MULLĀ ṢADRĀ'S CONCEPT OF SUBSTANTIAL MOTION

Author(s): MUHAMMAD 'ABDUL HAQ

Source: Islamic Studies, Vol. 11, No. 2 (JUNE 1972), pp. 79-91
Published by: Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University, Islamabad
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 MULLA SADRA'S CONCEPT OF
SUBSTANTIALMOTION
MUHAMMAD 'ABDUL HAQ

Introduction

The phenomena ofmaterial creation are a becoming process because

their reality consists only in moving and not in being moved. They
exist through movement and becoming, hence the flimsy and precarious
character of terrestrial life. Every moment an object ceases to be what
it was before on account of its inherent movement and it is, therefore,
invariably liable to gradual change and flux, growth and decay and eventual
death and disappearance. In fact, material phenomena are ephemeral
and fleeting rather than immutable and unchangeable. To try to perpe
tuate mundane life and its happiness would, therefore, amount to puerile
reverie and optimism. Creation, thus, is a Being that is tinged with
becoming; or in other words, it is like a fabric woven of change and
becoming. That is why all the created orders may be called the dwellers
of the land of becoming. This cosmic fact has led Mulla Sadrl to ex
pound the doctrine of Motion and particularly of Substantial
Motion. (kj>y? <fj>)

Motion

The becoming process mentioned above means a gradual change and

progress from potentiality to actuality, or from immaturity to maturity,
or from birth to death ? a movement which is natural and ingrained in
the very material substance of an object. This movement and becoming
process is calledmotion (^V) in thephilosophical terminology.Thus

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80 MUHAMMAD 'ABDUL HAQ

motion, according to Mulla Sadra and to other Muslim philosophers,

is the process of gradual change and becoming of a thing from potentiality
to actuality, (J*aJ! Jl "?>ai cx* ?j> ).* Had there been
no such innate motion, a seed would never have become a huge tree
in a gradual manner, or a drop of sperm would never have become a grown
up man. It is on account of motion that from time immemorial, the
caravan of creation has been flowing on like waves ceaselessly renewed.

Motion, therefore,may be described as the 6lan vital in the gradual process

of material creation; it is the dynamic force in the wheel of birth and
death and the driving power in the successive procession of creation
in varied forms. It is motion which is accountable for the ceaseless
march of days and nights, seasons and years, centuries and ages, peoples
and cultures through the entire gamut of history. Motion seems to have

gripped us like the shirt ofNessus and we are, therefore, drawn through life
and death in spite of ourselves by an irresistible and invisible force. Viewed
metaphysically, it seems difficult to ascertain whether it is a push from
within or a pull from without. In fact, themetaphysical reality of motion
tends to elude our mental comprehension. The mystery of motion is
self-evident and indubitable but none the less inexplicable.

Substantial Motion

Ibn Sina and his followers confine motion only to four categories
of accidents such as quality ( <JuT) quantity (^ ) situation ( ?j ) and
place ( ui' )> and deny motion in the category of substance.2 But Mulla
Sadra firmlymaintained thatmotion in the category of substance known as
Substantial Motion (kj*^ i5~>Ji) is more fundamental and prior to all
other motions in the category of accident.3

In order to make our discussion easy and

of Substantial Motion
clear, let us discuss what do theseMuslim Philosophers mean by substance
and accident? Substance (j***), according to them, is an entity that
exists or subsists through its own essence and is not contingent upon
anything else, such as any natural body, soul and intellect. (^y^\
m
?*h*ijy ?jubji J ?=**?j <ja^). And accident (u^), accord
ing to them, is an entity that exists in some substance and, therefore, has
no independence of existence, whether it be sensible such as any colour,
or non-sensible such as joy and sadness.4

