Mulla Sadra

Sadr al-Din Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Shirazi, known as Mulla Sadra and honored in his tradition as Sadr al-Muta'allihin ("foremost of the theosophers"), was born into a prominent family in Shiraz around 979 AH (1571-72). Sources agree he sought advanced training in the Safavid capitals, moving to Qazvin in 1591 and then Isfahan around 1597, where he studied with two leading scholars of the day: Mir Damad, a philosopher, and Baha' al-Din al-'Amili (Shaykh Baha'i), a jurist and polymath. He is counted among the thinkers later called the "School of Isfahan."

After a period of seclusion in the village of Kahak near Qom, he was invited around 1612 to return to Shiraz to teach at the newly built Khan School, where he spent the rest of his life. There he developed al-hikma al-muta'aliya ("transcendent theosophy"), a synthesis of rational philosophy, Suhrawardi's "Illuminationism" (ishraq), Sufi mysticism ('irfan) and Shia theology. His central doctrine, the "primacy of existence" (asalat al-wujud), holds that being itself, not fixed essences, is fundamental and gradated.

He died around 1640 (1050 AH) reportedly in Basra while returning from the pilgrimage to Mecca; some manuscript evidence points to an earlier date (c. 1635-6) and burial at Najaf, and these details remain disputed. From the 19th century his thought became the dominant philosophical framework in Shia seminaries in Iran and South Asia.