A Critical Analysis of Quranic References to Bodily Resurrection by Agha Ali Modarres

Philosophical theorizing based on religious texts and the related rational interpretation of these texts are among the sublime objectives and a continuous tradition of religious philosophers in their intellectual pursuit. After Sadra, these objectives and traditions have been followed and Agha Ali Modarres is one of the outstanding scholars committed to them. He has referred to some verses in his special theory on bodily resurrection and his most important reference is this verse: “Say: He will revive them Who produced them at the first, for He is Knower of every creation (Ya Sin, 79)”. He believes that this verse is enough to prove that bodily resurrection is done to collect the body parts from the physical world and to transfer it to the other world to join the soul. Moreover, by referring to the verse 62 in ChapterVaghee, he rejects Asharites’ view on element resurrection because they tend to believe in returning of the soul to the physical world. The other verses he has referred to without any explanation are verse 10 in Chapter “the Prophets” and the verse 27 in Chapter “The Romans, The Greeks” based on whichhe considers his theory provable regarding the concepts of source and resurrection. This outstanding scholar follows Molla Sadra’s teachings as far as he refers to the Holy Text for consolidating the foundations of bodily resurrection. However, he tries to present a new approach in sublime philosophy that has made him well-known as the “founding philosopher”. In order to ascertain his success in having accurate references to verses in the Holy Quran, his interpretations should be analyzed carefully. In so doing, a reflection on the verses preceding and following the verse 79 in Ya Sin Chapter casts doubt on Agha Ali Modarres’s views in terms of their agreement with content of those verses.