{{Short description|School of Islamic philosophy}} {{More citations needed|date=January 2017}} {{Isfahan city}}The '''Isfahan School''' ({{Langx|fa|مكتب اصفهان}}) is a school of Islamic philosophy. It was founded by Mir Damad and reached its fullest development in the work of Mulla Sadra.<ref name="iranicaonline1"/><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author=Aminrazavi, Mehdi|title=Mysticism in Arabic and Islamic Philosophy|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|edition=Summer 2016|editor= Edward N. Zalta|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2016/entries/arabic-islamic-mysticism/|year=2016}}</ref> The name was coined by Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Henry Corbin.<ref name="iranicaonline1">{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/isfahan-school-of-philosophy |title=ISFAHAN SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY – Encyclopædia Iranica |publisher=Iranicaonline.org |date= |accessdate=2016-02-27}}</ref>
During the Safavid era in Iran, Shah Abbas' attention to intellectual traditions in Islam made Isfahan into a famous academic city and Iran's intellectual center{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} at the time, along with the cities of Ray and Shiraz.
==Historical context{{Relevance inline|date=January 2017}}== This school of thought began to develop once Iran was economically and politically stable. The Safavid court also provided funding for the arts, which also contributed to the development.<ref>{{harv|Newman|2006|p=90}}</ref> At the time, there were many disputes between Shiite scholars, such as Ahamad Alavi, and Christian and Jewish scholars.<ref>{{harv|Rula Jurdi Abisaab|2004|p=79}}</ref> In this period the intellectual life of Suhrawardi was revived by Mir Damad and Mulla Sadra.<ref>{{Harv|Savory|2007|p=217}}</ref> According to Seyyed Hosein Nasr, this school of thought plays an important role both in terms of the relation between philosophy and prophecy, and in the training of Mulla Sadra. The school of Isfahan is a subsidiary of the Shiraz school of philosophy. Several philosophers that were not part of the Shiraz school of thought had very important roles in preparing the Isfahan school, such as Ibn Turkah, Qadi Maybudi and Ibn Abi Jomhour Ahsaei. The group of founders then announced Shia as formal religion in Persia, in an attempt to unify the entire country, with Isfahan as their capital.
===Founder=== {{main|Mir Damad}} Mir Damad founded the Isfahan philosophical school. He was the nephew of Muhaqiq Karaki, an important Shia scholar who had influence in the Shia jurisprudence. Some{{Who|date=January 2017}} consider him familiar with philosophical prophecy as a result to the problem of Time. Corbin describes Mir Damad as having an analytic mind and aware of religious foundation of knowledge. Perhaps the most important characteristic of Mira Damad's philosophy is a synthesis between Avicennism and Averroism, or his synthesis is between the intellectual and the spiritual.<ref name="iranicaonline1"/> Mir Damad's theory on Time is as popular as Huduth Dahri's, though Damad's philosophical opinion is criticized by Huduth's pupil, Mulla Sadra. Historically, there was great strife between Mulla Sadra and Mir Damad, as a result of the differences of their philosophical theories on subjects such as time.<ref name="google1">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0ZFkdlCFnYC&dq=isfahan-school-of-philosophy&pg=PA357 |title=Islamic Philosophy from Its Origin to the Present: Philosophy in the Land of ... - Google Books |date= January 2006|isbn=9780791481554 |accessdate=2016-02-27|last1=Nasr |first1=Seyyed Hossein |publisher=State University of New York Press }}</ref>
===Other teachers===
====Mir Fendereski==== {{main|Mir Fendereski}} Mir Abul Qasim Fendereski was a peripatetic philosopher and follower of Farabi and Avicenna. He was a Peripatetic, as opposed to the illuminationists.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AzG5llo3YCMC&dq=Mir+findiriski&pg=PA764 |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia: Development in contrast : from the ... - Google Books |date= January 2003|isbn=9789231038761 |accessdate=2016-02-27|last1=Dani |first1=Ahmad Hasan |last2=Masson |first2=Vadim Mikhaĭlovich |author3=Unesco |publisher=UNESCO }}</ref> As a scholar, he taught several scientific subjects in the Isfahan school, such as mathematics and medicine.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FAQFMSKwRawC&dq=Mir+findiriski&pg=PA22 |title=From Essence to Being: The Philosophy of Mulla Sadra and Martin Heidegger - Muhammad Kamal - Google Books |isbn=9781904063377 |accessdate=2016-02-27|last1=Kamal |first1=Muhammad |year=2010 |publisher=ICAS Press }}</ref> it is debated whether or not Mulla Sadra studied under him, though the two worked together extensively.