Tawhid ( Arabic : تَوْحِيد , romanized : tawḥīd , lit. 'oneness [of God ]') is the concept of monotheism in Islam . Tawhid is the religion's central and single most important concept, upon which a Muslim's entire religious adherence rests. It unequivocally holds that God is indivisibly one ( ahad ) and single ( wahid ).
137-558: Tawhid constitutes the foremost article of the Muslim profession of submission. The first part of the Islamic declaration of faith ( shahada ) is the declaration of belief in the oneness of God. To attribute divinity to anything or anyone else, is considered shirk —an unpardonable sin according to the Quran , unless repented afterwards. Muslims believe that the entirety of the Islamic teaching rests on
274-521: A "materialistic century", this School provides Nasr with the keys to his spiritual quest: an esoteric doctrine and method within the framework of a Sufi path. For Patrick Laude : ... Seyyed Hossein Nasr's background is remarkable in at least three ways: first, he is a public figure who has been widely recognized in the media – in both the US and Europe – as a spokesman for perennialist ideas. [...] Second, he
411-409: A Necessary Existent". Another argument Avicenna presented for God's existence was the problem of the mind–body dichotomy . According to Avicenna, the universe consists of a chain of actual beings, each giving existence to the one below it and responsible for the existence of the rest of the chain below. Because an actual infinite is deemed impossible by Avicenna, this chain as a whole must terminate in
548-466: A being that is wholly simple and one, whose essence is its very existence, and therefore is self-sufficient and not in need of something else to give it existence. Because its existence is not contingent on or necessitated by something else but is necessary and eternal in itself, it satisfies the condition of being the necessitating cause of the entire chain that constitutes the eternal world of contingent existing things. Thus his ontological system rests on
685-464: A being; he is not the object of any creatural attribute or qualification. He is neither conditioned nor determined, neither engendered nor engendering. He is beyond the perception of the senses. The eyes cannot see him, observation cannot attain him, the imagination cannot comprehend him. He is a thing, but he is not like other things; he is omniscient, all-powerful, but his omniscience and his all-mightiness cannot be compared to anything created. He created
822-412: A compilation "of wisdom writings of various historical traditions", which would have resulted in the conviction of the existence of common truths, but it is these very truths which, by "the practice of intellection, the use of the intellect" understood in a spiritual manner, are revealed to the human spirit which then observes "their presence in other times and climes and in fact in all the sacred traditions
959-423: A conflict of wills. Since two contrary wills could not possibly be realized at the same time, one of them must admit himself powerless in that particular instance. On the other hand, a powerless being can not by definition be a god. Therefore, the possibility of having more than one god is ruled out. For if a God is powerful above another, then this asserts a difference in the particular attributes that are confined to
1096-444: A created object ascribed some power to. The Mu'tazilis liked to call themselves the people of the tawhid (ahl al-tawhid). In Maqalat al-Islamiyin, Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari describes the Mu'tazilite conception of the tawhid as follows: God is unique, nothing is like him; he is neither body, nor individual, nor substance, nor accident. He is beyond time. He cannot dwell in a place or within
1233-577: A critique of modern worldviews as well as a defense of Islamic and perennialist doctrines and principles. Central to his argument is the claim that knowledge has become desacralized in the modern period , meaning that it has become severed from its divine source – God or the Ultimate Reality – which calls for its resacralization through the utilization of sacred traditions and sacred science . Although Islam and Sufism are major influences on his writings, his perennialist approach inquires into
1370-427: A family at this point. His son, Vali Nasr, would go on to become an academic and specialist on the Islamic world. At thirty, Nasr was the youngest person to become a full professor at Tehran University. He was quickly recognized as an authority in Islamic philosophy, Islamic science and Sufism . For fifteen years he conducted a doctoral seminar in comparative philosophy and Islamic philosophy with Henry Corbin who
1507-631: A flag featuring the Shahada in white script centered on a red background. In 2006, the Islamic State of Iraq designed its flag using the Shahada phrase written in white on black background. The font used is supposedly similar to the font used as seal on the original letters written on Muhammad's behalf . Seyyed Hossein Nasr Seyyed Hossein Nasr ( / ˈ n ɑː s ər , ˈ n æ s ər / ; Persian : سید حسین نصر , born April 7, 1933)
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#17331225154051644-416: A form of polytheism. Al-'Ibadah is furthermore understood to mean that everyday acts must be in accordance with sharia . Doing something else would imply accepting another authority or object of desire besides God. The Salafi specific features of tawhid tend to elide the sovereignty and uniqueness of God. For this reason, other Sunnis disagree with these two features, as they regard it as comparing God to
