Examining Mullā Sadrā's Use of Al-Ghazali's Views on the Individual Unity of Existence

Examining the opinions of Al-Ghazali and Mullā Sadrā on the issue of individual unity of existence shows that despite the differences in their foundations, they agree on the results. Mullā Sadrā has referred to Al-Ghazali's views on this issue in various positions of his works and has considered Al-Ghazali's viewpoint as supporting the combination of rational and religious methods in this subject. In his analysis, Mullā Sadrā has referred to Al-Ghazali's views in several stages, including: 1. Multiplicity of contingents, according to which believing in the individual unity of existence does not imply denying the existence of contingents; 2. The real existence of God and the metaphorical existence of contingents, according to which the existence of God Almighty and His Face is the only real existence and, others enjoy a metaphorical existence. The main question is, "What uses did Mullā Sadrā make of Al-Ghazali's opinions on the issue of individual unity of existence and what results did he achieve by referring to them?" This article has benefited from the rational and, where needed, scriptural method and has referred to the verses of the Quran. Based on his philosophical foundations and using Al-Ghazali's ideas in this matter, Mullā Sadrā has solved some philosophical and theological problems such as: "proving knowledge for all beings", "explaining the way of the righteous" and "the relation between particular monotheism and the servants' free will"; However, he considered the main purpose of these references to be the compatibility of reason and religion. As a result, the two thinkers' intellectual discourses show close affinities.