While arguing in favour of Substantial Motion, MulK ?adra

maintains that accident is contingent upon substance and has no indepen

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 SUBSTANTIAL MOTION 81

dence of existence apart from substance. It appears in substance, with

substance and is inseparable from substance. It is now obvious that
any change and motion in accident is logically impossible, if there is no
prior change and motion in substance which is the matrix for accident.
The sweetness and yellow colour of an apple implies maturity and ripeness
in the substance of the apple, while a green apple means immaturity and
unripeness of its substance.5 Thus motion in accident presupposes a prior
motion in substance and the change in accident is the exteriorization of the
inward change in substance. Because accident is ontologically sub
servient to substance.
( **y>j^ J J>j*$\ )6. Substantial
Motion, therefore, takes pride of place over all motions in the category
of accident. Thus motion in accident must be preceded by an anterior
motion in substance.

It should be noted that Ibn SIna and his followers take motion as
it appears superfically in its commonplace sense without probing deep
into its ontological cause and metaphysical basis. That is why they set
aside the idea of Substantial Motion as baseless and even objectionable.
But toMulla Sadra, the cosmic phenomena are anchored in one metaphy
sical root and motion, therefore, cannot be an isolated phenomenon.
While tracing out the deepest metaphysical reality of Substantial Motion,
Mulla Sadra asserts that creation did not mushroom out of nothingness
or out of blind evolution. But in reality, it came fromGod and will return
unto Him. the Qur'an says, "surely we belong to God, and to Him
As
we return".7 (o*~Hj ui j
ui). This reflects that creation is ontologically
suspended between terrestrial contingencies and the inborn summon of
God. From the point of view of terrestrial contingencies, creation is
swathed in the bondages of matter and pinioned to the barriers of nature,
hence it is inmotion in order to realize catharisis ( ) from the grip of
matter and nature. Substantial Motion, therefore, represents an innate
struggle and an inborn movement on the part of creation and the problem
of struggle and movement evokes the problem of ontological poverty and
privation. Hence the dreamlike, floating and fleeting character of the

things and Beings of the world.8 While from the point of view of inborn
summon of God, Substantial Motion means the same ontological im
poverishment of creation. Symbolically, it means that the ontological
weakness of the creation is so acute that creation cannot help moving
ceaselessly in order to realize catharsis and ontological plenitude. That
is why we are running willy nilly towards death and eventually towards
?
God, theMotionless Mover, as to our inevitable and and logical goal

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82 MUHAMMAD 'ABDUL HAQ

a motion that is instinctive, spontaneous but imperceptible and irresistible.

As God says in the Qur'an, "Surely unto thy Lord is the Returning."
(l^1 j' ol ). In another place God says, "O Man! Thou art
Labouring unto they Lord laboriously, and thou shalt encounter
Him." ( *-2LiUoT Ji
dbj ^ ?uuijuVl i^b ).9 This labour and struggle
means Substantial Motion and movement from ontological point of
view. In another sense, this inborn summon of God may be described as
our nostalgia for the spirit, for the Infinite and as our inherent reluctance
to live by bread alone.

Mulla Sadra maintains that Substantial Motion is innate and em

bedded in the existential mystery of things and it is, thus, inseparable
from the objective Being (^j^- ^j) of a natural body. It iswell-known
that matter is mere potency and is, therefore, constantly seeking forms
one after another. seeking of form is motion; and what is made
This
of matter is bound to be inmotion and creation, therefore, is in motion
and a becoming process. It is now clear that Substantial Motion is
ingrained in and inseparable from matter or material substance of which
theworld has been created. That iswhy Mulla Sadra asserts that creation

( j**) of substanceby God amounts to the creation of motion and,

therefore, Substantial Motion does not need any new creation. *0 Now
a question may arise: why is matter condemned to motion? Because
matter is the accidental coagulation of a subtle ontological substance,
hence it is inmotion in order to regain its primordial purity and integrity
Likewise, motion has been accidently wrenched apart, from the primodial
motionlessness as time from eternity. Thus matter is more or less
identical with motion and motion is inseparable from time, for it is the
quantity of motion. However, the triad? matter, motion and time?
go hand in hand.

