He was also well versed in both Sunni and Shi’ite kalam or theology...

He was also well versed in both Sunni and Shi’ite kalam or theology, especially the works of al-Ghazzali and Imam Fakr al-Din Razi whom he cites often especially in the Asfar (“The Four Journeys”) which is the masterpiece and like the mother of all his other books.

Moreover, he was well acquainted with Shi’ite kalam which included Twelve -Imam Shi’ism to which he belonged as well as Isma’ilism whose works he studied carefully including philosophical tracts such as the Rasa’il (“Treatises”) of the Ikhwan al-Safa’. Finally, it is most important to realize Mulla Sadra’s mastery of the doctrines of Sufism or gnosis especially as taught by Ibn ‘Arabi.

In certain issues such as eschatology, he borrows heavily from the Andalusian master, and the last book of the Asfar, in which he deals with al-ma’ad or eschatology is in fact replete with extensive quotations from Ibn ‘Arabi’s al-Futuhat almakkiyyah (“The Meccan Illuminations”). Moreover, he had a special love for Persian Sufi poetry and quotes from its masters such as ‘Attar and Rumi even in the middle of his Arabic works.

Part of this knowledge is derived from the earlier masters of the School of Isfahan such as its founder Mir Damad, a school which Mulla Sadra belonged, but his knowledge in these matters goes beyond any of his teachers and represents his own extensive study of the major works and sources of Islamic thought. The synthesis of previous schools of thought and modes of knowing Mulla Sadra synthesized not only various schools of Islamic thought but also the paths of human knowledge.

His own life, based upon great piety, deep philosophical introspection and reasoning and purification of his inner being until his “eye of the heart” opened and he was able to have a direct vision of the spiritual world, attests to the unity of the three major paths of knowledge in his own person. These three paths are according to him revelation (al-wahy), demonstration or intellection (alburhan, al-ta’aqqul) and spiritual or “mystical” vision (al-mukashafah, almushahadah).

Or, to use another terminology prevalent among his school, he followed a way which synthesized al-Qur’an, al-burhan and al-‘irfan, which corresponds to the terms above.