An Analysis of Resurrection and its Relationship with Voluntary Death in Mulla Sadra

The present paper provides an analysis of the meaning of resurrection and its relationship with voluntary death in Mulla Sadra’s view. Resurrection is of five types, two types of which, the Lesser and Greater Soulish Resurrections, are among the stages of voluntary death. The soulish type of resurrection involves the ontological changes of the soul which occur at different stages of voluntary death. Its initial stage is called the Lesser Soulish Resurrection, and its final stage is called the Greater Soulish Resurrection. Through benefitting from his fundamental metaphysical principles, such as the principiality of existence, graded unity of being, individuation of being, ontological motion, corporeal origination and spiritual subsistence of the soul, and the union of the intellect and intelligible, Mulla Sadra analyzes the different types of resurrection. He believes that going through the stages of practical mystic journey is necessary for the realization of the Lesser Soulish Resurrection. In his view, the Greater Soulish Resurrection means attaining the station of mortality. This station can be analyzed within the two systems of the graded unity and individual unity of being. In the system of the graded unity of being, in the course of the graded ontological motion, the soul reaches the station of approximation to God after going through the stages of sensation, imagination, and intellection. Later it reaches the station of fixity after change or survival after annihilation. Within the system of the individual unity of being, Man’s being is the same as relation to God’s being, and they see Almighty Truth manifested in truths. At this station, the individual becomes the manifestation of the names describing the beauty and glory of the Truth and reflects all these names in their acts. In fact, a wayfarer whose Greater Resurrection has been actualized in the world experiences all kinds of annihilation.