UMMA Discussions on The Heart of Islamic Philosophy: The Quest for Self-Knowledge in the Teachings of Afdal al-Din

Kashani by William C. Chittick

Chapter I

The first chapter is focused on putting Baba Afdal into context, discussing his use of the Persian language (as
opposed to Arabic) and discussing general themes and/or goals of his writings. We will discuss this as a way to lay out our
further investigation into Baba Afdal's writings. Chittick's introduction will help us understand Baba Afdal's actual work.

Historical Context

“Practically nothing is known about the life of Afdal al-Din Muhammad ibn Hasan Kashani. There has been some dispute
over the date of his death, though 610AH/1213-14AD seems to be correct. This makes him a contemporary of several
important Muslim thinkers, including Suhrawardi al-Maqtul (d. 587/1191), the founder of the School of Illumination;
Averroes (d. 595/1198), the greatest of the Muslim Aristotelians and the best known in the West; and Ibn al-'Arabi (d.
638/1240), the most widely influential of all speculative thinkers in the later tradition.”1

Literary Context

Islamic philosophical texts were often written in Arabic since it was and remains the universal language of Islamic
sciences and learning. Because of this a good many technical terms are used in Islamic philosophy which generally required
the reader to have a good grasp on other Islamic sciences and philosophical terminology.
Baba Afdal is often overlooked because he chose to use Persian and wrote with less technical terminology. He did
this, perhaps, to address a reading audience that sought to learn and reflect but perhaps did not have the prerequisite cadre of
knowledge that one would necessarily have to read most Arabic texts. He elucidated his ideas in a simpler fashion for a
wider audience. This is the main reason Chittick decided to work on Baba Afdal's work (see his preface for details).
Though he is often overlooked in the wider field of Islamic Philosophy this by no means points to any sort of
deficiency in his work nor should it allude to any lesser degree of importance. One of the most important and pivotal of all
Muslim philosophers is Mulla Sadra2 who translated and added to Afdal's Jawidan-nama into Arabic for students of
philosophy who did not read Persian works.

Themes and Goals: Know Thyself

Baba Afdal considers himself slightly different than some past philosophers in that he aims his philosophy at self-
knowledge3. Some may say this goal points to “sufi” concepts, sufi here referring to a meaning that “denotes an engagement
with Islamic teachings and practices such that the inner, spiritual dimension is seen to take priority over the external,
legalistic dimension.”4 and not meaning “sufi” in the sense that one is a member of a particular tariqa that has a
systematized form of self cleansing given by a murshid etc...

“This meaning is presumably the clarification of how to put philosophy to work in realizing one's own everlasting
self.” 5

“This ,in a word, seems to be Baba Afdal's goal in his writings—to stir up yearning for the wellspring of meaning
which is the intelligence that lies at the heart of wisdom.” 6

“For Baba Afdal, the basic philosophical question is 'Who am I?' Or, in other terms, 'What does it mean to be
human?' His answer is that the true substance of a human self, or a human soul, is intelligence, and that the proper object of
intelligence's scrutiny is itself...Intelligence is fully achieved only when the knower, the known object and the knowledge
are one. This achievement, for Baba Afdal, is tawhid— which is normally translated as 'asserting the unity of God,' but

1 Chittick, The Heart of Islamic Philosophy, p. 3.

2 See Murata and Chittick's The Vision of Islam, p. 249.
3 Self-Knowledge is described on the dust jacket of Mulla Sadra's The Elixir of the Gnostics (also translated by Chittick
and which is an adaptation into Arabic of one of Baba Afdal's works) as “the means by which the soul, having been
created in the divine image, must realize its full and final potential”.
4 Chittick, p. 8.
5 Chittick, p. 6.
6 Chittick, p. 7.
which means literally 'to assert oneness' or 'to make one'. No one can grasp the unity of God who is not himself one.”7
- Does this idea of scrutinizing oneself, or taking oneself into account, remind you of anything?

“In Baba Afdal's view, philosophy is the most direct means of achieving the true humanity that should be the goal
of all those who consider themselves human. When people meditate on the philosophical truths, they will be drawn to look
into themselves and come to understand that they already possess everything that they seek.”8

“As we will read in one of Baba Afdal's essays, the whole philosophical enterprise aims at the 'disengagement' of
the soul. The soul must strip and denude itself of all attachment to and immersion in the things of the world, and it must lift
itself up stage by stage until it joins with the divine spirit that gave birth to the universe...”9
- Is this consistent with basic Islamic teachings?

7 Chittick, p. 10.
8 Chittick, p. 10-11.
9 Chittick, p. 16.