Vāḥed al-‛Ayn Eṣfahānī, Mullā Esmā‛īl

Vāḥed al-‛Ayn Eṣfahānī, Mullā Esmā‛īl, was a sage and teacher of Islamic philosophy in the 18^th/13^th century.¹

His birth date is unknown, and only limited information about his life is recorded in the biographical sources. His father, Mullā Muhammad Samī‛, is also reported to have been among the notable scholars of his time.² Because he was blind in one eye, he was given the title Vāḥed al-‛Ayn (“the one-eyed”).³ Ḥājj-Mullā Hādī Sabzevārī (d. 1872/1289) referred to him as Dhū al-‛Uyūn or Dh  ū al-‛Aynayn,⁴ metaphorically, because in his view Mullā Esmā‛īl possessed insight in both the rational and transmitted sciences.⁵ According to Humāyī, Mullā Esmā‛īl resided in the Dar-Kūshk quarter of Isfahan, and for this reason he was sometimes called “Dar-Kūshkī” or “Darb-Kūshkī,” although he is best known simply as Mullā Esmā‛īl Eṣfahānī.⁶

Mullā Esmā‛īl was a student of Mullā Ali Nūrī (d. 1830/1246) in philosophy. Even after becoming a recognized master of philosophy, he continued to attend Mullā Ali Nūrī’s classes with his own students.⁷ He was also a contemporary of Sheikh Aḥmad Aḥsāʾī. According to Tunekābunī, Mullā Esmā‛īl once attended a gathering with Aḥsāʾī and prevailed over him in a debate.⁸ He was a teacher to many philosophers and scholars of his time, including Mullā Hādī Sabzevārī, Mīrzā Rafī‛ā Qazvīnī (the grandfather of Sayyed Abū al-Ḥasan Qazvīnī), Sayyed Ali Ḥakīm, and Hedāyatullāh Basṭāmī.⁹ Mullā Esmā‛īl’s students preferred his philosophy classes over those of Mullā Ali Nūrī because of his clarity of speech and eloquence in teaching. To facilitate understanding and persuade his students, he often used poetry and aligned his teachings with Quranic verses and narrations. In contrast, Mullā Ali Nūrī, particularly in his later years, exercised caution in teaching philosophy and avoided openly expressing his views.¹⁰

It is worth noting that several other philosophers named Mullā Esmā‛īl lived contemporaneously with Vāḥed al-‛Ayn, and because of the similarity in their names and reputations, confusion has occasionally arisen regarding their identities. One such figure was Mullā Esmā‛īl Ḥakīm, a teacher of philosophy known as “Dar-kūshkī,” who was himself a student of Vāḥed al-‛Ayn. In some later sources he has been mistakenly conflated with Vāḥed al-‛Ayn¹¹, and this confusion has at times led to the attribution of the epithet “Dar-kūshkī” (or “Darb-kūshkī”) to Vāḥed al-‛Ayn as well.¹² In reality, however, Vāḥed al-‛Ayn was known simply as “Eṣfahānī” and “Ḥakīm,” not as “Dar-kūshkī.” To distinguish the two, it should be noted that Mullā Esmā‛īl Ḥakīm Dar-kūshkī was the son of Muhammad Ja‛far, died in 1887/1304, and was buried in Takht-e Fūlād (near the graves of Mullā Esmā‛īl Kh^wājūʾī and Ali Akbar Ezheʾī). Among his students were Sayyed Abū al-Qāsem Dehkurdī, Mullā Muhammad Kāshānī, and Jahāngīr Khan Qashqāʾī.¹³

There are numerous reports concerning the date of Mullā Esmā‛īl Vāḥed al-‛Ayn’s death. Some sources suggest that he died after the passing of Mullā Ali Nūrī, citing the years 1855/1271, 1861/1277, or 1861/1281.¹⁴ However, these accounts are speculative and lack definitive evidence.¹⁵ Sayyed Jalāl Āshtiyānī, seemingly based on the account of Sabzevārī’s son-in-law and testimonies from his own teachers, who reported seeing Mullā Esmā‛īl in Tehran during the lifetime of Mullā ‛Abdullāh Zunūzī (d. 1841/1257), believes that Mullā Esmā‛īl was certainly alive until 1851/1267.¹⁶ Nevertheless, Jalāl al-Dīn Humāʾī, through his research, argues that Mullā Esmā‛īl died in 1827/1243.¹⁷ His evidence is derived from the statement of Mullā Hādī Sabzevārī, who, in his biography, mentions studying philosophy with Mullā Ali Nūrī for about three years following Mullā Esmā‛īl’s death.¹⁸ On the last page of manuscript no. 1245 in the Iranian Parliament (Majles) Library, the date of Mullā Esmā‛īl Vāḥed al-‛Ayn’s death is recorded as Muḥarram al-Ḥarām 1826/1242.¹⁹ Considering all the above evidence and circumstances, it appears accurate to conclude that the year of Mullā Esmā‛īl Vāḥed al-‛Ayn’s death was 1826/1242.²⁰

Mullā Esmā‛īl authored commentaries on several significant philosophical and theological works. Among his writings are glosses on al-asfār al-arba‛a, al-mashā‛er,²¹ and shawāreq al-elhām,²² and shawāreq al-elhām.²³ There are also commentaries attributed to Mullā Esmā‛īl Eṣfahānī on Jamāl al-Dīn Kh^wānsārī’s glosses on Khafrī’s marginalia.²⁴ Mullā Esmā‛īl Vāḥed al-‛Ayn also wrote a commentary on Mullā Ṣadrā’s al-ḥekmat al-‛arshīyya, which was published both within the lithograph edition of Mullā Ṣadrā’s asrār al-āyāt.²⁵The commentary on al-ḥekmat al-‛arshīyya was later published independently together with the glosses of Mullā Ali Nūrī, and also in a critically edited version prepared by Muhammad Mas‛ūd Khudāvandī and Eḥsān Kurdī Ardekānī.²⁶ In this commentary, he responded to the objections raised by Aḥsā’ī, attributing most of his criticisms to misunderstandings of the intended meanings. Vāḥed al-‛Ayn explained the author’s intent using rational and traditional evidence in this work.

