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Article: The Soul as Barzakh: Substantial Motion and Mulla Sadra's Theory of Human Becoming
- Article from:
- The Muslim World
- Article date:
- January 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Blackwell Publishing Jan 2004. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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The problem of the nature of the human soul, its connection to both the physical and spiritual realms, and its apparently asymmetrical existence as an entity that is both created in time and eternally subsistent, has exercised the minds of nearly all the great theologians and philosophers of Islam. If one adds to this the intricacies of Sufi psychology, which often represents the soul itself as the great enemy to be vanquished on the road to spiritual realization, we can see the difficulties that any holistic discussion of the soul in Islamic thought must involve. But it is just such a project that is undertaken by Sadr al-Din al-Shirazi, perhaps the greatest philosopher of the Isfahani ...