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A Critical Analysis of Discourses on Knowledge and Absolute Authority in the Works of Ḥamīd Al-Dīn Kirmānī and Mullā Ṣadrā Shīrāzī

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A Critical Analysis of Discourses on Knowledge and Absolute Authority in the Works of Ḥamīd Al-Dīn Kirmānī and Mullā Ṣadrā Shīrāzī A Critical Analysis of Discourses on Knowledge and Absolute Authority in the Works of Ḥamīd al-Dīn Kirmānī and Mullā Ṣadrā Shīrāzī By Sayeh Meisami A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department for the Study of Religion University of Toronto © Copyright by Sayeh Meisami 2017 A Critical Analysis of Discourses on Knowledge and Absolute Authority in the Works of Ḥamīd al-Dīn Kirmānī and Mullā Ṣadrā Shīrāzī Sayeh Meisami Doctor of Philosophy Department for the Study of Religion University of Toronto 2017 Abstract The dissertation studies the mutual empowerment of epistemic and religio-political discourses in the Shīʿī contexts of the Fatimid Egypt and the Safavid Persia. Informed by the methodology of critical discourse analysis, the author investigates concepts, narratives, and arguments constituting several key texts that have contributed to the generation and development of philosophical Shiʿism that empowers the discourse of absolute authority of the imam and his representatives. The comparative study of the Ḥamīd al-Dīn Kirmānī and Mullā Ṣadrā Shīrāzī reveals the discursive continuation of the Shīʿī dynamics of knowledge and power. To demonstrate this, a large number of passages from primary texts in the original Arabic language are translated and closely analysed in terms of the concepts and narratives used. In analyzing the primary texts, the author particularly highlights the synthesis of different discourses including philosophical, Sufi, theological, and scriptural. Beginning with Kirmānī and Mullā Ṣadrā’s discourses on knowledge, the study highlights what their epistemic narratives have ii in common regarding the source and scope of human knowledge and to what extent they incorporate both Greek philosophy and Qurʾanic narratives of spiritual perfection. iii Acknowledgments I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to Professor Shafique Virani who supervised the present dissertation. He has been a source of genuine support throughout my graduate years at University of Toronto and helped me form and improve my study due to his deep knowledge of the field and his unique character as a dedicated educator. Next, I would like to thank Dr. Walid Saleh who has always supported me in my projects and advised me wisely. Last but not least, I thank Dr. Deborah Black for her thoughtful comments and insights. I would also like to thank Dr. Mohammed Rustom and Dr. Sajjad Rizvi who have never hesitated to provide me with guidelines and references. During my graduate years, I was also blessed to have the support of Dr. John Kloppenborg, Dr. Jennifer Harris, Dr. Joseph Bryant, and Dr. Amira Mittermaier whenever I needed help with my academic decisions. Lastly, I would like to thank Fereshteh Hashemi whose constant dedication to advising students is one of the greatest advantages of studying at the Department for the Study of Religion. iv Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1 1. Philosophy and Authority in Shiʿism: Kirmānī and Mullā Ṣadrā 1 2. Review of Literature 6 3. Methodological Measures 34 4. Formal Consideration 38 4.1. Transliteration 38 4.2. Dates and Style 39 4.3. The Qurʾan 39 Chapter 2: Ḥamīd al-Dīn Kirmānī on Human Soul and Knowledge 40 1. Ḥamīd al-Dīn Kirmānī, the Fatimid Philosopher/Summoner 40 2. The Qurʾan and Kirmānī’s Cosmology 50 3. Knowledge and the Evolution of the Human Soul 55 4. The Rational Soul and the Intellect 70 5. Intellective Emanation, Perfect Souls, and Infallible Knowledge 82 Chapter 3: Kirmānī’s Discourse on the Imamate and His Influence 94 1. Rational Discourses of the Imamate in Shiʿism 94 2. Kirmānī’s Theory of the Imamate 108 3. Reappearance of Philosophical Imamology in the Works of Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī 129 Chapter 4: Mullā Ṣadrā on Knowledge and the Imamate 145 v 1. Mullā Ṣadrā in Context 145 2. Mullā Ṣadrā on the Nature of Knowledge 152 2.1 The Soul in Progress and the Perfection Narrative 160 2.2 The Ultimate Source of Knowledge: Emanation Narrative 174 3. Perfect Souls, Imams, and the Necessity of Instruction 178 4. Mullā Ṣadrā’s Political Imamology and the Imam’s Representatives 200 Chapter 5: Mullā Ṣadrā’s Legacy and Concluding Remarks 211 1. Shīʿī Philosophy and Politics: Mullā Ṣadrā’s legacy 211 2. Concluding Remarks 235 Bibliography 245 vi Chapter 1 Introduction 1. Philosophy and Authority in Shiʿism: Kirmānī and Mullā Ṣadrā Following the lead of Plato and Aristotle, classical Islamic philosophers built their political views on their understanding of a hierarchical cosmos, including a hierarchy of souls (nufūs). Abū Naṣr Fārābī (d. 339/950), commonly referred to as “the Second Master” in works of Islamic philosophy,1 formulated the first systematic political discourse in Islamic intellectual history. He made a discursive framework for Islamic political theory based on Platonic Idealism and intellectual authority. To date, Fārābī’s work and the continuation of his political philosophy by later thinkers is widely known to scholars of Islamic studies. 