حكمت متعاليه میں تجسم اعمال كے عقلي دلائل اور علامہ محمد باقر مجلسیؒ کے اشکالات کا تنقیدی جائزہ

The Rational Arguments for the Embodiment of Actions in Transcendent Philosophy and Allama Muhammad Baqir Majlisi’s Critique Review

Abstract

The fact that actions performed in this world will be present and embodied to the doer in the Hereafter is, in fact, an issue that has been pointed out in several verses of the Holy Quran. For example, in Surah Al-Kahf, verse 45, it is stated: "Whatever they did (in this world), they will find it present before them." This verse is interpreted in the sense that a person will find his actions present before him in the Hereafter. That is, his own actions will be embodied before him. This presence of the actions before the doer is called "the embodiment of actions."

An important question regarding the embodiment of actions is whether it is possible for actions performed in this world to be embodied in the Hereafter? If yes, how? Is this a matter of mere submission and belief or it can also be proven through rational and philosophical evidence? These are the basic questions discussed in this paper. This article sheds light on the answer to these questions in the light of Sadruddin Shirazi - Mulla Sadra – findings in his transcendent philosophy. The article also examines the objections of the famous theologian, Allama Hilli, on Mulla Sadra's approach.

According to the author, Mulla Sadra is the first Muslim philosopher who has been successful in providing rational foundations for the theory of the embodiment of actions. Mulla Sadra's theory of the embodiment of actions is, in fact, based on the philosophical principles of the originality of existence, the abstraction of the power of thought, atomic motion, the unity of the knower and known, and the efficacy of the soul.

According to Mulla Sadra, the body is, in fact, a degraded state of the soul and its manifestation. Therefore, the body is not something separate, alien, or permanent from the soul, but rather it is the cause of the occurrence and existence of actions. And whatever action a person performs, he performs it through the imagination and thought of his soul. In fact, the soul is not separated from the body in any world or origin, but the forms of the body that is affected by it keep changing.

The soul is not separated from the elemental body in this world, the ideal body in the Barzakh, and the afterlife in the Hereafter. As soon as the soul is separated from the elemental body, the Barzakh or ideal body becomes available to it in the world of Barzakh, and in the Hereafter it is joined to another body, which is called the afterlife body. Therefore, the matter of reward and punishment in the world of Barzakh and the Hereafter, and the embodiment of the actions performed in this world for the agent, is related to the Barzakh and afterlife bodies of the agent, in which he does not need worldly matter. 

After examining Mulla Sadra's philosophical arguments in support of the theory of the incarnation of actions, the author of the article has examined the strong criticism of his theory by Allama Muhammad Baqir Majlisi. In fact, Allama Hilli's position is that the theory of the incarnation of actions is unacceptable because it requires the denial of the physical resurrection, which is a postulate of theology. Also, from a philosophical point of view, this theory is not acceptable because it requires the transformation of the extension into the essence, which is contrary to philosophical postulates.

The author of the article, while critically examining Allama Majlisi's objections to Mulla Sadra's theory of embodiment of actions, has concluded that the arguments presented by Allama Hilli on Mulla Sadra's theory of embodiment of actions are flawed. In the present article, a detailed light is shed on the flaws found in Allama Majlisi's objections.