The Elixir of the Gnostics: A parallel English-Arabic text [Hardcover]

Sadr al-Din Muhammad Shirazi (1572-1640), more commonly called Mulla Sadra, was one of the grand scholars of later-period Islamic philosophy and has grown to become one of the best-known Muslim philosophers.Iksir al-'arifin, orElixir of the Gnostics, is unique among Sadra's writings in that it reworks and amplifies an earlier Persian work, theJawidan-nama(Book of the Everlasting) by Afdal al-Din Kashani, or Baba Afdal.

The underlying theme of Sadra's amplification is emblematic of Muslim philosophy: the importance of self-knowledge in an individual's journey of Origin and Return, the soul's origins with God and its eventual return to Him. Everything, Sadra says, is on such a path, gradually disengaging from the material world and returning to a transcendent essence—all leading to a final fruition in which everything in the universe returns to God and finds permanent happiness. Philosophy, Sadra argues, is the most direct means to self-knowledge—and thus the best tool for navigating this journey.

Foreword to the Series
Notes on References and Spelling
Preface
Translator’s Introduction
[Author’s Introduction]
Part One
Chapter One
On the division of the sciences
Chapter Two
On the science of words
Chapter Three
On the science of practices
Chapter Four
On the science of thoughts
Chapter Five
On the science of the afterworld
Part Two
On the Knowledge of the Soul, which is a Receptacle for the Sciences
Chapter One
On the cause of her being impeded
Chapter Two
On the knowledge that is individually incumbent on man
Chapter Three
On the attainment of the afterworld’s felicity
Chapter Four
On knowledge of horizons and souls
Chapter Five
[On the Adamic tablet]
Chapter Six
On the divine vicegerency
Chapter Seven