Approaching Mullā Ṣadrā as Scriptural Exegete: A Survey of Scholarship on His Quranic Works

This article offers the first comprehensive survey of scholarly literature devoted to the Qur'anic works of the famous Muslim philosopher, Mulla Sadra (d. 1050/1640). While taking account of the merits and shortcomings of studies on Sadra’s Qur'anic writings, we will also be concerned with highlighting some of the methodological problems raised by the diverse range of approaches adopted in these studies. Chief amongst them is the tendency to pit Sadra the philosopher against Sadra the scriptural exegete. Such a dichotomy is not entirely helpful, both with respect to painting a clearer picture of Sadra's religious worldview, and to addressing broader questions pertaining to the intimate relationship shared between the “act” of philosophy and the “act” of reading scripture