Gradational Epistemology in Qur’anic Perspective: A Ṣadrian Hermeneutical Model and Its Epistemological, Anthropological, and Cultural–Civilizational Implications

Within Islamic theology and Qur’anic exegesis, the levels of sensory, rational, and heart-based cognition have often been discussed through separate theological, philosophical, or exegetical approaches. As the foundations upon which individual and collective attitudes and decisions are formed, these levels exert a direct influence on political and economic orientations. Nevertheless, Western theories of civilization have largely concentrated on structural and historical factors and have devoted comparatively little attention to the role of levels of cognition in the dynamics of civilization. The absence of a model that explains these levels within a teleological and civilizational framework has created a significant gap in the existing literature. This study seeks to propose a Ṣadrian hermeneutical model that integrates Qur’anic epistemology with the principles of al-Ḥikmah al-Mutaʿāliyah, thereby reinterpreting the progression from sensory cognition to rational understanding and ultimately to heart-based cognition in relation to civilizational development. By a Ṣadrian hermeneutical model, the study refers to an interpretive framework grounded in al-Ḥikmah al-Mutaʿāliyah that explains the understanding of the Qur’anic text in relation to the existential and cognitive levels of the human being. This study presents the model through the lens of its epistemological, anthropological, and cultural-civilizational implications. Utilizing a descriptive-analytical methodology with a comparative approach, this research examines selected Qur’anic verses based on Mullā Ṣadrā’s doctrines of substantial motion (al-ḥarakah al-jawhariyyah), the gradation of Being (tashkīk al-wujūd), and the unity of the intellect and the intelligible (ittiḥād al-ʿāqil wa al-maʿqūl). Subsequently, a comparative analysis is offered alongside classical exegeses and Western civilizational models. The Qur’anic–Ṣadrian model regards sensory cognition as the indispensable yet inherently limited point of departure; it presents rational cognition as a bridge leading to presential knowledge; and it identifies heart-based cognition as the highest mode of cognition and the means through which individual spiritual refinement is linked to collective civilizational flourishing. By grounding the integration of sciences in existential unity and teleology, this framework provides an alternative to reductionist empiricist, rationalist, and utilitarian approaches, demonstrating that individual perceptual transcendence serves as a primary catalyst for civilizational progress within a Qur’anic horizon.

کلیدواژه ها:

Qur'anic epistemology ، Mulla sadra ، al-Ḥikmah al-Mutaʿāliyah ، Ṣadrian hermeneutics ، Presential knowledge (al-ʿilm al-ḥuḍūrī) ، Hierarchy of cognition ، civilizational development