ABSTRACT
A remarkable intellectual, Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Qawami al-Shirazi, known as ‘Mulla Sadra’ to many Muslims, is considered to be one of the most influential and revered philosophers in Islamic thought. His works represent a synthesis of a thousand years of Islamic thought which preceded him and he was expert in Islamic philosophy, theology, mysticism, Qur’anic interpretation, and history. His familiarity with the Qur’an and the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad ( hadith ) as well as that of the Shi’a Imams was unequalled, as was his intimate knowledge of the schools of Islamic philosophy, not to mention his mastery of the doctrines and practices of mystical Islam.
