The Realty of Human Will and Its Functions as Viewed by Fakhr Razi and Mulla Sadra

Human will is one of the most important characteristics of man. There are different perspectives between theologians and Islamic philosophers in interpreting the human will and its way of being origin for his actions. This paper, using an analytico-descriptive method, has studied Fakhr Razi and Mulla Sadra's views in the field and concluded that human will is a mental quality and its existence is self-evident. Though Fakhr Razi has put forward a number of rational and narrative reasons to prove the claim of human actions` being attributed to the Divine Will and human will`s being of no effect in them, he has denied Asharite great scholars` meaning of the theory of kasb and has given such a new concept to it that, in addition to attributing all things including human actions to God, sees a place for human will in actions also. In this way, we find an incompatibility and ambiguity in his view in the field. Mulla Sadra, however, has viewed the theory of amri baini amrain as the only acceptable explanation for the effect of Divine Will and human will in them. Accordingly, God is the main agent of the human act, and the will of man, though being only the ground for appearance of Divine Will, it is of real effect in these acts also.