University of Dayton eCommons Philosophy Faculty Publications Department of Philosophy 2015 Mullā Ṣadrā on the Efficacy of Prayer Sayeh Meisami University of Dayton,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.udayton.edu/phl_fac_pub Part of the Metaphysics Commons, and the Philosophy of Mind Commons eCommons Citation Meisami, Sayeh, "Mullā Ṣadrā on the Efficacy of Prayer" (2015). Philosophy Faculty Publications. 100. https://ecommons.udayton.edu/phl_fac_pub/100 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Philosophy at eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of eCommons. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. 1 Mullā Ṣadrā on the Efficacy of Prayer (du‘ā)1 Sayeh Meisami University of Dayton, Ohio Abstract This paper presents the manner in which Mullā Ṣadrā explains the influence of prayer (du‘ā) on the world, drawing as he does on Ibn ‘Arabī’s ideas against the backdrop of his own dynamic metaphysical psychology. Mullā Ṣadrā’s eventually distances himself from Ibn Sīnā’s position on the passive nature of prayer, and instead opts for Ibn ‘Arabī’s reading of the intimate divine•human interplay in prayer itself. In doing so, Mullā Ṣadrā provides a formulation of prayer in which the supplicant plays a more active role in eliciting the divine response to her prayer. For Mullā Ṣadrā, prayer therefore fashions the human soul, while the human soul also fashions the outcome of prayer. Keywords Cosmology, cosmic change, divine providence, existential gradation, heavenly souls, imagination, imaginal power, perfect human, prayer, substantial motion.