Sharh-al-Hikmat-al-Arshiyya by Mollā Esmā'il Esfahāni, a Counter-Argument against Ahsāei's Refutation of Arshiyya

The treatise Sharh-al-Hikmat-al-Arshiyya written by Hakim Molla Esmā'il of Esfahan nicknamed Wāhed-al-ayn (One-eyed), is an explanatory commentary on Mollā Sadrā's Ketāb-e Arshiyya.The commentator's principal objective is to respond to Ahsāei's criticisms of Mollā Sadrā's Arshiyya. Shaikh Ahmad Ahsāei is one of the critics of the views and fundamental ideas of such theosophical philosophers as Mollā Sadrā levelling in his Sharh-e Mashā'er and Sharh-e Arshiyya numerous objections at Mollā Sadrā. Claiming deep understanding of Qoranic verses and Islamic traditions, Ahsāei attacks Mollā Sadrā on several issues such as authenticity of existence (existentialism), hierarchy of existence, compatibility between cause and effect, unity of being, the principle of Absolute Pure Existence(Basit-al-Hqiqa) etc, asserting that such views are in contradiction with Qoranic verses and Hadith. On the opposite side, there is Mollā Esmā'il Esfahāni, educated in Sadraian School, a student of Mollā Ali Noori and Mollā Hādi Sabzavāri's teacher, by expounding and examining Mollā Sadrā's views tries to defend them and demonstrate that Ahsāei has a misunderstanding of Mollā Sadrā's propositions and Qoranic verses and Islamic tradition. Unfortunately, Hakim Esfahani succeeded in writing a commentary not on the entire Arshiyya but on the initial parts of it. Several codices of this treatise exist in Iran's libraries.