It is now clear that Substantial Motion is indwelling and embedded

in the very essence of the material substance of which the creation has
been made. That is why Mulla ?adra asserts that the world with all its
substantial and accidental elements is an immense unit of motion like a
fast flowing river and is never the same in two successive moments.11 The
Qur'an indicates to this fact as it says, "And thou shalt see themountains,
that thou supposest fixed, passing by like clouds".12 j1^' <$j j).
(vu*ji ^ Thus the whole material creation is being renewed every
moment on account of Substantial Motion and is thereby travelling
towards its lost centre or ontological fulfilment. According toMullI

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 SUBSTANTIAL MOTION 83

Sadra, of creation is condemned to matter and is, therefore,

the process

suspended between two poles?potentiality and actuality, matter and spirit,

finite and infinite. The innate and inborn force that incessantly drives
creation from potency to act, from birth to death is called Substantial
Motion. The aim of Substantial Motion is to neutralize bondages of
matter and, thus, to realize catharsis.13

means gradual and

It should be noted that since Substantial Motion
natural change and becoming of a thing from potency to act, any sudden
change caused by an external agent cannot be called Substantial Motion
For example, a thing has been reduced to ashes by fire or any colour

painted on a thing from outside cannot be considered the work of Subs

tantial Motion Because the cause for thismotion resides in thematerial
substance of a thing and not in any external thing. For example, a seed
grows and becomes a huge tree in a gradual natural process and does not
require any external agent.

sum up, Subtantial Motion, on the one hand, implies ontologi

To
cal bankruptcy of the creation. Neither we can prevent the gradual

approach of old age and death, nor can we immortalize our object of love
and happiness, nor can we transcend time and space?factors thatprove the
grievous vanity and the metaphysical unreality of transient objects and
Beings. Viewed from this angle, we are nothing but slaves of the temporal

process and the world is merely a scene-shifter's world.14

But on the other hand, thismotion reflects the inborn and instinctive
journey of creation towards catharsis, ontological equilibrium and ulti
mately towards God. Moreover, it indicates to the mysterious presence
of the creative intelligence of God in the whole created order. As the
Qur'In says, "It is God who splits the grain and the date -stone, brings
forth the living from the dead."15 (c~Ji & j tfyJ'j
o1)
In another place God says,

"We created man of an extraction of clay,

then we set him, a drop, in a receptacle secure,

then we created of the drop a clot,

then we created of the clot a tissue,

then we created of the tissue bones,

then we garmented the bones in flesh;

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84 MUHAMMAD 'ABDUL HAQ

thereafter we produced him as another creature.16

so blessed be God the fairest of creators."

- L?J LUip "<U^kJ| U^JJti**<Uya^

VibJI **4iLfc
"?ukJI
pk*JI \iy+SS

^j2JUJI -oiliJjUJ-^1 UU> Ail^Jl (v

Thus creative spirit works through Substantial Motion

the Divine
and sustains themundane journey of creation through temporal processes.
The substantail motion, thus, represents a tenacious movement of creation
out of the darkness of earthy exile towards its posthumous becoming.

It seems mysterious thatmatter is identical with potency, bondage

and limitation on the one hand, but on the other hand, it contains motion
whose function is to neutralize potency and bondage. Thus, motion in
one sense is the negation of matter. It should also be borne inmind that
whereas Substantial Motion works inwardly and imperceptibly, time floods
over us outwardly. There seems to be an inexplicable concatenation between
matter and motion, motion and time and life and death ? a blending that

passes human comprehension. It is Substantial Motion that neutralizes

and dissolves these concatenations in the long run, because it is leading
us towards motionlessness, timelessness and deathlessness ? a state of

ontological unity and plenitude. Thus Substantial Motion will ultimately

free our essential Being {J\* from the accidental accretions that so
intimately grip itduring its sojourn on earth.

