Baba Afzal Kashani

Baba Afzal Kashani, Afzal al-Din Muhammad ibn Hasan, Husayn, Afzal al-Din Muhammad ibn Husayn ibn Muhammad Khawza Maraqi Kashani (d. 1268), a Persian philosopher, writer, belletrist, mystic, and poet flourishing in the second half of the 12th and the first half of the 13th century. His nom de plume was Afzal and he was well-known as Baba Afzal. Born in Maraq, a small town between Isfahan and Kashan, he is renowned in Iran for his Persian philosophical works and poetry, though his biographical account is scarcely known. The earliest attestation of his name is to be found in some of the works of Khwaja Nasir al-Din Tusi who mentions that he was a student of a mathematician by the name of Kamal al-Din Muhammad Hasib, who was in turn a student of Baba. Baba Afzal led a life of seclusion and was also engaged in teaching, writing, conducting research and debates. He spent some time in prison as a victim of jealousy and slander. Above all, he made contributions to Persian culture in the domain of belles-lettres. He is regarded as one of the greatest Muslim philosopher-poets on a par with very few outstanding poets writing quatrains. Some of his quatrains have been attributed to Abu Sa’id Abu al-Khayr, ‘Umar Khayyam, ‘Awhad al-Din Kirmani, Rumi, Khwaja ‘Abd Allah Ansari, ‘Attar, and others. He mentions his nom de plume, Afzal, in some of his quatrains. The earliest attestation of his poetry is to be found in Muhammad ibn Badr Jajarmi’s Munis al-Ahrar fi Daqa’iq al-Ash’ar, where six ghazals by him are recorded. Most of his quatrains and other forms of poetry treat of philosophical thoughts, particularly warning against transience of the world and mystical truths. Contrary to Khayyam’s relativist views, Baba Afzal’s poetry is the fruit of unique knowledge. His works are marked by being originally written in Persian or later translations of his Arabic compositions. He also rendered some philosophical works by earlier philosophers into Persian. Contrary to philosophers like Khwaja Nasir al-Din Tusi and Avicenna, Baba Afzal preferred to write in Persian rather than being requested by others to do so. His fluent style app0roaches that of his predecessors, marked by using short sentences, repetition of words as the need arises, infrequent employment of pronouns and synonyms, constituting features of earlier prose style abundantly adorning his eloquent compositions. He is on a par with Avicenna in terms of finding philosophical Persian equivalents, though his compositions are marked by according further significance to the aesthetic aspects of word usages. His rendering of Aristotle’s De Anima is a Persian philosophical translation par excellence. Most of Baba Afzal’s works have been published in a collection edited by Mujtaba Minovi and Yahya Mahdavi. His prose style is quite fluent. In his treatises he endeavors to substitute Arabic terminology with Persian ones. Baba Afzal wrote some quite fluent treatises on Sufism, treading the Sufi path, and mystical truths. They reflect his philosophical thought and sermons, aphorisms, and mystical truths. The date of his death has been recorded as 1209, 1210, and 1265. His fruitful works include: quatrains and other forms of poetry (195 quatrains are recorded in his compositions); another collection of his poetry, entitled Divan-i Hakim Afzal al-Din Muhammad Maraqi Kashani, including more than 686 quatrains and 12 ghazals and qasidas, has been edited by Mustafa Fayzi et al and published in Kashan; ‘Arz Nama, another significant work of his consisting of four sections (‘arz’s) and including above all his particular views, though it has not been taken into account by the scholars providing lists of his works; Jami’ al-Hikma, edited by Muhammad Taqi  Danishpazhuh and published in Tehran in 1982, is an eloquent work dealing with the exegesis of the Qur’anic phrase “in the name of God” (bi-‘smillah) opening all chapters but one and also includes philosophical and mystical dimensions; Madarij al-Kamal, also well-known as Gushayish Nama, entitled by him as Futuh-I Hasht Dar, originally written in Arabic but later rendered by him into Persian; Javdan Nama, first published by Nasr Allah Taqavi in Tehran (1932), treats of Qur’anic teachings, hadith, different sciences, significance of knowing oneself, and the beginning and end of existence; Rah Anjam Nama, published in the collection of his works edited by Muhammad Mishkat (Tehran 1936); Risala dar ‘Ilm va Nutq, also well-known as Minhaj-i Mubin, originally written in Arabic and later rendered into Persian by him reflecting his meditations on rational though in the Aristotelian narrow sense of the word whose refutation of Avicenna’s definition of reduction ad absurdum reflects its original composition rather than being a rendering of an Arabic treatise by Avicenna; Saz va Pirayi-yi Shahan-i Pur-Mayih, independently published by Mubsir al-Saltna Isfahani (Tehran 1932), may be regarded as a work devoted to political philosophy wherein in addition to the perfect sovereign, the perfect soul is also depicted; Yanbu’ al-Hayat, a translation of 13 chapters including aphorisms of Hermes, includes invocations, entitled Mu’atabat al-Nafs and Zajr al-Nafs, originally entitled Yanbu’ al-Hikma in its Arabic original, composed after the style of those by Khwaja ‘Abd Allah Ansari; Tuffaha, mentioned by Danishpazhuh as Sib Nama, is a translation of an Arabic rendering of a work by Aristotle bearing the same title, published by Mubsir al-Saltana (Tehran 1932); Mabadi-yi Mawjudat-i Nafsani was first published by Abu al-Hasan Jilva in a periodical bearing the title Jilva; Imani az Butlan-i Nafs dar Panah-i Khirad has been also published as a supplement to Javidan Khirad by Abu ‘Ali Miskawayh; correspondence and questions, Makatib va As’ila, including seven letters of his to provide replies to questions regarding metaphysics, ethics, and religion raised by friends and students, providing responses to Taqrirat wa Fuzul Muqatta’a, consisting of 36 sections ranging in terms of length between two lines and six pages; Ayat al-San’a fi ‘l-Kashf Matalib Ilahiyya Sab’a, also known as Ayat al-Ibda’ fi ‘l-San’a, published by Muhy al-Din Sabri Kurdi together with Jami’ al-Bada’i’. Some works have been ascribed to Baba Afzal, including al-Mufid li-‘l-Mustafid, published by Nasr Allah Taqavi in Tehran and also as a supplement to Afzal al-Din’s Divan which appeared in Kashan. Four works have been erroneously attributed to him, including selections of Kimiya-yi Sa’adat published in Jami’s Ashi’’at al-Luma’at; commentary on Hayy ibn Yaqzan; ‘Ilm-i Wajib; the commentary on Fusus al-Hikam. Contrary to the majority of philosophers Baba Afzal has not composed a work treating of all physical, metaphysical, and mathematical branches of philosophy with a clear-cut structure, but his brief and detailed treatises reflect a novel language and terminology and his independent and innovative views.

