Mullā Ṣadrā’s commentary on Kulainī’s Kitāb al-Kāfī deals with three of the eight books of its uṣūl part – Kitāb al-ʿaql wa faḍāʾil al-ʿilm, Kitāb al-tawḥīd, and Kitāb al-ḥuğğa. The discussion is dominated by several principal themes: the nature and manifestation of God’s unity, His essential and active attributes, creation of the world and its constituents, modulation of existence, substantial motion (as the pivotal feature of the corporeal and psychic world), human knowledge and its salvatory role, prophethood and imamate. This paper shows that like al-Ġazālī, in his exegesis, Ṣadrā treads the path of wide generalizations and approximations, but places these in the context of Twelver Shīʿism. However, the principal difference between alĠazālī and Ṣadrā consists in the latter’s endorsement of philosophical demonstration (burhān) as a valid method of unification (tawḥīd). According to Ṣadrā, logical reasoning can point to the uniqueness of the source of existence – however, it falls short of providing the unifier with a vision of the individual oneness (al-waḥda al-shakhṣiyya) of existence.
Esots,J. (2018). Transcendent Wisdom as a Method of Exegesis or Ṣadrā’s Commentary on Kulainī’s Kitāb al-Kāfī Revisited. Spektrum Iran, 31(2), 55-62.
MLA
Esots,J. . "Transcendent Wisdom as a Method of Exegesis or Ṣadrā’s Commentary on Kulainī’s Kitāb al-Kāfī Revisited", Spektrum Iran, 31, 2, 2018, 55-62.
HARVARD
Esots J. (2018). 'Transcendent Wisdom as a Method of Exegesis or Ṣadrā’s Commentary on Kulainī’s Kitāb al-Kāfī Revisited', Spektrum Iran, 31(2), pp. 55-62.
CHICAGO
J. Esots, "Transcendent Wisdom as a Method of Exegesis or Ṣadrā’s Commentary on Kulainī’s Kitāb al-Kāfī Revisited," Spektrum Iran, 31 2 (2018): 55-62,
VANCOUVER
Esots J. Transcendent Wisdom as a Method of Exegesis or Ṣadrā’s Commentary on Kulainī’s Kitāb al-Kāfī Revisited. SPIR, 2018; 31(2): 55-62.
