al-Sabzawari, al-Hajj Mulla Hadi

 al-Sabzawari, al-Hajj Mulla Hadi (1797/8-1873) Al-Sabzawari was the most influential nineteenth-century Iranian philosopher. His reputation rests in part on his Sharh al-manzuma, a commentary on his own Ghurar al-fara'id (The Blazes of the Gems), a didactic poem (manzuma) encapsulating in a systematic fashion an exposition of the existentialist philosophy of Mulla Sadra. He was also the most sought-after teacher of philosophy in his day, and many students travelled to Sabzavar to be taught by him. Famous for his saintliness as well as his erudition, he set the tone for much of twentieth-century Iranian philosophy. Al-Hajj Mulla Hadi al-Sabzawari, the most famous of the philosophers of the Qajar period in Iran, was born in AH 1212/AD 1797-8 in Sabzavar in northeastern Iran. He studied logic, mathematics, law and metaphysics in Mashhad, where he moved at the age of ten after completing his preliminary education in Sabzavar. He pursued his interests in philosophy by moving to Isfahan to study for seven years with, among others, Mulla 'Ali Nuri (d. AH 1246/AD 1830-1), the foremost interpreter of his day of the philosophy of Mulla Sadra. He returned to Mashhad to teach for five years, and then accomplished the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj). On his way back from pilgrimage he spent a year in Kirman, where he married, before returning to Sabzavar where he spent the rest of his life devoted to teaching and writing. A remarkable number of students of philosophy came to study with him, not only from Iran but from Arab countries and India as well.