Sadra`s Anthropological View on Repentance on the Basis of Substantial Movement

The common theological analysis of repentance refers to it as a problem of value, and ultimately, as the Lord`s forgiveness toward a servant. The truth is that this analysis, given its correctness, may not be considered as satisfactory and complete; it shows only a part of the truth of repentance. Is it possible to provide an existential and philosophical analysis of this issue instead of its common theological analysis? An analysis that considers repentance as a new existential demand of a servant and Lord`s satisfying it? Such an analysis, in addition to being more consistent with religious texts, is more rational and more enjoyable. In this analysis, acceptance of repentance before being regarded as a necessary and ethical issue, the existential and causal system of the world seems to be a cause and ground for it. Accepting repentance from this perspective is the arrival of the servant in a higher grade of existence. Such being the case, acceptance of repentance is abstracted from this existential transformation. It seems that the problem of repentance may only be explained by the departure motion of the soul, or at least, this may be regarded as the best explanation in the field. This article seeks to analyze and explain the essence of repentance through the substantial movement and richness of Sadra's philosophy in the field of anthropology, and refers to the failure of other theological and philosophical explanations