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Draft:Qā'ida Basīṭ al-Ḥaqīqa

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Qā'ida Basīṭ al-Ḥaqīqa (Rule of the Simple Reality) is a fundamental principle in philosophy derived from the maxim "Basīṭ al-ḥaqīqa kull al-ashyā' wa laysa bi-shay' minhā," which translates to "the simple reality is all things, yet it is none of them." In explicating this rule, it is posited that the "simple reality," being devoid of any form of composition, encompasses the existential perfections of all entities in a plenary and perfect manner while remaining free from their deficiencies.

Mulla Sadra regarded this rule as one of his seminal philosophical innovations. According to Mulla Hadi Sabzawari, while mystics preceding Mulla Sadra had addressed the substance of this rule in their works, Morteza Motahhari contends that Mulla Sadra was the first philosopher to formulate a rational demonstration for it and integrate it systematically into his philosophy.

Mulla Sadra posits that the Wajib al-Wujud (Necessary Being) constitutes the "simple reality"; consequently, It possesses the existential perfections of all things and is absolved of their imperfections. This perspective has faced criticism from scholars such as Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i. However, thinkers such as Mahmud Shahabi Khorasani and Gholamhossein Ebrahimi Dinani argue that these critiques stem from a misapprehension of the rule's nuances.

Mulla Sadra further applied this rule to theological and philosophical discourses, including God's Essential Knowledge, the unity of the soul with its faculties, and the refutation of Ibn Kammuna's Doubt.

Statement of the Rule

The rule of Basīṭ al-Ḥaqīqa is predicated on the famous aphorism "Basīṭ al-ḥaqīqa kull al-ashyā' wa laysa bi-shay' minhā" (The simple reality is all things, yet is not any one of them). This principle is central to Mulla Sadra's philosophy.[1] The terminology of the rule is defined as follows:

  • Basīṭ al-Ḥaqīqa: The term "simple" (basīṭ), utilized in philosophy as the antithesis of "composite" (murakkab), denotes an entity devoid of parts.[2] Basīṭ al-Ḥaqīqa is a being that is simple in all respects, lacking any composition—whether external (matter and form), intellectual (genus and differentia), quantitative (line, surface, and volume), or the composition of existence and essence, or existence and non-existence.[3]
  • Basīṭ al-ḥaqīqa kull al-ashyā': The term "things" (ashyā') in this context refers to the existential and perfectional aspects of beings.[4] The assertion that "the simple reality is all things" implies that the simple reality is an entity that encompasses all the perfections found in other beings.[5]
  • Laysa bi-shay' minhā: This phrase indicates that the simple reality is devoid of the deficiencies, limitations, and non-existential aspects inherent in other beings.[6] Thus, while the simple reality is unified with all beings in terms of existence, it remains distinct from them in its essence.[7]

History

Scholars generally classify this rule among the philosophical principles established by Mulla Sadra within philosophy.[8] It is considered to be founded upon the systematic ambiguity (tashkīk) of existence.[9] After formulating this rule in his magnum opus, Asfār al-arba'a, Mulla Sadra identified it as one of his own innovations, asserting that he knew of no predecessor who had achieved a comprehension of this matter.[10] He further characterized it as a "throne-derived" (arshī) proof—unique to his system—for demonstrating the Essential Unity of the Necessary Being.[11]

Mulla Hadi Sabzawari, a prominent Iranian mystic and philosopher of the 13th AH century, described the rule as a complex issue recurring throughout Mulla Sadra's corpus, including his concise works such as Al-Mashā'ir and Al-Ḥikma al-'arshiyya.[12] Sabzawari noted that numerous mystics prior to Mulla Sadra had alluded to this rule,[13] including Mir Damad, the 11th-century Shi'a philosopher and Mulla Sadra's teacher.[14]

Qasem Ghani, a contemporary Iranian man of letters, argued in his book A Discussion on Sufism that the text of this rule was an innovation of Mulla Hadi Sabzawari and formed the basis of his philosophical teachings.[15] However, Morteza Motahhari rejected this assertion, maintaining that while the concept of Basīṭ al-Ḥaqīqa has roots in mystical literature, its formulation as a philosophical proof is undoubtedly the innovation of Mulla Sadra.[16]