It should be noted that all things are infused with Substantial

Motion but not confused.Every object individually and in its own
particular manner undergoes Substantial Motion seeking catharsis (>j*>)
from material bondage in order to realize the model or prototype of its
own species The individuals of all material species are limited
(g>h vj).
to four dimensions, length, breadth, space and time, while the unity of
their physical reality i is preserved by the form of species
(^'Jl ij^Jl) which has been perpetuated by its primordial archetype
( gjJl vj ).17 As mentioned above, the process of material creation has
been brought into existence through Substantial Motion and not through
any blind organic evolution. While evolutionary hypothesis tends to
negate the reality of the form of species (4^1 h^), Substantial Motion
establishes the immutability of the form of species. We find that in all
?
stages of Substantial Motion, an apple, green or ripe, mature or im

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 SUBSTANTIAL MOTION 85

mature ? is invariably the same apple, that its form of species is unchange
able, although its substance is undergoing terrible flux. Because this
form of species, according toMulla Sadra, is metaphysically the reflection
of themodel of species of which Plato has spoken as Eternal Ideas or Types,
( y^loMl jiJi) of which the Sufis have spoken as Immutable Essences,
(^izJl juVi) and of which Mulla Sadra has spoken as the Primordial
Realities jJifeJl), subsisting in the world of Divine Command.
8 That is
(^Vi ^JUJl).! why Mulla Sadra maintains that every object has
two aspects, or two dimensions, one is quasi-divine and immutable and
the other is changeable and corruptible. The former is the form of species
thathas beenperpetuatedby itsprimordialarchetype^( vj ) existingin
the world of Divine Command. The latter is the physical aspect belong
ing to this lower world (JaJI which is subject to change, decay and
death, as it is vulnerable to motion in substance and essence.19

According to Mulla Sadra, the individuals of every species are

undergoing Substantial Motion which is not at all instrumental in bring
ing about the multiplicity of species. Its function is to cause gradual
change and transformation in the material substance of a natural body.
Thus the subject of Substantial Motion is the substantial matter of
{fj+y*)
a body, that it realizes every moment a new form,more perfect than ever,
of the same species. But the empirical experience of the series of suc
cessive forms is impossible due to its terrible flux.20 Thus the form
of species (^yJi is a truth and a basic reality of every object. It
is also the cause of distinction among various species and is, therefore,
unchangeable and permanent in spite of its undergoing through Subs
tantial Motion. Even the individuals of every species do not lose their
personality and identity on account of this motion. The individuals of
different species are constantly wearing on new dresses or forms of per
fection due to this motion which is very subtle and is coinciding with
the ceaseless renewal of successive moments (^'). This motion is some
thing metaphysical is,and
therefore, inaccessible to and undetected
by our senses. Through thismotion, a natural object repeatedly wears on
new dresses of perfection without losing the previous less perfect dress.
For example, a superior light contains all the degrees of an inferior light
or a man, from birth to death, starts wearing on the dresses of infancy,
childhood, adolescence, youth, adulthood and old-age. This process is
called wearing on one dress or form after the other and not
21
casting aside the old one, while wearing on a new one.(^ ->

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86 MUHAMMAD 'ABDUL HAQ

According to Mulla Sadra, all natural substances (kj*y? c1^)

from man down to inanimate objects are constantly changing, growing,

decaying, fleeting and disappearing at the level of their objective Being

(<^ju ^j) on account of Substantial Motion and having, thus, realized
a mode of catharsis and immateriality ( ), though on a weak scale,
they proceed towards their posthumous becoming.22

Mulla Sadra maintains that all natural bodies composed of matter

or substances contaminated with matter such as soul, are subject tomotion
in their substance and motion in substance produces motion in their
accident. Thatis why those Beings which are immune from matter
such as transcendent intelligible Beings (ob^ ji dy*) are free from
Substantial Motion.

