Ontological and Epistemological Aspects of the Qur’ānic Concept of the ‘Transformation of the Earth’ in the Teachings of Sadr al-Dīn Shīrāzī

• Main Authors: Abbas Javareshkian, Ali Ghaffarpour, Alireza Kohansal
• Format: Article
• Language: fas
• Published: Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies (IHCS) 2017-11-01
• Series: حکمت معاصر
• Subjects: Sadr al-Dīn Shīrāzī (Mullā Sadra); Ontology; epistemology; transformation of the Earth; substantial motion (al-harakt al-jawhariyya)
• Online Access: http://wisdom.ihcs.ac.ir/article_2828_a440d40566f1adb01a7a652b53700d39.pdf

Sadr al-Dīn Shīrāzī (Mullā Sadra, 1569-1640), composed philosophical commentaries on the Qur’ānic concept of the ‘transformation of the Earth’ through epistemological and ontological approaches. In fact, Sadr al-Dīn composed a rich, multi-faceted commentary, dealing with relevant philosophical issues, on the following Qur’ānic verse about the transformation of Heavens and the Earth: ‘One day the Earth will be transformed into a different Earth, and so will be the Heavens, and (men) will be marshalled forth, before Allah, the One, the Irresistible’ (Q 14:48). In certain parts of his work, Sadr al-Dīn makes use of the principle of ‘substantial motion’ (al-harakat al-jawhariyya) to explain the transformation of the Heavens and the Earth (referred to in Q 14:48), but in some other passages, he considers the same transformation as a result of the final return of all existing things to their divine origins. Besides that, Sadr al-Dīn regarded the possibility of the occurrence of this transformation in the sight of the ‘Universal Man’ (al-insān al-kāmil), when the ‘eternal Ideas’ of the Heavens and the Earth come to be manifested in the ‘imaginal realm’ of both the soul and the universe.