ABSTRACT
In this brief chapter, I want to focus on a central nexus of Sh¥ ¥ philosophy, namely the mutual interpenetration of the themes of wujd (existence, being) and wilåya (sanctity, authority, friendship). Since an exhaustive examination of the topic would require a precise and detailed disclosure of the very heart of Sh¥ ¥ philosophy, I propose instead, to examine certain aspects exhibited in the textual production of three key philosopher-mystics of the Qajar period, and want to suggest some themes for research into nineteenth-century philosophy, more precisely ªikmat, in Iran. By ªikmat I mean a broad-ranging philosophical discipline concerned with the question and study of being. It is an investigation that reconciles discursive, intellectual and mystical means and modes of inquiry. In this intellectual discipline, one arrives at reality through a meditation upon the self. The question of being thus begins with the examination and experience of individual existence and of the intellect/soul’s most basic and a priori concepts. But ªikmat is neither an idealist endeavour nor does it collapse into solipsism. It is a trans-subjective experience of reality expressed in logical terms
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He bestows ªikmat upon whom he wills and he unto whom ªikmat is given, he has truly received abundant good.3