2 In addition, Shīʿī scholars have written extensively on the unique authority of the imams, signifying a designated line of the genealogical descendants of the Prophet Muḥammad. What still needs attention is the discursive bond between philosophy and Shiʿism. This is particularly true regarding the 1 In Islamic philosophical literature the First Master is Aristotle, the Second is Fārābī, and the Third, in Persian literature, is Muḥammad Bāqir Mīr Dāmād, the Safavid philosopher and Mullā Ṣadrā’s philosophy teacher. See Muhsin Mahdi, Alfarabi: Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1962), 4. 2 For the political philosophies of classical Islamic philosophers including Fārābī, see Charles E. Butterworth, ed., The Political Aspects of Islamic Philosophy: Essays in Honor of Muhsin S. Mahdi (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992). 1 relation between the narratives of Islamic epistemology/psychology3 and that of Shīʿī authority in its complex religious and political applications. The possibility of historical confluence aside, the two fields share narratives, arguments, statements, and concepts, as well as a synthetic methodology which is prominent in those philosophical texts produced in a Shīʿī context. This dissertation is a critical investigation into the shared discursive ground between epistemology/psychology and religio-political theories of authority in the works of two thinkers who represent the intellectual dimensions of two influential Shīʿī dynasties. Ḥamīd al- Dīn Kirmānī (d. 412/1021) and Mullā Ṣadrā Shīrāzī (d. 1050/1640) contributed to the generation of Shīʿī discourses of absolute authority in Fatimid Egypt and Safavid Persia. This analysis will show that the religio-political discourses of the two states are similar in character and orientation, sharing analogous arguments and narratives. This will be demonstrated based on the place and function of epistemology/psychology in their narratives of authority. However, the differences between them in their application of some of the narratives also reveal the influence of the dominant religious and political ideologies of their times. Though separated by time and location, Kirmānī and Mullā Ṣadrā belong to the same tradition of incorporating Aristotelian philosophy in their writings as well as Neoplatonic readings of Aristotle and Plato’s writings. This is due, in part, to early Muslim philosophers adopting pseudo-Aristotelian writings, the intellectual attractiveness of Aristotelian logic and 3 Throughout this dissertation, I use “epistemology/psychology” in discussing both Kirmānī and Mullā Ṣadrā as a reminder that there is not a very clear delineation of a border between cognitive psychology and epistemology in their works. Moreover, I am not doing epistemology in the technical sense of analyzing the conditions of knowledge and justification. I use the adjective “epistemic” in a broad sense as descriptive of narratives of knowledge formation. 2 epistemology, and the political significance of a Platonic perfect ruler for Muslim thinkers. I argue that the utopian aspect of Plato’s philosophy has been appealing particularly to those philosophical discourses that were formed in Shīʿī contexts.4 From this point of view, it does not matter if Fārābī was Shīʿī or not, nor does it make much difference whether Ibn Sīnā was influenced by his Ismaʿili family background, which he actually criticized and turned against.5 Rather, the present study is focused on the confluence of discourses which is not fully determined by the intentions of the writers in question or by specific historical links. This is not to underestimate the fact that Kirmānī and Mullā Ṣadrā were unquestionably Shīʿī and dedicated to the Shīʿī cause of intellectually reinforcing the imamate. Rather, their conscious motivation is not the subject of the present study. Moreover, it is posited that the philosophical narratives of knowledge and authority that the two philosophers incorporated into their works were discursively rooted in a tradition which organically grew on the bedrock of Greek philosophy rather than solely on Shīʿī ideology. To reveal the intricate relationship between knowledge and power in the philosophies of Kirmānī and Mullā Ṣadrā, I will begin with their epistemology/psychology, focusing specifically 4 On these issues, see Hans Daiber, “The Ismaili background of Fārābī’s political philosophy: Abū Ḥātim ar-Rāzī as a forerunner of Fārābī,” in Gottes ist der Orient, Gottes ist der Okzident: Festschrift
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