Abstract

A study of the discussions in the chapter entitled Bab al-'aql wa al-jahl in Mulla Sadra's Sharh al-usul al-kafi leads us to the point that in this work he always interprets the intellect as the most principial constitutive element of human beings and the only instrument for unveiling the secrets of being that conform to the facts referred to in the words of the infallible Imams . In his view, in spite of the conceptual variety of the intellect in the 34 traditions in chapter al-'Aql wa al-jahl in this book, one can consider all of them to be referring to equivocal meanings. However, following this part, based on his philosophical system, Mulla Sadra maintains that the four-fold intellects in the book of "the soul", the levels of practical intellect in the books of ethics, the immaterial intellect in the book of theology, and the intellect in the sense of human instincts represent instances of the gradation of the intellect which all refer to the same reality in spite of their different levels of perfection and defect. Mulla Sadra believes that such community and gradation can be gathered in the mould of theoretical intellect and practical intellect and argues that their unity is a premise in the acquisition of the immaterial intellect. He also emphasizes the graded-vertical interaction between them. Finally, he introduces "Muhammedan truth" as the most perfect referent of the immaterial intellect, the first created, and the intermediary between emanation and the creation of other existents. Moreover, he views the union of the first intellect with Muhammedan spirit as an important proof in the interpretation of the intellect's attention and inattention to the Holy Prophet's spiritual states