{{Citation needed|date=January 2017}} Mir Fendereski also studied other religions, such as Zoroastrianism and Hinduism. He also wrote several works on Indian philosophy, a series of treatises on the fine arts, and one on his mystical experiences.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E3kE6_gRgI8C&dq=Mir+findiriski&pg=PA30 |title=Mulla Sadra's Transcendent Philosophy - Muhammad Kamal - Google Books |date=2013-05-28 |isbn=9781409477020 |accessdate=2016-02-27|last1=Kamal |first1=Muhammad |publisher=Ashgate Publishing }}</ref> According to Nasr, he was well-versed in different philosophies, poetry, alchemy, and the philosophy of Yoga. Mir Fendereski collaborated with Mir Damad to write the Treatise of Sanaiyyah, attempting to link philosophy and prophecy.<ref name="google1"/> Mir Fendereski also attempted to translate several Indian philosophical works into Persian.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IChnJl0Mu4sC&dq=Mir+findiriski&pg=PA308 |title=Knowledge and the Sacred: Revisioning Academic Accountability - Seyyed Hossein Nasr - Google Books |date= January 1989|isbn=9780791401767 |accessdate=2016-02-27|last1=Nasr |first1=Seyyed Hossein |publisher=SUNY Press }}</ref>
====Shaykh-i Baha’i==== {{main|Baha al-Din al-Amili}}
Shaykh-i Baha’i was one of the three masters of Mulla Sadra, worked in the Isfahan school, and served as chief jurist on the Safavid Court.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WLoUePLTdfgC&dq=Shaykh-i+Baha%E2%80%99i&pg=PA362|title=Mystics, Monarchs, and Messiahs: Cultural Landscapes of Early Modern Iran|isbn=9780932885289|accessdate=2016-02-27|last1=Babayan|first1=Kathryn|author-link=Kathryn Babayan|year=2002|publisher=Harvard CMES }}</ref> Like many Islamic scholars of the era, he was both a scientist and a man of wisdom; like Mir Damad and Mir Fendereski, he was skilled in several sciences. At the time, he attempted to harmonize the relationship between Shariah and Tariqah.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3WwAAgAAQBAJ&dq=Shaykh-i+Baha%E2%80%99i&pg=PA71 |title=Revelation, Intellectual Intuition and Reason in the Philosophy of Mulla ... - Zailan Moris - Google Books |date= 5 November 2013|isbn=9781136858598 |accessdate=2016-02-27|last1=Moris |first1=Zailan |publisher=Routledge }}</ref> He coined the term Hikmat-e Yamani (wisdom of believing.) He believed that humans were the only being capable of intelligence in a philosophy called "The Place of Illumination for Existence".<ref>{{harv|Modarresi Motlaq|1389 solar|pp=42–47}}</ref>{{fcn|date=January 2025}}
==Philosophers of Mir Damad's School== * Sayyed Ahmad Alavi * Shams Addin Muhammad Gilani * Abd al-Razzaq Lahiji * Qutb Addin Muhammad Eshkevari
==Philosophers of Shaykh-i Baha’i's School== * Mulla Sadra * Mohsen Fayz Kashani * Mirza Rafiaa Naeini
==Philosophers of Mir Fendereski's School== * Agha Hosein Khansari * Muhammad Baqir Sabzevari
==Philosophers of Rajab Ali Tabrizi's school== * Qazi Saeed Qomi * Mir Qavam Addin Razi * Muhammad Sadiq Ardestani
==Other philosophers of Isfahan School== * Mulla Muhammad Sadiq Ardestan * Muhammad Ismaeil Khajouei * Molla Naima Taleghani * Abdu Al Rahim Damavandi * Agha Muhammad Bid Abadi * Mulla Mahdi Naraqi * Mulla Ali Nuri * Mulla Nazar Ali gilani * Molla Esmaeel Isfahani * Molla Abdollah Zonuzi * Molla hadi Sabzevari * Molla Muhammad Esmaeel Darb Koushki * Molla Muhammad Kashani * Jahangir khan Qashqaei
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== * {{cite book |last=Newman |first=Andrew J. |date=2006 |title=Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire |volume=5 |series=Library of Middle East History |publisher=I.B.Tauris |isbn=9781860646676}} * {{cite book |author=Rula Jurdi Abisaab |date=2004 |title=Converting Persia: Religion and Power in the Safavid Empire |volume=1 |series=International Library of Iranian Studies |publisher=I.B.Tauris |isbn=9781860649707}} * {{cite book |last=Savory |first=Roger |date=2007 |title=Iran Under the Safavids |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521042512}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book |last1=Esots |first1=Janis |title=Patterns of Wisdom in Safavid Iran: The Philosophical School of Isfahan and the Gnostic of Shiraz |date=2021 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-0755644919 |pages=1–280}} * Encyclopædia Iranica: ''[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/isfahan-school-of-philosophy Isfahan School of Philosophy]''.
{{Islamic philosophy}} {{Safavids}}
Category:Islamic philosophical schools Category:Philosophical schools and traditions Category:Persian philosophy Category:Safavid Iran Category:Iranian philosophy