Breaking the Idols of Ignorance: Admonition of the Soi-Distant Sufi

Book excerpt: This work marks the meeting point of three different traditions of the Shi‘i-Islamic thought: philosophical, mystical, and theological. In this book, Mulla Sadra masterfully analyses the creed of false mystics and those groups of philosophers whom he named as disgraceful impious sophists. The work deals with the most crucial issues of metaphysics, encompassing ontology, cosmology, epistemology, psychology and spiritual wayfaring, the attributes of the pious, and some homiletic advice. It stresses the importance of virtue and spiritual exercises on the true Sufi path while presenting Mulla Sadra’s own metaphysical commentary inspired by the Holy Qur’an.