Several mystical and philosophical treatises in Persian, titled waḥdat al-wujūd, jabal qāf, and nawm al-malāʾika, are also attributed to Mullā Esmā‛īl.²⁷

 /Tayyebe Karami/

Bibliography

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1. This article was previously published in the Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam, vol. 17, pp. 473-474, and was republished with slight revisions in the Encyclopaedia Isfahanica.[↩]
2. See: Mu‛allem Ḥabīb-Ābādī, vol. 6, p. 2152, footnote by Ravḍātī.[↩]
3. Ṣadūqī-Suhā, p. 148.[↩]
4. See: Ṭābande, p. 25.[↩]
5. See: Reḍānejād, vol. 1, p. 16.[↩]
6. Humāyī, 1975/1354, p. 125.[↩]
7. See: Sabzevārī, 1991/1370., introduction by Āshtīyānī, p. 117.[↩]
8. Tunekābunī, p. 20.[↩]
9. Āqā Buzurg Ṭehrānī, 1984/1404, vol. 1, p. 140; Ṣadr al-Dīn Shīrāzī, 1981/1360 Sh., introduction by Āshtīyānī, p. 116 and fn. 2, p. one hundred twenty-five.[↩]
10. Humāyī, 1975/1354, p. 132; Ṣadr al-Dīn Shīrāzī, 1981/1360 Sh., same introduction, p. one hundred fifteen[↩]
11. See: Sabzevārī, 1995–2001/1416–1422, vol. 2, introduction by Mas‛ūd Ṭālebī, p. 4; see also, for a report of this error, Ṣadūqī Suhā, pp. 147–150[↩]
12. See: Sabzevārī, 1991/1370, introduction by Āshtīiyānī, p. 65.[↩]
13. Dehkurdī, vol. 1, p. 21; Humāyī, 2017/1396, vol. 1, pp. 431–432.[↩]
14. See: Āqā Buzurg Ṭehrānī, 1983/1403, vol. 6, pp. 20, 200; Mahdavī, p. 138; Mudarres Tabrīzī, vol. 6, p. 285; Sabzevārī, 1991/1370., same introduction, p. 116; Sabzevārī, 1996-2001/1416-1422, ibid.; Athar-Āfarīnān, vol. 1, p. 257.[↩]
15. Mu‛allem Ḥabīb Ābādī, vol. 6, p. 2153, footnote.[↩]
16. See: Sabzevārī, 1991/1370., same introduction, pp. 117-118 and footnote; Izutsu, introduction, p. twenty-five.[↩]
17. Humāyī, 1975/1354,, p. 132.[↩]
18. Humāyī, 1975/1354,, p. 127; See: Izutsu, introduction, p. twenty-two.[↩]
19. Kh^wājuʾī, fol. 209. It is worth noting that this document is, in fact, a copy of Meftāḥ al-Falāḥ va Meṣbāḥ al-Najāḥ fī Sharḥ Du‛āʾ al-Ṣabāḥ by Mullā Esmā‛īl Kh^wājuʾī (d. 1759/1173). The scribe of this manuscript recorded the author’s name as “Mullā Esmā‛īl Vāḥed al-‛Ayn Kh^wājuʾī Eṣfahānī.” Given the definitive attribution of Sharḥ Du‛āʾ al-Ṣabāḥ to Mullā Esmā‛īl Kh^wājuʾī and his death in 1759/1173, it can be asserted that the scribe mistakenly confused Mullā Esmā‛īl Vāḥed al-‛Ayn with Mullā Esmāʿīl Kh^wājuʾī. Therefore, the date mentioned at the end of this manuscript likely refers to the death of Mullā Esmā‛īl Vāḥed al-‛Ayn.[↩]
20. See: Vāḥed al-‛Ayn, introduction by Khudāverdī, pp. thirty to thirty-two.[↩]
21. For example, see: Ṣadr al-Dīn Shīrāzī, 1990/1410, Safar 2, vol. 1, pp. 20, 32; Safar 2, vol. 2, pp. 112–113.[↩]
22. For example, see: Muhammad-Ja‛far Lāhījī, pp. 12, 15, 17.[↩]
23. For example, see: ‛Abd al-Razzāq Lāhījī, vol. 1, pp. 3, 9, 12.[↩]
24. Humāyī, 1975/1354,, p. 132.[↩]
25. Ṣadr al-Dīn Shīrāzī, 1901/1319, pp. 30-64, 93-120.[↩]
26. sharḥ-e ḥekmat al-‛arshīyya, edited by Muhammad Mas‛ūd Khudāverdī, Tehran: Muʾassese-ye Pazhūheshī-ye Ḥekmat va Falsafe-ye Iran, 2012/1391; edited by Eḥsān Kurdī Ardekānī, Tehran: Ḥekmat.[↩]
27. Ḥuseynī-Eshkevarī, vol. 1, p. 162.[↩]