1781-487: A grave sin. Chapter 4, verse 116 of the Qur'an reads: Surely Allah does not forgive associating ˹others˺ with Him ˹in worship˺, but forgives anything else of whoever He wills. Indeed, whoever associates ˹others˺ with Allah has clearly gone far astray. According to Hossein Nasr , Ali , the first imam (Shia view) and fourth Rashid Caliph ( Sunni view), is credited with having established Islamic theology . His quotations contain
1918-548: A limitation on God's transcendent nature. Attribution of divinity to a created entity, shirk , is considered a denial of the truth of God and thus a major sin. Associating partners in divinity of God is known as shirk and is the antithesis of Tawhid . Although the term is usually translated as "polytheism" into English, the sin is thought to be more complex. Alternatively, the translation 'associating [with God]' has been suggested. The term includes denial of attributing any form of divinity to any other thing but God. This includes
2055-641: A mission Nasr was himself following for the Islamic civilization . His doctoral dissertation entitled "Conceptions of Nature in Islamic Thought" was published in 1964 by Harvard University Press as An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines . Apart from mastering the Arabic and French he was initially taught in his childhood, during his student years Nasr also learned Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish and German. After receiving his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1958, Nasr
2192-507: A partner in creation in form of a sibling or wife. The uniqueness of the creator is expressed in the Daily Prayer's ( ṣalāh ) phrase Allāhu ʾakbar ( Takbīr ). Theologians usually use reason and deduction to prove the existence, unity and oneness of God. They use a teleological argument for the existence of God as a creator based on perceived evidence of order, purpose, design, or direction—or some combination of these—in nature. Teleology
2329-523: A phrase concerning Ali , the first Shia imam and the fourth Rashidun caliph of Sunni Islam : وَعَلِيٌّ وَلِيُّ ٱللَّٰهِ ( wa ʿaliyyun waliyyu llāh [wa.ʕa.lijːun wa.lijːu‿ɫ.ɫaː.h] ), which translates to "Ali is the wali of God". In the Quran, the first statement of the Shahadah takes the form lā ʾilāha ʾillā llāh twice ( 37:35 , 47:19 ), and ʾallāhu lā ʾilāha ʾillā huwa (God, there
2466-631: A sense of serenity that he had within himself." In the United States, Nasr first attended Peddie School in Hightstown, New Jersey, graduating in 1950 as the valedictorian of his class. He then applied to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston to study physics and was accepted with a scholarship. When he realized, after an encounter with the philosopher Bertrand Russell , that
2603-504: A solution to the contemporary environmental crisis. When he discovered the writings of the most influential members of what would become the Traditionalist or Perennialist school ( René Guénon , Frithjof Schuon , Ananda Coomaraswamy , Titus Burckhardt , Martin Lings ), the student Nasr fully aligned himself to their perspective founded on the philosophia perennis . I had discovered
2740-405: A worldview about which I felt complete certitude ( yaqın ). I felt that this was the truth that satisfied me intellectually and accorded with my life existentially. It was in harmony with the faith that I had. It was universalist in its metaphysical perspective and also critical of Western philosophy and science in a manner that spoke directly to my concerns. (interview) Thus, in the middle of
2877-424: Is imperceptible . Twelvers believe God is alone in being, along with his names, his attributes, his actions, his theophanies. The totality of being therefore is he, through him, comes from him, and returns to him. God is not a being next to or above other beings, his creatures; he is being, the absolute act of being (wujud mutlaq). For, if there were being other than he (i.e., creatural being), God would no longer be
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#17331225154053014-436: Is a proper noun ; that is, the name of a unique entity. If it is a noun with a lower case initial letter it is a "common noun"; that is a name which is not unique to an entity, but, instead, could apply to a number of members of a set. The orthography of the translation therefore replicates the original Arabic meaning so that god is a common noun and God is a unique proper name. The noun shahādah ( شَهَادَة ), from
3151-475: Is a universal God, rather than a local, tribal, or parochial one, and is an absolute who integrates all affirmative values. Islamic intellectual history can be understood as a gradual unfolding of the manner in which successive generations of believers have understood the meaning and implications of professing tawhid . Islamic scholars have different approaches toward understanding it. Islamic scholastic theology , jurisprudence , philosophy , Sufism , and even
3288-399: Is a "desperate attempt to substitute a set of horizontal, material causes in a unidimensional world to explain effects whose causes belong to other levels of reality". For Nasr, in accordance with "the traditional view of the anthrōpos ", the human being is a "bridge between Heaven and earth ( pontifex )". Responsible to God for his actions, he is the custodian and protector of the earth, "on
