An Analysis of the Role of Rational Certainty and Faith-Based Conviction in the Formation of Will on the Mystical Path: A Study Based on Ibn Sīnā’s Thought

Document Type : Scholarly Article

Authors
hasan karami 1
Forough Al Sadat rahimpoor 2
1 PhD Candidate in Islamic Philosophy and Theology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran
2 Associate Professor, Department of Islamic Philosophy and Theology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran
10.30497/ap.2026.249307.1768
Abstract
Ibn Sīnā identifies will as the first and most fundamental stage in the mystical journey (sayr wa sulūk). The realization of this journey, which arises from voluntary human actions, is contingent upon the existence of will. This will emerges when the soul, having apprehended an object and affirmed its benefits, reaches a state of resolution and determination. Accordingly, in the mystical path, will is generated when the soul attains conviction regarding the merits and outcomes of the journey. Ibn Sīnā introduces two key factors leading to such conviction—and consequently to the formation of will toward mystical progression: rational demonstration (burhān ʿaqlī) and faith. Adopting an analytical–descriptive method and drawing upon Ibn Sīnā’s doctrines in psychology (ʿilm al‑nafs)—including the immaterial and celestial nature of the soul, its inclination toward pleasure, and the superiority of intellectual over sensory knowledge—this study explicates the factors that give rise to the soul’s will for entering the mystical path. Emphasizing the central role of faith and referring to Qur’anic verses, the paper demonstrates how Ibn Sīnā’s fundamental philosophical and psychological concepts provide the necessary foundation for the emergence of will and the commencement of spiritual wayfaring.
Keywords
Ibn Sīnā
Will
Mystical Journey (Sayr wa Sulūk)
Rational Demonstration
Religious Faith
Philosophical Anthropology
Subjects

این مقاله مستخرج از رسالة دکتریِ «انسان معنوی از دیدگاه ابن‌سینا و نسبت آن با علم‌النفس فلسفی ابن‌سینا» دانشگاه اصفهان است.

