مهرداد عظیمی انامق

Muslim philosophers, influenced by Plato and Aristotle, consider human ultimate felicity to be dependent on social life; yet, in accordance with the Islamic tradition, they regard the law governing human society as divine and based on revelation. From their perspective, the religion of Islam, revealed to the Prophet, provides the foundation for all laws necessary to regulate human social affairs. Throughout its intellectual history, Islamic philosophy has consistently addressed the issue of religion and society, with Muslim philosophers striving to refine and update the governing principles of social management in light of their own times.
This study, after examining the views of al-F?r?b?, Avicenna, Na??r al-D?n ??s?, and Mull? ?adr?, compares the perspectives of Avicenna (representing the Peripatetic school in Islamic philosophy) and Mull? ?adr? (the founder of Transcendent Theosophy) on the relationship between religion and society. Avicenna interprets the involvement of religion in social life primarily as the rational instruction and logical guidance of the community, viewing religion as the regulator of social relations on the basis of rational laws. In contrast, Mull? ?adr?, through his doctrines of the unity of being and gradation of existence, assigns religion a far broader role in shaping both the individual and collective structures of human life. In his view, politics serves religion as a means of realizing its aims in the social sphere, as well as guiding the soul and leading human beings toward inner perfection.
The fundamental differences in the ontological and epistemological frameworks of these two philosophers result in divergent explanations of the roles of the Prophet, the Imam, and the scholar. For Avicenna, the Prophet, by receiving intelligibles from the Active Intellect and translating them into the language of religion, functions as the rational legislator and civic leader of society, while scholars’ knowledge must be grounded in the textual sources of religion. By contrast, Mull? ?adr?, emphasizing presential knowledge and mystical intuition, grants scholars an intermediary and spiritual role, offering a mystical theory of religious–social leadership in which the gnostic saint is the true successor of the Prophet and the Imam.