TEHRAN (IP) - Every year, Iranians commemorate May 22 as the Mulla Sadra National Day, a great Persian and Islamic philosopher, mystic and theologian who is considered the most influential Islamic philosopher of the last four centuries and the most significant Islamic philosopher after Avicenna.
Sadr ad-Din Mohammad Shirazi, also known as Mulla Sadra, was born in Shiraz in 1571. He died in Basra, Iraq, in 1635, when he was going on the Hajj pilgrimage. His tomb is located in Najaf, Iraq.
Mulla Sadra is considered the master of the Illuminationists or of the Ishraghi school of philosophy, a fundamental figure who synthesized the many traits of the philosophy of the Islamic Golden Age into what he called Transcendent Theosophy.
Mulla Sadra brought “a new philosophical vision in dealing with the nature of reality” and created “an important transition from the very essential to existentialism” in Islamic philosophy.
The philosophy of Mulla Sadra ambitiously synthesized the Avicenna school, the Enlightenment philosophy of Sohravardi, the Sufi metaphysics of Ibn Arabi, and the theology of the Ash’ari and Twelver schools.
His main work is the Transcendent Theosophy in the Four Journeys of the Intellect, or simply the Four Journeys.
The famous Persian scholar was the leader of the cultural renaissance in the 17th century in Iran. He lived during the Safavid dynasty and played a key role in developing the Islamic and Iranian culture at that time.
Mulla Sadra House is a historical building and a tourist attraction in Kahak city, Qom province, central Iran, where he lived for fifteen years.
The plan of Mulla Sadra House is in the form of Chalipa or cross. The four Takhtgahs that are surrounding the structure have rooms built into two stories.