Mir Damad
The world has no beginning in time, yet it truly comes into being after non-being on a level above time – so it is created, not eternal, and wholly dependent on God.
Placement
Often regarded as the founder of the ‘School of Isfahan’ and teacher of Mulla Sadra: the world is created not in time but in “perpetuity” (dahr), a level above time – a new answer to the old dispute over the eternity of the world.
Key ideas
- Perpetual creation (huduth dahri)
- Primacy of quiddity
- Synthesis of Avicenna and Suhrawardi
Students: Mulla Sadra
Influence
Influenced by 2
Ibn Sina (Avicenna)
influenced by
Mir Damad developed Avicenna’s distinction of time, perpetuity (dahr) and eternity into his doctrine that the world is ‘perpetually originated’ (Kitab al-Qabasat). Mir Damad, Kitab al-Qabasat; Encyclopaedia Iranica “Mir Damad”
Evidence: AI draft
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) › 980–1037
Suhrawardi
influenced by
Mir Damad, who wrote poetry under the pen name Ishraq (illumination), joined Suhrawardi’s illuminationist themes to Avicenna’s philosophy in the School of Isfahan. Encyclopaedia Iranica “Mir Damad”; Mir Damad, Diwan-i Ishraq
Evidence: AI draft
Suhrawardi › 1154–1191
Influenced 1
Mulla Sadra taught
taught
Mulla Sadra studied the rational sciences in Isfahan with Mir Damad, as well as with Shaykh Bahai; no teaching licence (ijaza) from them survives, but the relation is not doubted. SEP “Mulla Sadra” (S. Rizvi); S. Rizvi, Mulla Sadra Shirazi: His Life and Works and the Sources for Safavid Philosophy (2007)
Evidence: AI draft
Mulla Sadra › c. 1572–1640
Works
Mir Damad’s main work on the origination of the world: created not in time but in a “perpetual” order above time.
Position
Mir Damad sought to settle the dispute between philosophers, who held the world eternal, and theologians, who held it created in time. He distinguished three dimensions: time (zaman), relating changing things to changing things; perpetuity (dahr), relating the changing to the unchanging; and everlastingness (sarmad), relating the unchanging to the unchanging God. The world is not preceded by empty time, yet it is truly preceded by non-being in dahr – it is “perpetually originated” (huduth dahri). Drawing on Avicenna, Suhrawardi and Shia theology, he is usually read as upholding the primacy of quiddity, which his pupil Mulla Sadra reversed. Admirers called him the “Third Teacher” after Aristotle and al-Farabi.
Life & context
Muhammad Baqir Astarabadi, known as Mir Damad, was born probably around 1561 – some sources give earlier dates. His byname recalls that his father was the son-in-law (damad) of the great jurist al-Karaki. He studied in Mashhad and elsewhere, became shaykh al-islam of Isfahan under Shah Abbas I and also wrote Persian poetry as “Ishraq”. He died in 1631 on a journey to Iraq and was buried in Najaf.
Further main works
- The Straight Path (al-Sirat al-mustaqim, early 17th century)
- The Clear Horizon (al-Ufuq al-mubin, early 17th century)
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