Proof of the Rule

To demonstrate that "the simple reality is all things," Mulla Sadra argued that if the simple reality did not encompass all things—meaning something could be negated from it—its essence would necessarily be composite, consisting of "the existence of one thing" and "the non-existence of another." In other words, it would be composed of existence and non-existence.[17] For instance, the proposition "A is not B" implies that "A" is composed of the existential aspect of "being A" and the non-existential aspect of "not being B." These two aspects cannot be identical, for that would entail the identity of existence and non-existence, which is absurd.[18] Consequently, "every identity from which something is negated is composite." The contrapositive[19] of this proposition is: "from every non-composite (i.e., the simple reality), no existence or perfection can be validly negated." Therefore, the simple reality is all things.[20]

In Al-Asfār, Mulla Sadra cited Quranic verses to substantiate the rule of Basīṭ al-Ḥaqīqa, such as Qur'an 8:17 ("And you did not throw when you threw, but it was Allah who threw") and verses Qur'an 57:3 and Qur'an 57:4 ("He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden, and He has knowledge of all things... and He is with you wherever you may be").[21]

Application in Mulla Sadra's Philosophy

Mulla Sadra employed this rule to prove the Essential Unity of the Necessary Being and His status as the Perfect Reality.[22] The argument proceeds as follows: The Necessary Being is the simple reality—possessing the utmost simplicity—and whatever is the simple reality is all things; therefore, the Necessary Being is all things. This implies that the Necessary Being is a simple essence possessing the perfections and existential aspects of all things, with no entity existing outside His reality in terms of perfection and existence, while He remains free from their deficiencies and non-existential aspects.[23]

Furthermore, Mulla Sadra utilized this rule to demonstrate the identity of Divine attributes with His Essence,[24] to refute the famous doubt of Ibn Kammuna,[25] [26] to explicate the mode of God's knowledge of His Essence and of beings,[27] and to prove the unity of the rational soul with its faculties.[28]

Criticisms

In his work Asrār al-ḥikam, Mulla Hadi Sabzawari addressed a common criticism regarding the application of the rule of Basīṭ al-Ḥaqīqa to the Necessary Being: If the Necessary Being, as the simple reality, is all things, it would follow that minerals, plants, and other entities are identical to the Necessary Being.[29]

Sabzawari argued that the proponent of this objection commits the fallacy of the "illusion of conversion."[30][31] The rule states, "the simple reality is all things"; the veracity of this proposition does not necessitate the truth of its converse, "all things are the simple reality."[32] Thus, while the simple reality encompasses all things in terms of existence and perfection, individual things are not identical to the simple reality.[33]

Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i, the founder of the Shaykhiyya school, critiqued the rule of Basīṭ al-Ḥaqīqa in Sharḥ al-ʿArshiyya, a commentary on Mulla Sadra's Al-ʿArshiyya.[34] Additionally, in a treatise titled Ma'nā basīṭ al-ḥaqīqa kull al-ashyā, he argued that the rule contradicts the apparent meanings of Islamic scriptures. He further asserted, based on narrations and scholarly opinions, that proponents of this rule—which he linked to the belief in unity of existence—tread a path of deviation and warrant punishment in the Hereafter.[35] Conversely, Mahmud Shahabi Khorasani, a Mujtahid and professor at the University of Tehran, and Gholamhossein Ebrahimi Dinani, a noted philosopher, contend that Ahsa'i's hostility toward the rule of Basīṭ al-Ḥaqīqa and similar philosophical theories stems from a fundamental misapprehension of the rule and other issues within wisdom philosophy.[36]

Monograph

Selected independent monographs concerning the rule of Basīṭ al-Ḥaqīqa include:

  • Ma'nā basīṭ al-ḥaqīqa kull al-ashyā: Written by Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i. This treatise, authored to refute the rule of Basīṭ al-Ḥaqīqa, was published by the "Shams Hajar" Institute in Lebanon.
  • Al-Naẓrat al-daqīqa fī qā'idat basīṭ al-ḥaqīqa: Written by Mahmud Shahabi Khorasani, comprising 338 pages. In this work, the author elucidates the rule of Basīṭ al-Ḥaqīqa and provides a critical evaluation of Ahmad al-Ahsa'i's arguments. This book was published by the Institute for Research in Philosophy of Iran.

