The Brethren of Purity’s Conception of Human Love vis-à-vis the Theories of Ibn Sīnā, Suhrawardī, and Mullā Ṣadrā

This article is a study of the Brethren of Purity’s thirty-seventh epistle, The Essence of Love. It is quite understandable that the subject of divine love in Islam and its symbols in the earthly realm has fascinated scholars. Muslim literatures are a rich mine for such inquiries. However, the result has been that, comparatively, scholarship has neglected the topic of love between human beings in Islamic thought. Therefore, this study focuses on how the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity (Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-ṣafāʾ) treat this subject. It also explores the approach to this matter in treatises on love written by the leading representatives of the Peripatetic (Mashshāʾī), Illuminationist (Ishrāqī) and Transcendental (Mutaʿāliya) schools of Islamic philosophy, Ibn Sīnā (d. ۴۲۸/۱۰۳۷), Suhrawardī (d. ۵۸۷/۱۱۹۱) and Ṣadr al-Dīn Shīrāzī (known as Mullā Ṣadrā, d. ۱۰۵۰/۱۶۴۰), respectively. Specifically, the inquiry compares the Brethren’s thirty-seventh treatise, The Essence of Love (Fī māhiyyat al-ʿishq), with Ibn Sīnā’s Epistle on Love (Risāla fī’l-ʿishq), Suhrawardī’s Epistle on the Reality of Love, also known as The Solace of Lovers (Risālat ḥaqīqat al-ʿishq or Muʾnis al-ʿushshāq) and sections from the seventh volume of MullāṢadrā’s Transcendent Philosophy: The Four Journeys of the Intellect (al-Ḥikma al-mutaʿāliya fī’l-asfār al-arbaʿa al-ʿaqliyya). A fundamental distinction of the Brethren’s approach is their positive impression of love between human beings, including its romantic and conjugal components. Such love is not entirely under human control; the celestial spheres also exercise their influence. The Brethren contend that society and civilization prosper because of love. Unlike several others, they are intent on reconciling divine or “real” love with love between individuals. While the Brethren praise the benefits of romantic love and conjugal relations, Ibn Sīnā judges them harmful, and Suhrawardī a distraction. Mullā Ṣadrā, though, takes an intermediate position, influenced by both the Brethren and Ibn Sīnā.

کلیدواژه ها:

Ikhwān al-ṣafāʾ ، Love ، sexuality ، Ibn Sīnā ، Suhrawardī ، Mullā Ṣadrā ، Islamic philosophy