According to Mulla ?adra, human soul is, therefore, subject to

Substantial Motion because it is created with the matter of body itself,
that at the time of creation, the soul is identical with the natural subs
tance of the body. But through Substantial Motion, the rational soul

gradually realizes ontological perfection and riddance from the grip

of matter. That is why it becomes distinct from the body and attains
complete catharsis frommaterial bondage at the time of death. He argues
that rational soul is created with the body itself like prime matter full of
potency. But through Substantial Motion, it assumes the dresses of
vegetative soul, then animal soul and at last human soul. This gradual
transition takes place within the material substance of the body like
an alchemical process inwhich the power to reach perfection is ingrained
within the matter itself.23

SinceIbn Sina and his followers reject Substantial Motion, they

maintain that the soul of a sage at the age of seventy and that of an infant
are ontologically the same, that no change occurs in the substance of
the two souls, but changes do occur in their accidents. While refuting
this theory, MullI ?adra asserts that motion in accident is impossible
without any prior motion in substance and maintains that Substantial
Motion is the natural and innate journey of the substantial natures
of bodies and souls.24

Explaining the gradual becoming of the soul, MuM Sadra writes

that the human soul at the time of its creation is identical with a mineral
entity, but potentially is a plant, and as soon as it begins to develop in
the womb, it becomes actually a plant or a vegetative soul and potentially

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 substantial motion 87

an animal, because it lacks sensation and voluntary motion. After

birth the baby is actually an animal or an animal soul and potentially a
human being and finally as the baby grows up and becomes a man of
forty,he is actually a human being or a rational soul and potentially either
an angel or a disciple of Satan.25

The summary of Ibn Sincfs objection to Substantial Motion

As mentionedabove, Ibn Sina and his followers speak of Substantial

Motion as baseless
and preposterous, because its process would result in
the liquidation of the forms of body and species j <i*~*Jt )?
forms whose persistence and immutability is ontologically indispensable.
They assert that the process of Substantial Motion amounts to the nega
tion of the persistence of the forms of body and species. For six factors
are involvedin thismotion: (1) The beginningofmotion, (2) theend of
motion, (3) the agent which causes motion, (4) the distance which the
moving object crosses in course of motion, (5) that for which motion
takes place, (6) the essence which moves from one condition to another
and is called the subject of motion (tf^Ji g>^-?)26. It is absolutely neces
sary that the subject of motion should remain preserved and protected
in all phases of motion. But in case of Substantial Motion, thematerial
substance of a body ceaselessly undergoes motion and, therefore, the
subject of motion cannot endure and survive this terrible

change and flux. Thus the dissolution of the subject of motion amounts
to the liquidation of the forms of body and species ? a liquidation that is

ontologically inconceivable. Substantial Motion is, therefore, absurd,

fictitious and is contrary to reason and logic. 27 This is the summary of
Ibn Sina's objection to Substantial Motion.

Mulld Sadra 'sAnswer.

In reply to this objection, Mulla ?adra maintains that through

Substantial Motion, an object moves from one limit of substantiality to
another such as themovement from immaturity tomaturity, or from weak
ness to strength, or from potential smallness to actual hugeness. It does
not at all bring about transformation from one substance to another or

something else. Although the substantial form of an object is continuouly

in the process of change and becoming, none the less its form of body and
that of species persist intact and unimpaired despite all this terrible flux.
Even an individual does not lose his individuality, uniqueness and special
ness. Mr. Zaid is always Zaid, although he passes through boyhood,

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88 MUHAMMAD 'ABDUL HAQ

youth, manhood and old-age. His personality is always the same, despite
his passing through these various phases of life. Thus the traveller is one,
though he wears on various dresses one after another.28