Notes

  1. ↑ Sajjādī, Farhang-i iṣṭilāḥāt-i falsafī-yi Mullā Ṣadrā, 1379 Sh, p. 130.
  2. ↑ Shahābī, Al-Naẓrat al-daqīqa fī qā'idat basīṭ al-ḥaqīqa, Mu'assasa-yi Pazhūhishī-yi Ḥikmat wa Falsafa-yi Īrān, p. 52.
  3. ↑ Sajjādī, Farhang-i iṣṭilāḥāt-i falsafī-yi Mullā Ṣadrā, 1379 Sh, p. 130.
  4. ↑ Shahābī, Al-Naẓrat al-daqīqa fī qā'idat basīṭ al-ḥaqīqa, Mu'assasa-yi Pazhūhishī-yi Ḥikmat wa Falsafa-yi Īrān, p. 53.
  5. ↑ Mullā Ṣadrā, Al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya, 1981, vol. 6, p. 110.
  6. ↑ Mullā Ṣadrā, Al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya, 1981, vol. 6, p. 110; Sabzawārī, Asrār al-ḥikam, 1383 Sh, p. 103.
  7. ↑ Anwārī, "Basīṭ al-ḥaqīqa", p. 156.
  8. ↑ Sajjādī, Farhang-i iṣṭilāḥāt-i falsafī-yi Mullā Ṣadrā, 1379 Sh, p. 130.
  9. ↑ Qummī, "Basīṭ al-ḥaqīqa kull al-ashyā' wa laysa bi-shay' minhā", p. 124.
  10. ↑ Mullā Ṣadrā, Al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya, 1981, vol. 3, p. 40.
  11. ↑ Mullā Ṣadrā, Al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya, 1981, vol. 1, p. 135.
  12. ↑ Sabzawārī, "Ta'līqa", in Al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya, vol. 2, p. 368.
  13. ↑ Sabzawārī, "Ta'līqa", in Al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya, vol. 2, p. 368.
  14. ↑ Sabzawārī, Asrār al-ḥikam, 1383 Sh, p. 106; Sabzawārī, "Ta'līqa", in Al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya, vol. 6, p. 110.
  15. ↑ Ghanī, Baḥthī dar taṣawwuf, 1331 Sh, p. 10.
  16. ↑ Muṭahharī, Majmū'a-yi āthār, 1390 Sh, vol. 11, p. 610.
  17. ↑ Mullā Ṣadrā, Al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya, 1981, vol. 6, pp. 110-111.
  18. ↑ Mullā Ṣadrā, Al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya, 1981, vol. 6, pp. 110-111.
  19. ↑ Contrapositive (aks-i naqīḍ) is a logical term wherein the negation of the subject is swapped with the predicate, and the negation of the predicate is swapped with the subject, without altering the truth value of the proposition. For example, the contrapositive of "every mammal is a vertebrate" is "every non-vertebrate is a non-mammal." (Khwānsārī, Farhang-i iṣṭilāḥāt-i manṭiqī, 1376 Sh, p. 153.)
  20. ↑ Ṭabāṭabā'ī, Majmū'at rasā'il, vol. 1, pp. 32-33; Ṭabāṭabā'ī, "Ta'līqa", in Al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya, vol. 6, p. 110.
  21. ↑ Mullā Ṣadrā, Al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya, 1981, vol. 2, pp. 368-372.
  22. ↑ Mullā Ṣadrā, Al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya, 1981, vol. 2, p. 368.
  23. ↑ Mullā Ṣadrā, Al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya, 1981, vol. 2, p. 368.
  24. ↑ Mullā Ṣadrā, Al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya, 1981, vol. 6, p. 145.
  25. ↑ Mullā Ṣadrā, Al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya, 1981, vol. 1, p. 135.
  26. ↑ Ibn Kammuna's doubt challenges the unity of the Necessary Being, arguing that there is no logical impediment to assuming two simple essences of Necessary Being that differ entirely in their essence, such that the concept of Necessary Being is abstracted from and applied to both. (Ṭabāṭabā'ī, Bidāyat al-ḥikma, Mu'assasat al-Nashr al-Islāmī, p. 157.)
  27. ↑ Sabzawārī, "Ta'līqa", in Al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya, vol. 6, p. 217.
  28. ↑ Mullā Ṣadrā, Al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya, 1981, vol. 8, pp. 134-135.
  29. ↑ Sabzawārī, Asrār al-ḥikam, 1383 Sh, p. 106.
  30. ↑ A logical fallacy wherein the truth of a proposition is assumed to imply the truth of its converse, which is not necessarily the case. For example, while the proposition "every honey is fluid and yellow-colored" is true, its converse "every fluid and yellow-colored thing is honey" is false. (Sabzawārī, Sharḥ manṭiq al-manẓūma, 1379 Sh, vol. 1, p. 354.)
  31. ↑ Sabzawārī, Asrār al-ḥikam, 1383 Sh, p. 106; Sabzawārī, "Ta'līqa", in Al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya, vol. 6, p. 110.
  32. ↑ Sabzawārī, Asrār al-ḥikam, 1383 Sh, p. 106.
  33. ↑ Sabzawārī, "Ta'līqa", in Al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya, vol. 6, p. 110.
  34. ↑ For instance see: Al-Aḥsā'ī, Sharḥ al-ʿArshiyya, 1427 AH, vol. 1, pp. 145-155.
  35. ↑ Al-Aḥsā'ī, Ma'nā basīṭ al-ḥaqīqa kull al-ashyā', 1430 AH, pp. 54-55.
  36. ↑ Shahābī, Al-Naẓrat al-daqīqa fī qā'idat basīṭ al-ḥaqīqa, Mu'assasa-yi Pazhūhishī-yi Ḥikmat wa Falsafa-yi Īrān, pp. 9-10, introduction; Ibrāhīmī Dīnānī, Mājarā-yi fikr-i falsafī dar jahān-i Islām, 1379 Sh, vol. 3, 370-371.

