Exegesis of the Holy Koran (The Nightcomer, Glory to your Lord, The Earthquake)
This book is composed in Arabic by the great philosopher, Mullah Sadra. Exegeses of three Koranic surahs are metioned in this work.
Exegesis of "The Nightcomer" (Taareq): in this exegesis, the mysteries of the sura are briefly mentioned with a philosophical view. "What you see inthis commentary, is the mysteries revealed to my heart by God; and I have the intention of presenting them to you." written by the author in the beginning of the exegesis.
Exegesis of "Glory to your Lord" (A'laa): it is a philosophical and mystic commentary, composed in seven glories.
Exegesis of "The Earth quake" (Zelzaal): it is also a mystic philosophical commentary.
The author:
Ṣadr ad-Dīn Muḥammad Shīrāzī also called Mulla Sadrā (c. 1571–1641), Shiraz, Iran was a Persian Shia Islamic philosopher, theologian led the Iranian cultural renaissance in the 17th century.
Though not its founder, he is considered the master of the Illuminationist, or (Ishraghi or Ishraqi) school of Philosophy, a seminal figure who synthesized the many tracks of the Islamic Golden Age, and Andalusian, philosophies into what he called the Transcendent Theosophy or al-hikmah al-muta’liyah.
Mulla Sadra brought "a new philosophical insight in dealing with the nature of reality" and created "a major transition from essentialism to existentialism" in Islamic philosophy, although his existentialism should not be too readily compared to Western existentialism. His was a question of existentialist cosmology as it pertained to Allah, and thus differs considerably from the individual, moral, and/or social, questions at the heart of Russian, French, German, or American Existentialism.
Mulla Sadra's philosophy ambitiously synthesized Avicennism, Suhrawardi's Illuminationist philosophy, Ibn Arabi's Sufi metaphysics, and the theology of the Ash'ari school and Twelvers.
Mulla Sadra moved first to Qazvin in 1591 and then to Isfahan 1597 to pursue a traditional and institutional education in philosophy, theology, Hadith, and hermeneutics. Each city was a successive capital of the Safavid dynasty and centers of Twelver Shi'ite seminaries at that time. His teachers included Mir Damad and Baha' ad-Din al-`Amili.
Mulla Sadra completed his education at Isfahan, a leading cultural and intellectual center of his day. He was trained under the supervision of Mir Damad.
After he had finished his studies Sadra began to explore unorthodox doctrines and as a result was both condemned and excommunicated by some Shi'i ʿulamāʾ. He then retired for a lengthy period of time to a village named Kahak near Ḳum, where he engaged in contemplative exercises. While in Kahak, he wrote a number of minor works, including the Risāla fi 'l-ḥashr and the Risāla fī ḥudūth al-ʿālam.
In 1612, Mulla Sadra was asked to abandon his retirement by the powerful governor of Fārs, Allāhwirdī Ḵhān and invited back to Shiraz to teach and run a new madrasa devoted to the intellectual sciences[9]. He died in Basra on a pilgrimage to Mecca and was buried in present-day Iraq. He is buried in the city of Najaf
During this time in Shīrāz, Ṣadrā began writing treatises that synthesized wide-ranging strands of existing Islamic systems of thought. The ideas of this school, which may be seen as a continuation of the School of Iṣfahān of Mīr Dāmād and Shaykh-i Bahāʾī, were promulgated after Ṣadrā's death by his pupils, several of whom would became sought-after thinkers in their own right, such as, Mullā Muḥsin, Fayḍ Kāshānī, and ʿAbd Razzāḳ Lāhidjī. Although Ṣadrā's influence remained limited in the generations after his death, it increased markedly during the 19th century, when his ideas helped inspire a renewed Akhbārī tendency within Twelver Shīʿism. In recent times, his works have been studied in Iran, Europe, and America.
List of known works
1. al-Hikmat al-muta‘aliyah fi’l-asfar al-arba‘ah, a philosophical encyclopedia and a collection of important issues discussed in Islamic philosophy, enriched by the ideas of preceding philosophers, from Pythagoras to those living at the same time with Mulla Sadra, and containing the related responses on the basis of new and strong arguments. In four large volumes; also published several times in nine smaller volumes.
He composed this book gradually, starting in about 1015 A.H. (1605 A.D.); its completion took almost 25 years, until some years after 1040 A.H. (1630 A.D.)