As mentioned above, there is a mysterious concatenation bet

ween matter and motion or matter and form. It is well-known that
ontologically matter is very ambiguous and obscure and is, therefore,
called non-Being. That is why matter is always hidden under some form
and it is form, rather than matter, that constitutes the reality of every
thing. Everything is knowable and recognizable by its form and not
by itsmatter. A man is a man on account of his particular form and
not of his matter. But matter tends to be a barrier for form which cannot
become truly itself as long as it is rooted in matter. In other words,
matter is an accidental and temporal accretion of our Beings ? an accre
tion which is liable to perish and disappear ultimately on account of
Substantial Motion.29 Now it can be concluded that if human body is
matter then human soul is the form. In fact, it is human soul which
traverses and various ontological stages through Substantial
realizes
Motion. That is why MullS Sadra maintains that it is soul which is

travelling towards God;30 in other words, thewhole creation is the Journey

of soul towards God and Substantial Motion is the driving force underly
ing this journey. The famous Iranian mystic poet, RumI, depicts this
idea in his Mathnawi:

f^xr ol>s? UJjj fj? j jl

>v J Jb vXJ^ta jl *jJu**.

|?jTji j_?j jl |?j?~?j j??o
JuU
I?y?jT pAj jOil ApuI Okj* j' j?jl*

"I died from the inorganic realm and became a plant, then I died
from the plant life and became an animal. Dying from animality
I became a man, so why should I be afraid of becoming anything
less through another death? In the next step, I shall die from
humanity to develop wings like angels. Then again I shall sacrifice
my angelic self and become that which cannot be imagined, then
I become non-existent when the divine organ strikes the note 'we
are to return unto Him'."31

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 SUBSTANTIAL MOTION 89

It is now clear that every individual human soul traverses all these
ontological stages within itself on account of Substantial Motion. That
iswhy Mulla Sadra firmly asserts that through Substantial Motion, a drop
of sperm becomes vegetative soul, then animal soul and at last human
soul and yet it remains pregnant with many possibilities before and after
death.32 If the process of creation means separation and alienation of
finite Beings from the Infinite Being, then Substantial Motion is a means
and a vehicle for reintergration and return to Him.

Conclusion

The metaphysics ofMulla Sadra represents the final phase of Islamic

?
thought. The whole fabricof hismetaphysics is based on ontology
a doctrineof Being or of the transcendent
unity of Being which is the
source and central point of all his metaphysical doctrines. Substantial
Motion, therefore, is not an isolated doctrine, rather it is an aspect of his
ontology. It is on account of this unified metaphysical world-view that
Mulla Sadra finds the whole cosmos to be fraught with apposite metaphy
sical data, signs and symbols. This metaphysicl insight enables him to
discover everything related back to its metaphysical origin and centre.
This consciousness leads him to view the passing and fleeting events and

things in the eternal context, to visualize in the flux of the Substantial

Motion the inborn summon of the Motionless Mover, to discern the
Infinitein thefiniteand to vision theunderlyingunityof Being in the
separative illusions of things.

Thus the way MullI ?adra develops and explains Substantial

Motion, its real import and significance proves that nothing in the cosmos
can be an isolated phenomenon devoid of any metaphysical root and
purpose. In fact, everything participates in the total scheme of things
and is, thus, related back ontologically to its Ineffable Cause and Un
moved Mover. But the modern thought after Renaissance and specially
after Descartes tends to live in the separative illusion of multiplicity
and is very prone to remain confined to the surface level of sense-perception.
It, therefore, presumes things as if they were self-contained entities, as
if they were carrying within themselves their own sufficient cause, and
as if there were no Absolute Being or Centre sustaining all. Being decen
tralized, modern minds are surfeited with discontinuous facts and with
the scandalous outside of things without probing deep into theirmetaphy
sical root. This reflects the overweening attitude of the devotees ofmodern

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90 MUHAMMAD 'ABDUL HAQ

? a
thought to deny the authority and necessity of the Absolute Being
denial which is the very negation of Islamic thought.

