A Comparative Study of the Ṣirāṭ in the Thought of Mullā Ṣadrā and Imam Khomeini

Abstract

Undoubtedly, remembrance of death is one of the most effective factors in the purification and reform of the soul. The deeper a person’s knowledge of this reality, the more successful they will be in the purification of their soul. Mullā Ṣadrā and Imam Khomeini regard the question of the Resurrection (maʿād) as a mode of spiritual wayfaring toward God (sulūk ilā Allāh), contemplation of which removes both the dark and luminous veils that arise within the human being. Mullā Ṣadrā conceives the Ṣirāṭ as the substantial motion of the human soul from the beginning of its formation to the highest degree of its ascent. He maintains that every person has a distinct Ṣirāṭ, because human souls themselves differ from one another. He further holds that these paths are present and manifested, in different ways, both in this world and in the Hereafter, although their ultimate reality is religion and the Imam. He also believes that if a human being seeks to become, in terms of knowledge and certainty, a true believer in Divine Unity (tawḥīd), and at the practical level to proceed sincerely along the path of tawḥīd, the external manifestation of this path is one that is sharper than a sword and finer than a hair. Imam Khomeini likewise maintains that every existent has its own specific Straight Path (ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm); however, the human Ṣirāṭ is the longest and darkest of all paths. This is because the Lord of the human being is the reality of the Greatest Bismillāh, which encompasses the outward and inward, the First and the Last, mercy and wrath, and ultimately all mutually opposing Divine Names. Accordingly, at the culmination of the journey, the human being must attain a state of equilibrium among the mutually opposing Divine Names. Therefore, the human Ṣirāṭ is the subtlest and most precise of all paths. One end of this Straight Path lies in nature, while the other extends toward Divinity.