The Application of the Metaphor of Circle in Explaining the Order of Existence

Document Type : Scientific & Research

Author

• Muhammad Reza Ershadiniya

Hakim Sabzevari University

10.22067/epk.2024.83971.1266

Abstract

One of the most important and unique issues in the ontology of Islamic philosophy is justification, explanation, and proof of the doctrines related to the origin and the return. Various efforts in Islamic philosophy have been put in to express a philosophical depiction of the origin and return. The most common expression in philosophical texts is using the macro-metaphor of circle and, accordingly, the related micro-metaphors of direction and movement, such as the arc, ascent and descent. Here, of course, metaphor is not merely a figure of speech, rather, it is a means to clarify difficult abstract philosophical meanings through taking the origin and return as two corresponding realms. In the contemporary period, this kind of use of metaphor is called conceptual metaphor and it is considered one of the key subjects of cognitive linguistics which is useful in producing knowledge. In Islamic philosophy, Mīrdāmād pioneered in using this metaphor and justified its conscious use. Transcendent philosophers have most extensively used it in their illustration, justification, explanation and presentation of philosophical meanings. The purpose of this article is part of the effort to express the content of this metaphor.

Keywords

• metaphor
• circle
• arc of descent
• arc of ascent
• origin and return

Main Subjects

• Islamic Philosophy and Kalam

---

Authors retain the copyright and full publishing rights. This is an open access article distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

References

Akbarī, Riżā et al. “Istiʻārih-yi Mafhūmī va Masʾalah-yi Ziyādat Vujūd bar Māhīyat dar Falsafah-yi Ialāmī”, Ḥikmat  Sīnavī, 2021/1399: 141-162.

Āshtīyānī, Sayyid Jalāl al-Dīn.  Muqaddamah  bar Rasāʾil Falsafī Ṣadr al-Mutaʾallihīn, Qum: Daftar Tablīghāt-i Islāmī, 2009/1387.

Āshtīyānī, Sayyid Jalāl al-Dīn.  Muqaddamah  bar Uṣūl al-Maʿārif, Qum: Daftar Tablīghāt-i Islāmī, 1997/1375.

Āshtīyānī, Sayyid Jalāl al-Dīn.  Sharḥ bar Zād al-Musāfir Mulāṣadrā. Qum: Būstān-i Kitāb, 2003/1381.

Fayḍ Kāshānī, Muḥammad Muḥsin. Uṣūl al-Maʿārif. Qum: Daftar Tablīghāt-i Islāmī, 1997/1375.

Ḥasanzādih Āmulī, Taʿlīqah bar Āghāz va Anjām, Tehran: Vizārat-i Farhang va Irshād-i Islāmī, 1996/1374.

Ibn ʻArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkīya, Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, s.d.

Ibn Sīnā, Ḥusayn. al-Mabdaʾ wa al-Maʻād. Tehran: University of Tehran, 1985/1363.

Ikhwān al-Ṣafā, Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafā wa Khillān al-Wafāʾ. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, s.d.

Imām Khumaynī, Sirr al- Ṣalāt. Tehran: Mūʾassisah-yi Tanẓīm va Nashr-i Āsār-i  Imām Khumaynī, 2005/1383.

Kāshānī, ʻAbd al-Razzāq. Majmūʻah-yi Rasāʾil  va Muṣannifāt. Tehran: Mīrās-i Maktūb, 2002/1380.

Kāshānī, ʻAbd al-Razzāq. Sharḥ Manāzil al-Sāʾirīn, Qum: Intishārāt-i Bīdār, 2006/1385.

Khādimzādih, Vaḥid. ““Istiʻārih-yi Vujūd bi Musābih-yi Amr Sayāl dar Falsafah-yi Mulāṣadrā”, Falsafah va Kalām Islāmī, no. 2 (2018/1396): 187-204.

Khādimzādih, Vaḥid. “Istiʻārih-yi Mafhūmī Dānistan bi Musābih-yi Dīdan dar Niẓām Falsafī Mulāṣadrā”, Ḥikmat Muʿāṣir, no. 13 (2022/1401): 65-93.

Khādimzādih, Vaḥid. “Istiʻārih-yi Mafhūmī ʻIlīyyat dar Dīdgāh Lakoff”,  Shinākht, no. 71 (2015/1393): 7-33.

Khādimzādih, Vaḥid. “Istiʻārih-yi Vujūd bi Musābih-yi Nūr dar Falsafah-yi Mulāṣadrā”, Falsafah va Kalām Islāmī, no. 1(2017/1395): 19-34.

Muḥaqqiq Dāmād, Jazavāt va Mavāqīt. Tehran: Mīrās-i Maktūb, 2002/1380.

Mustamlī Bukhārī, Ismāʻīl. Sharḥ al-Taʻarruf li-Madhhab al-Taṣawwuf. Tehran:  Asāṭīr, 1985/1363.

Nasafī, ʻAzīz al-Dīn, al-Insān al-Kāmil. Tehran: Ṭahūrī, 2008/1386.

Nasafī, ʻAzīz al-Dīn, Bayān  al-Tanzīl. Tehran: Anjūman  Āsār va Mafākhir Farhangī, 2001/1379.

Panāhī, Niʻmat Allāh. “Istiʻārih-yi Mafhūmī Ulgūy Idrākī Tajribah-yi ʿIrfānī dar ʿAql Surkh Suhrivardī”, Kāvushnāmah Zabān va Adabīyāt Fārsī, (2018/1396): 9-29.

Qāʾimīnīyā et al. “Istiʻārih-yi Mafhūmī Waḥy Risālī  dar Qurān-i Karīm”. Zihn. no. 81 (2021/1399): 5-34.

Riḍāzādih et al. “Justārī dar Bāb Barkhī Istiʻārih-yi ʻIlīyyat dar Falsafah-yi Suhrivardī”. Ḥikmat Muʿāṣir, no. 2, (2021/1399): 1-22.

Sabzavārī, Asrār al-Ḥikam, Qum: Maṭbūʻāt Dīnī, 2005/1383.

Sabzavārī, Sharḥ al-Manẓūmah. Qum: Nashr Nāb, 2001/1422.

Ṣadr al-Mutaʾallihīn, Muḥammad. al-Ḥikmat al-Mutaʿāliyah. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Tūrāth, 1990/1410.

Ṣadr al-Mutaʾallihīn, Muḥammad. al-Mabdaʾ wa al-Maʻād. Qum: Daftar Tablīghāt-i Islāmī, 2002/1380.

Ṣadr al-Mutaʾallihīn, Muḥammad. al-Mabdaʾ wa al-Maʻād. Tehran: Anjuman Ḥikmat va Falsafah, 1976/1354.

Shāhābādī, Muḥammad ʻAlī. Rashaḥāt al-Biḥār. Tehran: Pazhūhishkadih Farhang va Andīshih-yi  Islāmī, 2008/1386.

Sipihrī, Mahdī. “Naqsh Istiʻārih dar Iṣālat Vujūd; Barrisī Maʻnāshinākhtī”, Nāmah-yi Ḥikmat. No. 2 (2004/1382): 163-172.

Ṭabāṭabāyī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Uṣūl Falsafah va Ravish-i Riʾālīsm. Qum: Ṣadrā, 1994/1372.

Ṭūsī, Khwājah Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad. Āghāz va Anjām. Tehran: Vizārat-i Farhang va Irshād-i Islāmī, 1996/1374.