The doctrine of Substantial Motion proves, on the one hand,that the

Absolute Being ? theMotionless Mover?alone is real, and, on the other
hand, reveals the metaphysical nullity and ontological proverty of ephe
meral things. Thus itmakes man conscious of what he is and of what
things are and thereby tends to cause a fissure in his existential dream and
forgetfulness. Deprived of this awarness and insight, the devotees of
modern thought attach too much value and importance only to those things
that are tied to time, space and matter. They, therefore, set aside as unreal
those things that are inaccessible to their sense-perception. Moreover
they are dazzled with modern scientific and technological progress on a
scale hitherto undreamt of. This tremendous success thickens the veil of
their metaphysical blindness, reinforces their illusion of being right and
encourages them to condemn and reject centuries-old traditional wisdom.
Thus, once cut off from traditional wisdom, they have become pre-occupied
with their practical work-a-day world which is encumbered with modern
obsessive and new -fangled ideas and ideologies. They may denounce and
reject theworld-view of a philosopher likeMulla Sadra as the reverie of an
opinionated crank, but itmust be borne in mind that their belief in a
scientific and technological millennium does not and will not make the
ills and evils of this age any less real, the suffering of humanity any less
painful and the fate of humanity any better. A threatening cloud of im
pending doom looms large over the horizon of this age.

Islamic thought is the synthetic fruit of the accumulated traditional

wisdom which is called the Sophia perennis. It is an inalienable and irre

placeable legacy. It stands for what is integrally human and humanly

divine of which themodern thought is the very negation.

References

1. Mulla Sadra, al-Asfar, Vol. 3, p. p. 22.

2. SeyyedHossein Nasr, Introduction,seeAsl ofMulla Sadra, p. 22.

3. S.M.H. Taba-tabal' Yad Namh-i-Mulla Sadra, p. 20.

4. Jawad Muslih, Falsafa-i-Afi Mulla Sadra Vol. p. 72, 73.

5. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Mulla Sadra Commemoration Volume, p. 13. The Faculty
ofTheology,TehranUniversity,1961.
6. Jawad Muslih, Falsafari-Ali Mulla Sadra, Vol. I, p. 132.

7. A.J. Arberry, The Koran Interpreted, The Cow, V. 152.

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 SUBSTANTIAL MOTION 91

8. Mulla Sadra, Asfdr, Vol. 3. P. 37, 60.

9. A.J. Arberry, The Koran Interpreted. The Blood-Clot, V. 8. The Rending V. 6.

10. Ashtiyani, Jalal al-DIn, Sharh-i-Hdli Mulla Sadra, p. 32.

11. Mulla Sadra, al-Mazahir al-Ildhiyydh, p. 62.

12. A.J. Arberry, The Koran Interpreted, The Ant, V. 90.

13. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Mulla Sadra, Commemoration Volume, p. 29.

14. Mulla Sadra, al-Asfar,Vol. I. p. 47, 89; 'Ar&iyyah,pp. 230, 231,262.

15. A.J. Arberry, The Koran Interpreted, The Cattle, V. 95.

16. Ibid, The Believers, V. 11-15.

17. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Mulla Sadra Commemoration Volume, p. 29.

18. Mulla Sadra, 'Arsjiiyyah, p. 226, al-Asfar, Vol. 3, al-Mazahir al-Ilahiyyah, p. 34.

19. SeyyedHossein Nasr, See As IMulla Sadra, Introductory

Chapter p. 23.
20. Ibid,p. 23.
21. Ibid.
22. 'Ashtiyani, S. Jalal al-DIn, Sharhi Hdli Mulla Sadra, p. 32.

23. SeyyedHossein Nasr, A History ofMuslim PhiloisophyYol.il, p. 954.

24. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Mulla Sadra Commemoration Volume, p. 16.

25. Mulla Sadra, al-Shawdhid l-Rububiyyah, p. 229.

26. Mulla Sadra, al-Asfar, Vol. 3.75,76,77.

27. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Mulla Sadra's Commemoration volume p. 20.

28. Ibid. p. 21.

29. Mulla Sadra, 'Arskiyyah, pp. 248, 255.

30. Mulla Sadra a-Mazdhir al-Ildhiyyah,pp. 63, 64, 65.

31. Khalifa Abdul Hakim, TheMetaphysics of Rumi p. 36,37.
32. Mulla Sadra, 'Arshiyyah, p. 235; al-Shawdhid al-Rububiyyah p. 229.

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