The Holy Qur’an
 ·  Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā), Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh (c. 1983 CE). Aḥwāl al‑Nafs (The States of the Soul): A Discussion on Psychic Faculties. Edited by Aḥmad Ahwānī. Paris: Dār Bīblīyūn. [In Arabic]
·  Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā), Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh (1404 AH / c. 1983 CE). Al‑Taʿlīqāt (The Dictations). Edited by ʿAbd al‑Raḥmān al‑Badawī. Qom: Maktab al‑Iʿlām al‑Islāmī. [In Arabic]
·  Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā), Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh (1405 AH / c. 1984 CE). Al‑Qaṣīdah al‑Muzdawijah (The Paired Ode). Najafī Marʿashī Library. [In Arabic]
·  Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā), Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh (c. 11th Century CE). Al‑Ishārāt wa‑l‑Tanbīhāt (The Pointers and Admonitions). (Referencing critical editions, e.g., edited by H. Zadeh Āmolī, 1381 SH). [In Arabic]
·  Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā), Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh (c. 11th Century CE). Al‑Ilāhiyyāt (Metaphysics) from Kitāb al‑Shifāʾ. (Referencing critical editions, e.g., edited by H. Zadeh Āmolī, 1376 SH). [In Arabic]
·  Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā), Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh (c. 11th Century CE). Al‑Mabdaʾ wa‑l‑Maʿād (The Origin and the Return). (Referencing critical editions, e.g., edited by ʿAbd Allāh Nūrānī, 1363 SH). [In Arabic]
·  Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā), Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh (c. 11th Century CE). Al‑Najāh min al‑Gharq fī Baḥr al‑Ḍalālāt (Salvation from Drowning in the Sea of Errors). (Referencing critical editions, e.g., edited by M. T. Dāneshpazhūh, 1379 SH). [In Arabic]
·  Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā), Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh (c. 11th Century CE). Al‑Nafs (The Soul) from Kitāb al‑Shifāʾ. (Referencing critical editions, e.g., edited by H. Zadeh Āmolī, 1375 SH). [In Arabic]
·  Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā), Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh (c. 11th Century CE). Risālat al‑Ṭayr (Treatise on the Bird). (Referencing editions, e.g., commentary by Sahlān Sāwī, 1370 SH). [In Arabic]
·  Anṣārī, ʿAbd Allāh (1417 AH / c. 1996 CE). Manāzil al‑Sāʾirīn (The Stations of the Wayfarers). Edited by ʿAlī Shīrvānī. Tehran: Dār al‑ʿIlm. [In Arabic]
·  Bahārvand, Maḥmūd; Vāʿiẓī, Ḥusayn (1395 SH / 2016 CE). “Mystical States and Stations from the Perspective of Ibn Sīnā and al‑Qushayrī.” ʿIrfān-e Eslāmī, Year 14, Winter 1396, No. 54. [In Persian]
·  Beheshtī, Aḥmad (1403 SH / 2024 CE). Maqāmāt al‑ʿĀrifīn (The Stations of the Mystics: Commentary on the Ninth Namat of Al‑Ishārāt wa‑l‑Tanbīhāt by Shaykh al‑Raʾīs Ibn Sīnā). Qom: Būstān Kitāb. [In Persian]
·  Beheshtī, Saʿīd and Nāṣerḥusaynābādī, Muslim (1391 SH / 2012 CE). “Mystical Training Based on Avicennan Wisdom (Concept, Foundations, Principles, Methods).” Ḥikmat-e Sīnawī (Mashkūh al‑Nūr), 16(48), 91-107. [In Persian]
·  Ḥātimwand, Ḥusayn; Falsafī, Ḥusayn; Fathallāhī, ʿAlī (1400 SH / 2021 CE). “The Modality of Mystical Conduct from the Viewpoint of Ibn Sīnā.” Āyīn-e Maʿrifat, Year 21, No. 67. [In Persian]
·  Ḥasan Zādeh, Saʿīd; Saʿīdī Mehr, Muḥammad; Akbarī, Reẓā (1402 SH / 2023 CE). “The Semantics of Will from Ibn Sīnā’s Perspective: Polysemy or Polysemy?” Journal of Islamic Philosophy and Theology, (66)2, 245-268. [In Persian]
·  Ismāʿīlī, Muḥammad ʿAlī (1395 SH / 2016 CE). “Revisiting the Truth of Human Will in the Thought of Theologians and Philosophers.” Faslnameh-ye ‘Elmī Pazhūhishī Kalām Islāmī, (100), 71-95. [In Persian]
·  Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir ibn Muḥammad Taqī (1423 AH / c. 2002 CE). Zād al‑Maʿād (Provisions for the Hereafter). Edited by Iʿlāʾ al‑Dīn Aʿlamī. Beirut: Muʾassasat al‑Aʿlamī lil‑Ṭibāʿāt. [In Arabic]
·  Mullā Ṣadrā, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm (1366 SH / 1987 CE). Tafsīr al‑Qurʾān al‑Karīm (Commentary on the Holy Qurʾān). Edited by Muḥammad Khwājawī. Qom: Nashr-e Bīdār. [In Persian]
·  Mūṭahharī, Murtaḍā (1376 SH / 1997 CE). Majmūʿah Āthār (Collected Works). Tehran: Nashr-e Ṣadrā. [In Persian]
·  Ṣāḥib ibn ʿAbbād (1414 AH / c. 1993 CE). Al‑Muḥīṭ fī al‑Lughah (The Ocean in Language). Edited by Yāsīn Muḥammad. Beirut: ʿĀlam al‑Kutub. [In Arabic]
·  Ṣādeghzādah Qamsarī, Fāṭimah (1396 SH / 2017 CE). “The Role of Intellectual Perfections and Their Centrality in Felicity from Ibn Sīnā’s View.” Ḥikmat-e Sīnawī (Mashkūh al‑Nūr), 21(58), 21-40. [In Persian]
·  Ṣabzawarī, Hādī ibn Mahdī (1383 SH / 2004 CE). Asrār al‑Ḥikam fī al‑Mufattaḥ wa‑l‑Mukhtatam (Mysteries of Wisdom in the Opening and the Conclusion). Qom: Maṭbūʿāt Dīnī. [In Arabic]
·  Shariʿatī, Fahīmeh (1398 SH / 2019 CE). “Investigating the Necessity of the First Cause in Human Will in Philosophy (with attention to Ibn Sīnā’s views) and Neuroscience (with a look at Benjamin Libet’s experiment) and Its Ethical Consequences.” Āyineh Maʿrifat, No. 61, 63-80. [In Persian]
·  Shīrvānī, ʿAlī (1396 SH / 2017 CE). Maqāmāt al‑ʿĀrifīn bi‑Rivāyat Ibn Sīnā (The Stations of the Mystics According to Ibn Sīnā). Qom: Research Institute of Hawza and University. [In Persian]
·  Ṭahānawī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī (1996 CE). Kashshāf Iṣṭilāḥāt al‑Funūn wa‑l‑ʿUlūm (The Discoverer of the Terms of the Arts and Sciences). Researched by ʿAlī Daḥrūj. Beirut: Maktabat al‑Nāshirūn. [In Arabic]
·  Ṭūsī, Naṣīr al‑Dīn (1435 AH / c. 2014 CE). Al‑Ishārāt wa‑l‑Tanbīhāt with the Commentary of Naṣīr al‑Dīn Ṭūsī. Qom: Nashr al‑Balāghah. [In Arabic]
·  Zākerī, Mahdī (1390 SH / 2011 CE). “The Theory of Action in Ibn Sīnā.” Naqd va Naẓar, (16) 64, 27-44. [In Persian]