The impact of Ibn Arabi's mystical school on Sadrian philosophical thought in discussions relating to divine attributes

This article shows that Mulla Sadra is inspired by Ibn Arabi’s mystical school of thought in several cases related to divine attributes. He sometimes quotes passages from Ibn Arabi’s books without mentioning his reference, implying as if they are his own. Being inspired by mystics, he believes that the divine essence is absolute and that the divine attributes determine it when it intends to unfold. He assumes that man is Allah’s vicegerent and is the manifestation of the name Allah, the comprehensive name. Similarly he accepts the theory of constant essences and that divine attributes undergo divisions on the basis of their comprehensibility and non-comprehensibility. From among the eight theories concerning divine pre-knowledge of things, he accepts mystics’ theory. Though he is under the influence of Ibn Arabi when it comes to the issue of divine word, he is under the influence of Qaysari in other issues related to divine attributes