3425-475: Is also "the Supreme Good or Perfection". Now, according to Nasr, the specificity of infinitude and of good in divinis requires that they exteriorize themselves, that is to say, that they manifest themselves in multiplicity, hence the world. A world that is imperfect despite the perfection of its source because, as Nasr explains, this exteriorization implies a distance from the "Good", hence the presence of evil;
3562-467: Is also false when applied to God, because it implies likening something to God, whereas God is above all likeness. As to the two meanings that are correct when applied to God, one is that it should be said that "God is one" in the sense that there is no likeness to him among things. Another is to say that "God is one" in the sense that there is no multiplicity or division conceivable in Him, neither outwardly, nor in
3699-684: Is an Iranian-American philosopher, theologian and Islamic scholar . He is University Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University . Born in Tehran , Nasr completed his education in Iran and the United States , earning a bachelor's degree in physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology , a master's in geology and geophysics , and a doctorate in the history of science from Harvard University . He returned to his homeland in 1958, turning down teaching positions at MIT and Harvard, and
3836-519: Is an illusion to consider the world, says Nasr, as "reality" in the same way as the Principle. Nasr holds that traditional wisdom or the sophia perennis "has always seen God as Reality and the world as a dream from which the sage awakens through [spiritual] realization ... and the ordinary man through death". To consider the world as "the reality ... as is done by most modern philosophy ... leads to nihilism and skepticism by reducing God to an abstraction, to
3973-768: Is at the same time "the goal of the path of knowledge and the essence of scientia sacra ". Nasr contends that this wisdom, which corresponds – beyond salvation -– to deliverance from the bonds of all limitation, "is present in the heart of all traditions", whether it be the Hindu Vedanta , Buddhism , the Jewish Kabbalah , the Christian metaphysics of an Eckhart or an Erigena , or Sufism . It alone "is able to solve certain apparent contradictions and riddles in sacred texts". Through such sacred knowledge, man ceases to be what he appears to be to become what he really
4110-456: Is clear that the sentiments it expresses were part of the Quran and Islamic doctrine from the earliest period. The Shahada has been traditionally recited in the Sufi ceremony of dhikr (Arabic: ذِکْر , " remembrance "), a ritual that resembles mantras found in many other religious traditions. During the ceremony, the Shahada may be repeated thousands of times, sometimes in the shortened form of
4247-642: Is created on the cosmic level and what the Bible refers to as the celestial paradise where he is dressed with a luminous body"; "he then descends to the level of the terrestrial paradise and is given yet another body of an ethereal and incorruptible nature"; finally, "he is born into the physical world with a body which perishes" but he principially remains a reflection of "the Absolute not only in his spiritual and mental faculties but even in his body". Thus, Nasr rejects biology's modern evolutionary synthesis , which he thinks
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4384-509: Is impossible unless He introduces Himself due to the fact that God is beyond the range of human vision and senses. Therefore, God tells people who He is by speaking through the prophets . According to this view, the fundamental message of all of the prophets is: "There is no god worthy of worship except Allah (avoiding the false gods as stated in Surah hud)." The approach of textual interpretation in Islam
4521-790: Is in the eternal now and what he has never ceased to be. Terry Moore, in his introduction to a long interview that Seyyed Hossein Nasr gave to the Iranian philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo , recalls that for Nasr, the Sacred is the Eternal Absolute Truth as It manifests Itself in our world. It is the appearance of the Eternal in time, the Center in the periphery, of the Divine in the world of space and time. The Sacred
4658-548: Is limited to what has been revealed through the prophets, and on such questions as God's creation of evil and the apparent anthropomorphism of God's attributes, revelation has to accepted bila kayfa (without [asking] how). Twelvers theology is based on the Hadith which have been narrated from the Islamic prophet Muhammad , the first , fifth , sixth , seventh and eighth Imams and compiled by Shia scholars such as Al-Shaykh al-Saduq in al-Tawhid . According to Shia theologians,
4795-401: Is no deity but Him) much more often. It appears in the shorter form lā ʾilāha ʾillā huwa (There is no deity but Him) in many places. It appears in these forms about 30 times in the Quran. It is never attached with the second part, and any mention of Ali, who is particularly important to Shia Muslims, is absent from the Quran. Islam's monotheistic nature is reflected in the first sentence of