Understanding the self and his perception of human ‘self’ are accorded particular significance in Baba Afzal’s philosophical thought. In his view, the self is a mirror reflecting the world of truth in its entirety to one who attains to understanding of the self. Knowing the self plays such a significant role in his thought that his philosophical discussions are mainly affected by it. Prevalent theological and ontological discussions relatively unrelated to knowing the self are scantily treated by him. To him, existence falls into two types: ‘being’ and ‘attaining’ each of which are either potential or actual. Similitudes of potential being and actual being may be likened to a tree in a seed and the tree itself respectively. Potential attaining equals life or self in the entire hierarchy of being ranging from inanimate to human and actual attaining is the self-consciousness of intellect in which intelligence, intelligent, and intelligible are one. According to his interpretation, what Muslim philosophers have discussed about development of beings from the origin to this world and from this world to resurrection reflects the development from ‘attaining’ to ‘being’ and finally from ‘being’ to ‘attaining’. In his works, the terms intelligence, intelligent, and intelligible are represented as knowledge, knower, and known. According to him, knowledge is but luminosity and appearance of the existence of things constituting their existence in its entirety. Therefore, perfect and true existence of things is their known and intelligible form. For man, being known or unknown lies in the self and as self and intelligence, i.e. world of universality, are the origin of luminosity and appearance, the corporeal world or the world of particular beings is the origin of concealment. Man’s final perfection lies in his perfection of understanding and intelligence attainable through the union of intelligence, intelligent, and intelligible. It is through treading the path of knowledge that man may attain to universal things and their universality and thereby possess them. Apparent control of things, leading to human survival, is the opposite of true and particular control wherewith man may turn corporeality into spirituality through knowing them. Thus, the intelligible forms of things are transient, but their intelligible forms in the self are intransient and immortal. Baba Afzal’s thought is particularly marked by the nexus he establishes between knowledge and existence. Corporeal existence attains to its existence through its intelligible form as understood by man’s intelligent soul. On the other hand, knowledge is the origin of actuality from whence will and agency spring. Concerning the originality of intelligible forms, he even proceeds to say that they are the ontological causes of things. To him, man’s corporeality and soul are not substantially different. Human substance possesses two aspects: one is corporeal and transient and the other eternal and intransient. The difference between the two aspects is manifested in the different actuality of body as the movable substance and the soul as the moving substance. Body, i.e. ‘human corporeal I’ proceeds through a hierarchy of development from absolute body to composite body, then toward vegetative body and animal body, and finally toward human body. The ‘I of the self’, connected to simple body at the lowest degree of the hierarchy, is nature, though it proceeds toward becoming temperament, vegetative soul, animal soul, and human soul, and then towards practical intelligence, intellectual soul, tranquil soul, and finally rational soul. Once such soul attains to the station of knowing God Almighty, it is termed as the Holy Spirit. Baba Afzal’s further features include his inclination toward intuitive vision and treading the Sufi path, bearing its tinge on his quatrains and some of his treatises. He accords particular significance to intellect, but he also treats of purification of the self and true knowledge. In this respect, his treatment of the unity of substance and essence of the world is worthy of note. His works include: Madarij al-Kamal, also known as Gushayish Nama; Rah Anjam Nama; Saz va Piraya-yi Shahan-i Purmaya; Risala-yi Tuffaha; ‘Arz Nama; Javdan Nama; Yanbu’ al-Hayat dar Mu’ataba-yi Nafs; Risala-yi Nafs-i Arastutalis; Mukhtasari dar Hal-i Nafs; Risala dar ‘Ilm va Nutq; Mabadi-yi Mawjudat-i Nafsani; Imani az Butlan-i Nafs dar Panah-i Khirad; Taqrirat va Fusul-i Muqatta’a; Makatib wa Jawab-i As’ila; al-Mufid li-‘l-Mustafid. The published collection works of his includes a qasida, some ghazals, a qit’a, and 187 quatrains, the last of which mainly treats of philosophic-mystical themes.

 

Tarikh-i Adabiyyat dar Iran (3, 250-252); Tarikh-i Falasifa-yi Irani (451-459); Da’irat al-Ma’arif-i Farsi (1, 357); Da’irat al-Ma’arif-i Buzurg-i Islami (19, 735-739); Sabkshinasi (3, 162-165).