Mullā Sadrā's Interpretation on Sufism and His Criticisms against So-Called Sufis of His Period

The post-classical period, in which Islamic thought undergoes a renewal and accounting process, is a period that witnesses the transformation of Islamic philosophy to find its main medium. In this period, with the decrease of the influence of the Ancient-Hellenistic thought, the interaction of philosophy with Islamic thought traditions such as theology (kalām) and sufism increased and important syntheses were tried to be established between them. One of the most concrete examples of these efforts put forward to capture the holistic point of view of Islamic thought is the effort of Mullā Sadrā (1570-1641), who tried to establish a consensus between the schools of Peripatetic, Ishrākī, Akbarī and theological schools with the composition of transcendental wisdom (al-Hikma al-muta‘aliya). In the consensus that Mullā Sadrā tried to establish, his approach to Sufism and his criticisms against the Sufis of the period constitute the subject of this study. The problem mentioned in the article tries to find answers to the following questions: Where does sufism stand among the main references of Mullā Sadrā? What names and teachings are in the background of Mullā Sadrā’s understanding of sufism? What sort of criticism did Mullā Sadrā make against the mystics of his time? Although he is seen as a sufi-philosopher (theosophist), what is the purpose of Mullā Sadrā’s criticisms against the mystics of his time, and how should these criticisms be understood? Sufism is one of the most important sources determining the character of Sadrā’s philosophy that based on synthesis. In Sadrā’s understanding of sufism, the influence of the Akbari tradition’s understanding of being, the Neoplatonic thoughts of classical Islamic philosophers and Suhrawardi’s Ishrāqī (Illuminationist) teachings are manifests prominently. In particular, it can be said that Ibn al-ʿArabī’s understanding of wahdat al-wujûd (the Unity of Existence) has the most important influence on Sadrā’s understanding of sufism. However, in his own time he opposes the alienation of Sufism from its essence by criticizing the sufis, who are devoid of theoretical knowledge and regard Sufism as purely apparent rituals. Sadrâ draws attention to attitudes and behaviours such as increasing ignorance, lack of rational and theoretical research, the desire to gain rank in the eyes of people with fancy words and shathiyya (ecstatic words), and to judge according to the outward appearance of the shari’a. He considers such tendencies as idols of ignorance, as obstacles that keep people away from the truth and must be eliminated immediately. Sadrā's criticism manner is noteworthy when he specifically states that his main purpose in his criticisms is to warn against the danger of an understanding that distances Sufism from its theoretical dimension and depth of wisdom, without subjecting Sufi teachings and tradition to a total criticism, and therefore he targets attitudes and beliefs that he does not find correct, not specific individuals or institutions. The aim of the article is to draw attention to the criticitics he made against the so-called sufis, which he did not see as wise by trying to understand the Mullā Ṣadrā’s interpretation of sufism in the synthesis he tried to provide among the schools of Islamic thought, and thus to understand the criticism culture of Islamic civilization and carry it to the present day