Hadi Sabzavari

Hadi Sabzavari or Hajj Molla Hadi Sabzavari (1797–1873 CE / 1212–1289 AH) was an Iranian

Historical background Molla Hadi lived in the Qajar era. According to his description, this period was along with descend of Hikmah; he also complained of his period for the sake of lacking knowledge and philosophy. This kind of thinking was common among Islamic philosophers. There was an intellectual and spiritual turmoil in the Qajar era. In fact, in this period, Iranians encountered new European thought and revival of traditional thinking; also in this period we can see the diverse developments in beliefs like Kaka'i, Shaykhism, Babism and the Baháʼí Faith and at the same time weakness and disappearance of Shia. Molla Hadi is counted as one of the four prominent masters of the Tehran philosophical school, along with Aqa ‘Ali Mudarris, Aqa Muhammad Riza Qumshihi, Mirza Abul Hasan Jelveh.

Life He was born in Sabzevar, Iran

Works Sabzavari wrote some fifty-two works of prose and poetry in both Arabic and Persian.

For philosophy in the reign of Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar (1848–1896), he was what Mulla Sadra had been in the reign of Shah Abbas the Great. He was also the faithful interpreter of Mulla Sadra and Transcendent Theosophy. He played a part in making Mulla Sadra the 'master thinker' of the Iranian philosophers. It could even be said that circumstances permitted him, to a greater extent than Mulla Sadra, to give free rein to his genius as a mystical theosopher, because there was greater freedom of self-expression during the Safavid epoch.

Books Sabzevari wrote numerous works in Persian and Arabic. He wrote works dealing with an array of subjects from prosody to logic to theology. However, the majority of his works deal with philosophy and mysticism.

Šarḥ al-manẓuma, is a work in Arabic also known as Ḡorar al-farāʾed. It is one of his more notable books which was completed around 1845. Till this day, it is still taught in religious seminaries in Iran with numerous later commentaries. The work is a versified summary and commentary of the transcendence philosophy of Mulla Sadra. Asrār al-ḥekam fi’l-moftataḥ wa’l-moḵtatam Šarḥ-e abyāt-e moškela-ye Maṯnawi in Persian is a commentary of the Mathnawi of Mowalana Jalal al-Din Rumi Hedāyat al-ṭālebin, a book composed in Persian at the request of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar Ta'liqat Asrar ol-Ebadah Aljabr wal ekhtiar Osul ad-Din Nebrās al-hodā A poem cycle

Asrār al-ḥekam fi’l-moftataḥ wa’l-moḵtatam This book was written for Naser al-Din Shah after the Shah while passing through Sabzavār asked Mulla Hadi Sabzevari to write a him a book about man's origin and destination in Persian together with the mysteries of God's oneness. The book was completed in 1868 and it deals with concepts of illuminative wisdom (ešrāq) and peripatetic philosophy, and is rich in intuitive and mystic insights.

The gnosis of Sabzavari falls into three categories which are: (1) knowledge of God, consisting of knowledge of the beginning and knowledge of the end; (2) knowledge of one's self; (3) knowledge of God's commands, consisting of knowledge of every rule of divine law (šarīʿa) and knowledge of the spiritual path (ṭarīqa). On the basis of this classification, the book is divided into two parts.

Part I of the book consists of seven chapters: proof of the Necessarily Existent (wāǰeb al-woǰūd), knowledge of God's attributes God's actions knowledge of one's self and psychology (maʿāref-e nafs) knowledge of man's origin and destination, absolute prophethood Imamate

Part II comprises four chapters ritual purity (ṭahāra) prayer (ṣalāt) alms fasting (ṣīām).

The most important part of the book is on the proof of the Necessarily Existent (i.e., God).

Translations The Metaphysics of Sabzvârî, tr. from the Arabic by Mehdi Mohagheg and Toshihico Izutso, Delmar, New York, 1977.