The Intellectual Evolution of the Origin of the World from Fārābī to Mīrdāmād

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD student of Islamic philosophy and theology at Razavi University of Islamic Sciences, Mashhad

2 Professor of Tehran University, Department of Philosophy (corresponding author)

3 Member of the faculty of Razavi University of Islamic Sciences, Department of Philosophy and Theology

10.22081/nir.2025.70202.1465

Abstract

The contingency and eternity of the world is one of the fundamental monotheistic discourses that religious and Islamic thinkers, each based on their own intellectual foundations, have addressed one of its aspects. The authors of the present article are exploring into the tendency of Islamic scholars for proving the origin of the world. In other words, the pivotal question of this research is how the meaning of origin has evolved in each era and has been distinguished from one meaning to another, to the extent that the interrelation of Mīrdāmād's thought - as the last link in the chain of thinkers in this field - with the opinions and sayings of his predecessors can be illustrated. The outcome of this study shows that Al-Fārābī did not have a problem-oriented and scientific approach to the contingency of the world and that his view was more focused on Shari'a-compliant beliefs. Theologians have also emphasized temporal contingency (with the interpretation of illusory time). Although he believed more in essential contingency, Shaykh Al-Ra’īs (Avicenna), has referred to temporal contingency in some cases. Shaykh Al-Ishrāq, by making a precise distinction between essential and temporal contingency, has considered inherent contingency to be specific to innovations and temporal contingency to be specific to temporalities. Finally, Mīrdāmād, by proposing the theory of atemporal (dahrī) contingency, does not actually present anything beyond essential contingency. This research is organized by relying on the philosophy of science and using a descriptive-analytical method.

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