The Metaphysics of Sabzavārī on Theology
AN ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY AND A COMMENTARY ON A DIDACTIC POEM

An explication and translation of Hādī Sabzavārī’s Sharḥ Ghurar al-Farāʾid or Sharḥ al-Manẓūmah by Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi

Since its composition in 1845, Hādī Sabzavārī’s Sharḥ al-Manẓūmah – a commentary on his famous didactic poem entitled Ghurar al-Farāʾid (The Brilliance of the Pearls) – has been profoundly influential on Islamic intellectual history. This key work by the greatest scholar of Qajar Persia revitalised the discipline of transcendental wisdom (al-ḥikmah al-mutaʿāliyyah), combining rational analysis, spiritual wayfaring, and mysticism to examine fundamental philosophical issues including metaphysics, ontology, and ethics. It remains to this day a standard textbook for those pursuing a traditional philosophical and spiritual education. Born in 1212/1797 and educated in Isfahan under the tutelage of Mullā ʿAlī Nūrī and Mullā Ismāʿil Iṣfahānī, two masters of Mullā Ṣadrā’s school of transcendent philosophy, Sabzavārī went on to become an intellectual titan in his own right, not only a leading philosopher but also an eminent theologian, commentator, teacher, and poet. The author of some fifty-two works during his life, Sabzavārī’s writings cover a range of fields including theology (kalām), logic, Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), mysticism, literature, and prosody. Before his death in 1289/1873, Sabzavārī founded a key centre for the study of Islamic philosophy and gnosis in his native Sabzavār and drew students from across the Middle East and South and East Asia. The fourth Qajar monarch, Nāṣir al-Dīn Shāh, praised Sabzavārī’s wisdom and commissioned several works by the great scholar, including his Asrār al-Ḥikmah (The Secrets of Wisdom).

In The Metaphysics of Sabzavārī on Theology, the Dean of The Shīʿah Institute, Dr Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi masterfully unfolds the mystical beauty and philosophical complexity of Part III of Sharḥ al-Manẓūmah on the Special Idea of Theology (ilāhīyāt bi- maʿnī akhaṣṣ). Founded upon decades of immersion in the study of Islamic philosophy, theology, gnosis (ʿirfān) and mysticism, Dr Shah Naqavi’s translation and explication will serve as an essential and invaluable source for scholars and students at seminaries, universities and beyond.