Poetry as an Essential Tool of Philosophical Inquiry and Writing in Later Islamic Philosophy: The Case of Mullā Ṣadrā

56 Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. 43, No. 4, Summer 2020 Poetry as an Essential Tool of Philosophical Inquiry and Writing in Later Islamic Philosophy: The Case of Mullā Ṣadrā Sayeh Meisami* I. Introduction: Clashing accounts of the function of poetry in Islamic philosophy The function of poetry in Islamic philosophy frequently has been reduced to a tool that simply serves a reader-oriented dual purpose of either simplification or mystification of philosophical ideas. In such accounts, poetry is considered as a venue of expressing philosophical truths either as sugar-coated for the unsophisticated masses, or cloaked in mystery to avoid the hostility of religious fanatics. On the opposite extreme is the account that regards poetry as a portal to a different level of consciousness or existence. In contrast to the first approach, the latter primarily addresses the experience of the philosopher-poet rather than the convenience of the reader. At the technical level, these two approaches also disagree on the question of distinction between allegorical and symbolic writings in the context of Islamic philosophy. The first approach is best represented by Dimitri Gutas. In his analysis and interpretation of Avicenna’s use of symbolism, Gutas argues that Avicenna simply draws on images and symbols to convey the same philosophical content as those of his non-symbolic texts via “a method of presentation that was inferior to the demonstrative” sometimes for the sake of those “who are unable to understand syllogistic argumentation,” and sometimes “to conceal from the common people” the literal meanings of those philosophical principles that they were likely to misunderstand. From this point of view, Gutas also rejects any essential difference between allegory and symbol except for formal differences in the mechanics of 57 poetics.1 Regarding Gutas’ account, I find it hard to accept that Avicenna held poetic thought inferior to demonstration or the audience of poetry less intelligent than the audience of philosophy.2 What makes this account hard to believe is the complexity of poetic philosophy and the interest of intellectual circles in this genre in both Arabic and Persian contexts. Think of Avicenna’s Ode on the Soul (Qaṣīda al-nafs). It is impossible for the readers to understand it without background knowledge of Peripatetic philosophy and poetic literacy.3 Another example is Avicenna’s Alive, the Son of Awake (Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān) which according to the author was composed at the insistence of a group of his “brothers” who could not be the masses.4 Thus, as Stroumas5 and following her Toby Mayer6 correctly emphasize, Avicenna’s allegories were *Sayeh Meisami: Associate Professor of Philosophy at University of Dayton, Ohio. Meisami published several books among the most recent are, Nasir al-Din Tusi: A Philosopher for All Seasons. Cambridge, UK: Islamic Texts Society, 2019. Knowledge and Power in the Philosophies of Ḥamīd al-Dīn Kirmānī and Mullā Ṣadrā. London, UK: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2018. 1 Dimitri Gutas, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition: Introduction to Reading Avicenna’s Philosophical Works (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1988), 306-307. 2 According to Gutas, Avicenna dismissed “any philosophical system not based on logic, and hence on the Verification of truths by means of syllogism…” See Gutas, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition, 286. This approach points to a Neo-Orientalist attempt to claim Avicenna as fully belonging in the Aristotelian tradition, of course in good faith because Neo-Orientalism is different from Orientalism: “Neo-Orientalists come to the study of Islamic philosophy with a spirit of free inquiry and good will towards the subject matter, but they are often unable to hang the coat of their own [Eurocentric] assumptions at the door, so to speak.” See Mohammed Rustom, “Neo-Orientalism and the Study of Islamic Philosophy: An Interview with Professor Mohammed Rustom” interview by Soroosh Shahriari, Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies, 3:1 (May 2018), p.113. For a critique of Eurocentric approaches to Islamic philosophy, also see John Inglis, Introduction to Medieval Philosophy and the Classical Tradition, ed. John Inglis (Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 2002). 3 For a sophisticated interpretation of Avicenna’s Ode, see ʻAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Walīd, al-Risāla al...