A Philosophical Explanation for the Islamization of Philosophy: How Can Mulla Sadra's Transcendent Philosophy Contribute to the Islamization of Philosophy in Iran?

This paper evaluates the potentials of Mulla Sadra's philosophy to explain the possibility of the Islamization of philosophy. This contributes to a more general, yet controversial, project in post-revolutionary Iran, namely the Islamization of knowledge, especially in the humanities. If there would be a mechanism through which Islamization of philosophy - as a historical example and as a field of knowledge that provides theoretical grounds of other humanities - can be plausibly explained, then one might think of Islamizing the humanities, as well. One famous explanation in Iran is based on the distinction between contexts of discovery and justification. It explains how a philosopher is permitted to use the Islamic content in the context of discovery - not justification - and how this helps to Islamize philosophy. In this article, we claim a new explanation which is based on Mulla Sadra's transcendent philosophy. Such a philosophical explanation not only acknowledges using the Qur'an and authentic narrations in the context of discovery but also necessitates involving revelation as a philosophical criterion in the context of justification and a highly valid epistemic source in producing the new philosophical content. This provides a strong account of the Islamization of philosophy.