The Religious Government in Mulla Sadra's Philosophy
Abstract
The main theme of this paper, after confirming the principle of the necessity of the existence of government, is whether the government should be religious or non-religious. Another question here is: "what do religious governments do that non-religious ones do not?" The answers to these questions can be found by paying attention to the difference between the two interpretations of the concept of politics in Mulla Sadra's political thought:1- Politics in the school of power2- Politics in Transcendent Philosophy as the school of guidance The most basic expectation from a religious government and its most important responsibility is following the Divine laws. The law is a human issue in non-religious governments; however, it is a divine affair which is beyond man's control in religious governments. All affairs and activities in a religious government are programmed is such a way that no harm is done to the Divine laws, while it is not the case with non-religious governments.... Mulla Sadra later discusses the domain of the responsibilities of the government and emphasizes that in order to secure God's intention in creating man, the government should devote itself to providing for people's life to attain the ultimate goal which is resurrection.What is nowadays recognized as "development" will bring about happiness for man, provided that he looks at the world as a preliminary to the Hereafter. Otherwise, it will result in different moral, environmental, and cultural threats for human beings.