4932-405: Is no difference between his person and his attributes, and his attributes should not be differentiated or distinguished from his person. Vincent J. Cornell , a scholar of Islamic studies quotes the following statement from Ali : To know God is to know his unification. To say that God is one has four meanings: two of them are false and two are correct. As for the two meanings that are false, one
5069-400: Is only its "reflection" and which "is identified with the analytical functions of the mind"; "the intellect is the light of the sacred shining upon our minds". The intellect, which "is the root and the center of consciousness" is also "the source of inner illumination and intellection", which Nasr, following Guénon, also calls "intellectual intuition", and that implies an "illumination of
5206-556: Is present in Itself and in Its manifestations. Still, according to Moore, it is this relationship with the sacred, through the channel of "Tradition" that anchors Seyyed Hossein Nasr's worldview. Nasr considers the sense of the sacred as inseparable from any spiritual quest. This sense emanates from the awareness of the eternal and immutable reality of the Divine, which is both transcendent and immanent to all universal manifestation, therefore also to
5343-400: Is that a person should say "God is one" and be thinking of a number and counting. This is false because that which has no second cannot enter into the category of number. Do you not see that those who say that God is a third of a trinity fall into this infidelity? Another meaning is to say, "So-and-So is one of his people", namely, a species of this genus or a member of this species. This meaning
5480-611: Is the Supreme Substance compared to which all else is accident. It is the Essence to which all things are juxtaposed as form. It is at once Beyond Being and Being while the order of multiplicity is comprised of existents. It alone is while all else becomes, for It alone is eternal in the ultimate sense while all that is externalized partakes of change. It is the Origin but also the End, the alpha and
5617-741: Is the ego" and "the will can be debased to nothing other than the urge to do that which removes man from the source of his own being". "All traditional sciences of nature ... are also sciences of the self on the basis of the microcosmic-macrocosmic correspondence", therefore by virtue of an "inward link that binds man as the microcosm to the cosmos". This ideal man, underlines Nasr, is "primordial man ... perfect ... plenary reflection of all those Divine Qualities", who knew everything "in God and through God". According to Nasr, "man contains within himself many levels of existence" that "the Western tradition" synthesises in
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5754-429: Is the only perennialist writer who is closely identified with a given religious tradition, both as being born in it and as being a world expert on many of its dimensions. [...] Thirdly, Nasr is the only foremost perennialist writer to have received an intensive and advanced academic training in modern sciences. [...] His familiarity and identification with Islam, his validation as a recognized scholar and respected member of
5891-424: Is the supposition that there is a purpose or directive principle in the works and processes of nature. Another argument which is used frequently by theologians is Reductio ad absurdum . They use it instead of positive arguments as a more efficient way to reject the ideas of opponents. Against the polytheism of pre-Islamic Arabia , the Qur'an argues that the knowledge of God as the creator of everything rules out
6028-401: Is thus at the same time "Essence" and "Person" or "Supra-Being and Being". Understood in this way, God or the Principle, is Reality in contrast to all that appears as real but which is not reality in the ultimate sense. The Principle is the Absolute compared to which all is relative. It is Infinite while all else is finite. The Principle is One and Unique while manifestation is multiplicity. It
6165-459: Is to avoid delving into theological speculation and did not employ the use of kalam . Additional to the first meaning of tawhid ( Rubūbīyah (Lordship)) all Sunnis agree upon, Salafism holds two additional meanings: Al-Asma wa's-Sifat (names and attributes) and Al-'Ibadah (worship). Al-Asma wa's-Sifat includes lordship in the form of a legislator. By this, Salafis consider a legislation not based on (its own) interpretation of sharia to be
6302-416: Is to say that it is necessarily associated with a path of spiritual realization, an approach foreign to modern philosophy, which has been instrumental in reducing the significance of metaphysics to just another mental activity. Metaphysical knowledge stems from the true understanding of symbolism. According to Nasr, man is "a theomorphic being living in this world but created for eternity" because his "soul
6439-404: Is to say, formal and established religion". For Nasr, in the vast majority of cases, this "inner revelation", or intellection, cannot become operative except by virtue of an external revelation which provides an objective cadre for it and enables it to be spiritually efficacious", hence the necessity of faith and spiritual practices associated with the realization of the virtues, with the aid of