References

  • Al-Aḥsā'ī, Aḥmad b. Zayn al-Dīn, Ma'nā basīṭ al-ḥaqīqa kull al-ashyā', Beirut, Mu'assasat Shams Hajar, 1st ed., 1430 AH.
  • Al-Aḥsā'ī, Aḥmad b. Zayn al-Dīn, Sharḥ al-ʿArshiyya, Beirut, Mu'assasat Shams Hajar and Mu'assasat al-Balāgh, 2nd ed., 1427 AH.
  • Al-Ṭabāṭabā'ī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn, Bidāyat al-ḥikma, Qom, Mu'assasat al-Nashr al-Islāmī, n.d.
  • Anwārī, Muḥammad Jawād, "Basīṭ al-ḥaqīqa", The Great Islamic Encyclopedia, Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia, Tehran, 1383 Sh.
  • Ghanī, Qāsim, Baḥthī dar taṣawwuf, Tehran, Chāpkhāna-yi Majlis, 1331 Sh.
  • Ibrāhīmī Dīnānī, Gholamhossein, Mājarā-yi fikr-i falsafī dar jahān-i Islām, Tehran, Intishārāt-i Ṭarḥ-i Naw, 1st ed., 1379 Sh.
  • Khwānsārī, Muḥammad, Farhang-i iṣṭilāḥāt-i manṭiqī, Tehran, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, 2nd ed., 1376 Sh.
  • Muṭahharī, Morteza, Majmū'a-yi āthār, Qom, Intishārāt-i Ṣadrā, 1390 Sh.
  • Mullā Ṣadrā, Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm, Al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya fī l-asfār al-'aqliyya al-arba'a, Beirut, Dār Iḥyā' al-Turāth al-Arabi, 3rd ed., 1981.
  • Qummī, "[[1](https://www.noormags.ir/view/fa/articlepage/1681665/%D8%A8%D8%B3%DB%8C%D8%B7-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%82%DB%8C%D9%82%D9%87-%DA%A9%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B4%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D9%88-%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%B3-%D8%A8%D8%B4%D9%8C-%D9%85%D9%86%D9%87%D8%A7) Basīṭ al-ḥaqīqa kull al-ashyā' wa laysa bi-shay' minhā]", in Ḥawza Magazine, no. 93, 1378 Sh.
  • Sabzawārī, Mullā Hādī, Asrār al-ḥikam, Qom, Intishārāt-i Maṭbū'āt-i Dīnī, 1st ed., 1383 Sh.
  • Sabzawārī, Mullā Hādī, Sharḥ al-manẓūma (manṭiq), Tehran, Nashr-i Nāb, 1369 Sh.
  • Sajjādī, Sayyid Ja'far, Farhang-i iṣṭilāḥāt-i falsafī-yi Mullā Ṣadrā, Tehran, Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, 1st ed., 1379 Sh.
  • Shahābī, Mahmud, Al-Naẓrat al-daqīqa fī qā'idat basīṭ al-ḥaqīqa, Tehran, Institute for Research in Philosophy of Iran, n.d.
  • Ṭabāṭabā'ī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn, Majmū'at rasā'il, Qom, Intishārāt-i Būstān-i Kitāb, 1391 Sh.

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