Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Ebrahim Ranjbar ¹
• Mehdi Monfared ²

¹ Master of Philosophy and Islamic Theology, University of Qom

² Associate Professor of Islamic Philosophy and Theology, University of Qom

Abstract

In theology, it has been a long-lasting problem to determine whether the world is created ex nihilo or in its own it had a certain existence. For this issue, the first chapter of Genesis has imposed a great deal of effort on Jewish theologians. In Islamic intellectual tradition,ie. Islamic philosophy and theology, on the other hand, clarification of the problem of Creation was an unescapable subject-matter. In this article we shall first try to investigate the multiple dimensions of Creation in the first chapter of Genesis and to see in what ways it leads to misunderstandings and then we approach to see what is the interpretation Mulla Sadra developed on the Hidden Treasure (al-kand al-makhfi) in this way We shall show his mystic background and how he gets to such a ground-breaking exegesis. Mulla Sadra’s interpretation will open a new window to see the problem anew and to gather our findings for developing a wholly new interpretation of Creation. By doing these two investigations, we shall demonstrate that creatio ex nihilo is rejected by these two sides and thereafter it will be suggested a new justified meaning for Creation and its beginning and the problem issued before will be resolved.

Keywords

• Creration
• Mulla Sadra
• Genesis
• Ḥakma
• Beginning