The Relationship between Reason and Religion in the "Arshiyya" of Avicenna and Mulla Sadra

Abstract

Rational evaluation of the principles of religion under the title of the relationship between reason and religion has long been the concern of every religious thinker, including Avicenna and Mulla Sadra, two philosophers of the Islamic world, and the Arshiya treatise can be considered an example of an attempt to demonstrate this relationship. Due to the common name and purpose of these two works, this article examines the common topics of these two treatises with a comparative perspective and a descriptive-analytical method in order to portray the efforts of the two philosophers in demonstrating the relationship between reason and religion. Avicenna's Arshiya can be considered a manifestation of religious rationality that is based on Aristotelian rationalism and his philosophical foundations such as the longitudinal system, longitudinal minds, active reason, etc. As for Mulla Sadra's Hikmat-ul-Arshiyyah, based on his philosophical innovations such as the originality of existence, doubt of existence, essential movement, etc., and also influenced by the mystical ideas of Ishraqi-Ibn-Arabi, it can be considered a manifestation of reason, religion, and mysticism. Therefore, the two philosophers have been trying to show the interaction of reason and religion, with the difference that Sadra's Hikmat-ul-Arshiyyah can be placed in a higher position in this relationship due to its frequent references to the verses of the Quran and its philosophical interpretation, as well as his innovative ideas in explaining these principles.