Iksir Al-Arifin/Mulla Sadra, The Elixir Of The Gnostics: A Parallel English-Arabic Text [Arabic]

By Mulla Sadra

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, or Elixir of the Gnostics, is unique among Sadra's writings in that it reworks and amplifies an earlier Persian work, the Jawidan-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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: Arabic
• ISBN: 0934893705
• ISBN13: 9780934893701
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: Brigham Young University Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.2"