2. al-Tafsir (A commentary upon the Qur'an)
3. Sharh al-hidayah, a commentary on a book called Hidayah, which had been written on the basis of Peripatetic philosophy.
4. al-Mabda‘ wa’l-ma‘ad, also called al-Hikmat al-muta‘aliyyah, considered to be a summary of the second half of Asfar. He called this book the Beginning and the End, since he believed at heart that philosophy means the knowledge of the Origin and the Return.
5. al-Mazahir This book is similar to al-Mabda‘ wa’l-ma‘ad, but is shorter than it. It is, in fact, a handbook for familiarizing readers with Mulla Sadra's philosophy.
6. Huduth al-‘alam, on the issue of the origination of the world, which is a complicated and disputable problem for many philosophers. He proved his solid theory through the theory of the trans-substantial motion.
7. Iksir al-‘arifin, a gnostic and educative book.
8. al-Hashr, a theory of the resurrection of animals and objects in the Hereafter.
9. al-Masha‘ir, on existence and its related subjects. Professor Henry Corbin has translated it into French and written an introduction to it. This book has recently been translated into English, too.
10. al-waridat al-qalbiyyah, a brief account of important philosophical problems, it seems to be an inventory of the Divine inspirations and illuminations he had received all through his life.
11. Iqad al-na‘imin, on theoretical and actual gnosis, and on the science of monotheism. It presents some guidelines and instructional points to wake up the sleeping.
12. al-Masa‘il al-qudsiyyah, a booklet deals mainly with issues such as existence in mind and epistemology. Here, Mulla Sadra has combined epistemology and ontology.
13. ‘Arshiyyah, also called al-Hikmat al-‘arshiyyah, a referential book about Mulla Sadra's philosophy. As in al-Mazahir, he has tried to demonstrate the Beginning and the End concisely but precisely. This book has been translated by Professor James Winston Morris into English with an informative introduction.
14. al-Shawahid al-rububiyyah, a philosophical book, written in the Illuminationist style, and represents Mulla Sadra's ideas during the early periods of his philosophical thoughts.
15. Sharh-i Shafa, a commentary upon some of the issues discussed in the part on theology (Ilahiyyat) in Ibn-Sina's al-Shifa.
16. Sharh-i Hikmat al-ishraq, a useful and profound commentary or collection of glosses on Suhrawardi's Hikmat al-ishraq and Qutb al-Din Shirazi's commentary upon it.
The book structure:
Translation of the exegesis of "The Nightcomer" including introduction of the translator, introduction of the author and the introduction of the exegesis. Exegesis of the following verses:
- By the sky and the Nightcomer (ver. 1)
- What will make you realize what the Nightcomer? (ver. 2)
- Each soul has a guardian over it (ver. 4)
- So let everyman notice what he has been created from (ver. 5)
- He was created from a fluid ejected, from between his backbone and his ribs (ver. ver. 6-7)
- On a day when secrets will be tested (ver. 9)
- So he will have no strength nor any supporter (ver. 10)
- By the sky with its cycle, by the earth cracking open (ver. ver. 11-12)
- It is a decisive statement! It is no joke (ver. ver. 13-14)
- They are hatching some plot while I too am hatching a plot (ver. ver. 15-16)
- So put up with disbelievers; put up with them as long as you can (ver. 17)
Exegesis of the surah "Glory to your Lord" includes introduction of the author and seven glories as follows:
1- Exegesis of the verses 1-3
2- Exegesis of the verses 4-5
3- Exegesis of the verses 6-9
4- Exegesis of the verses 10-13
5- Exegesis of the verses 14-16
6- Exegesis of the verse 17
7- Exegesis of the verses 18-19
Exegesis of the surah "The Earthquake" includes the author's introduction and exegesis of the following verses:
1- When earth is shaken in her final quaking
2- And earth throws forth her burdens
3- And everyman says: "what is happening to her?"
4- On that day she will report her news
5- Which your Lord has inspired her with
6- On that day men will appear in droves to be shown their actions
7- And whoever has done an atom's weight of good will see it
8- While whoever has done an atom's weight of evil will see it
The book was published in 1984 in Tehran. It was edited and translated into Persian by "Muhammad Khajavi".
Sources :
Exegesis of the Holy Koran: the surahs: The Nightcomer, Glory to your God and The Nightcomer/ by Mullah Sadra
The comprehensive bibliography of Mullah Sadra/ by Nahid Bagheri