
unifying discourse with our phenomenal experienceof multiplicity,
so too does the modulated manner in which being is manifest in
walayahprovide a spiritual hierarchy guiding humanity towards the
One, at the apex of which isthe pole, the perfect man, the Imam of
the Twelver Shia.105
Ultimately, contemporary Shii philosophy in Iran and the
hegemony of Mulla Sadracan be traced back to the Qajar period and
the role played by Sabzawari in commentingupon his works,
disseminating and popularizing his ideas, and training a generation
of stu-dents who established institutions of learning and spread
Sadrian philosophy in Iran, Iraqand the Indian subcontinent.
Sabzawari remained the colossal figure around and belowwhom all
others gravitated and were given meaning. In his thought, there is
little that iseither original or uniquehe merely presents
critically and defends positions of MullaSadra. But that is enough
to ensure his significance. Pre-modern pedagogy and thepursuit of
knowledge were far less concerned than we are with imagination,
creativityand originality, and our notion of art and its function
are quite distinct. There were signifi-cant thinkers proposing
alternatives to Sadrian philosophy both within an Islamic idiomand
beyond it, and yet the influence of Sabzawari was such that it
dwarfed their attempts.For his time and for his successors, it was
enough that he was the living Mulla Sadra.
101Suha, Tarikh-i hukama, 157.102Suha, Tarikh-i hukama,
16769.103For a further examination, see Sajjad Rizvi, Being (wujd)
and sanctity (wilya): Two poles of
intellectual and mystical inquiry in Qajar Iran, Religion and
Society in Qajar Iran, 11326.104Sabzawari, Sharh al-asma,
552.105Zunuzi, Badayi al-hikam, 17383.
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