Knowledge and Power in the Philosophies of Ḥamīd al-Dīn Kirmānī and Mullā Ṣadrā Shīrāzī, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2018

This book is a comparative study of two major Sh??? thinkers ?am?d al-D?n Kirm?n? from the Fatimid Egypt and Mull? ?adr? from the Safavid Iran, demonstrating the mutual empowerment of discourses on knowledge formation and religio-political authority in certain Isma?ili and Twelver contexts. The book investigates concepts, narratives, and arguments that have contributed to the generation and development of the discourse on the absolute authority of the imam and his representatives. To demonstrate this, key passages from primary texts in Arabic and Persian are translated and closely analyzed to highlight the synthesis of philosophical, Sufi, theological, and scriptural discourses. The book also discusses the discursive influence of Na??r al-D?n ??s? as a key to the transmission of Isma?ili narratives of knowledge and authority to later Sh??? philosophy and its continuation to modern and contemporary times particularly in the narrative of the guardianship of the jurist in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Sayeh Meisami is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at University of Dayton in Ohio, USA. She has also taught at the University of Toronto and Queen’s University in Canada. She published Mulla Sadra in 2013 and has several journal articles in the area of Islamic philosophy and religion.  

Provides insight into similar political and religious narratives across time

Examines texts by Ayatollah Khomeini in the light of Mulla ?adra’s influence

Offers a comparative study of two prominent scholars of the rivalling Shi?a branches, the Isma?ilis and the Twelvers