A Philosophical and Mystical Interpretation of the Principle of al-Wāḥid in Mullā Hādī Sabzavārī’s Thought: An Interdisciplinary Approach within Transcendent Philosophy

Abstract



The principle of al-wāḥid lā yaṣduru ʿanhu illā al-wāḥid (“from the One, only one proceeds”) constitutes a foundational doctrine in Islamic philosophy, especially in explaining the relation between unity and multiplicity and the procession of multiplicity from an absolutely simple origin. In his philosophical and mystical works, Mullā Hādī Sabzawārī presents two formulations of this principle that seem, at first sight, to diverge. The philosophical formulation is articulated through causality, emanation, and the longitudinal hierarchy of existence, whereas the mystical formulation employs the language of manifestation, disclosure, and the personal unity of being. This study asks whether these formulations indicate two incompatible tendencies in Sabzawārī’s thought or whether they can be understood within an internally coherent framework. Using a descriptive-analytical method, the article argues that Sabzawārī is neither an eclectic compiler of philosophical and mystical traditions nor a thinker lacking doctrinal consistency. Rather, he seeks to explicate a single metaphysical truth at two distinct levels of discourse. The philosophical account concerns the determinate, ordered aspect of reality as expressed in ontological gradation and causal priority; the mystical account concerns the absolute and manifestive aspect of existence within the horizon of personal unity. Accordingly, Sabzawārī’s two formulations should not be read as rival theories but as complementary modes of explaining one reality. His project thus reveals an attempt to establish an intrinsic relation between philosophical demonstration and mystical intuition within the framework of al-ḥikma al-mutaʿāliyya and its integrative metaphysical overall vision.