6576-529: Is when one becomes a slave to his or her base desires and passions. In seeking to always satisfy the desires, he or she may commit a kind of polytheism. Understanding of the meaning of Tawhid is one of the most controversial issues among Muslims. Islamic scholars have different approaches toward understanding it, comprising textualistic approach , theological approach , philosophical approach and Sufism and Irfani approach. These different approaches lead to different and in some cases opposite understanding of
6713-504: Is whispered into the ear of a dying person. The five canonical daily prayers each include a recitation of the Shahada. Recitation of the Shahada is also the only formal step in conversion to Islam . This occasion often attracts witnesses and sometimes includes a celebration to welcome the converts into their new faith. In accordance with the central importance played by the notion of intention (Arabic: نِيَّة , niyyah ) in Islamic doctrine,
6850-552: The Adhan . It reads: "I bear witness that there is no deity but God , and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God ." The Shahada declares belief in the oneness ( tawhid ) of God and the acceptance of Muhammad as God's messenger. Some Shia Muslims also include a statement of belief in the wilayat of Ali , but they do not consider it as an obligatory part for converting to Islam . A single honest recitation of
6987-501: The Islamic theology . According to Sunni Islam, the orthodox understanding of theology is taken directly from the teachings of Muhammad with the understanding and methodology of his companions, sourced directly from the revealed scripture the Qur'an ; being the main information source for understanding the unification of God in Islam . All Muslim authorities maintain that a true understanding of God
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#17331225154057124-473: The Islamic world . During his time in Iran, he studied with several traditional masters of Islamic philosophy and sciences . The 1979 revolution forced him to exile with his family to the United States, where he has lived and taught Islamic sciences and philosophy ever since. He has been an active representative of the Islamic philosophical tradition and the perennialist school of thought . Nasr's works offer
7261-621: The Metaphysics section of The Book of Healing . Other forms of the argument also appear in Avicenna's other works, and this argument became known as the Proof of the Truthful . Avicenna initiated a full-fledged inquiry into the question of being , in which he distinguished between essence ( Mahiat ) and existence ( Wujud ). He argued that the fact of existence can not be inferred from or accounted for by
7398-403: The Shahada , which declares belief in the oneness of God and that he is the only entity truly worthy of worship. The second sentence of the Shahada indicates the means by which God has offered guidance to human beings. The verse reminds Muslims that they accept not only the prophecy of Muhammad but also the long line of prophets who preceded him. While the first part is seen as a cosmic truth,
7535-604: The scientia sacra –, which is the intellectual foundation of the Traditionalist School, "is the science of the Real; of the origin and the end of things; of the Absolute and in its light, the relative" and, as a corollary, of the degrees of existence. It is therefore: the knowledge by means of which man is able to distinguish between the Real and the illusory and to know things in their essence or as they are, which means ultimately to know them in divinis . The knowledge of
7672-482: The " titles of God ". In Sunni Islam , the Shahada has two parts: 'lā ʾilāha ʾillā -llāh' ("There is no deity except God"), and 'muḥammadun rasūlu llāh' ("Muhammad is the Messenger of God"), which are sometimes referred to as the first Shahada and the second Shahada . The first statement of the Shahada is also known as the tahlīl . In Shia Islam , the Shahada also has an optional third part,
7809-401: The 'unreal', and philosophy itself to the discussion of more or less secondary questions or to providing clever answers to ill-posed problems". For Nasr, "Ultimate Reality" is at once "above everything" and "omnipresent" in the universe, "transcendent and immanent". On the human plane, still according to Nasr, "The Reality" – or "The Truth" – lies in the heart of man "created in
7946-482: The Arabic script in particular, as indicated by its use, without concern for its content, in painting, architecture and book illustrations. The Shahada is found on some Islamic flags . For an example Wahhabis have used the Shahada on their flags since the 18th century. In 1902, Ibn Saud , leader of the House of Saud and the future founder of Saudi Arabia , added a sword to this flag. The modern Flag of Saudi Arabia
8083-798: The Foundation for Traditional Studies which published the journal Sophia and works on traditional thought. He has authored over fifty books and over five hundred articles based on the principles of the philosophia perennis . He is regularly invited to give courses and conferences at various institutions and universities of the five different continents on the major themes for which he has become well known: Islam, philosophy, metaphysics, cosmology, anthropology, spirituality, religion, science, ecology, literature, art, etc. His works have been translated into twenty-eight different languages. Nasr's expertise encompasses traditional culture (wisdom, religion, philosophy, science and art), Western thought from antiquity to
8220-638: The Hadiths. Versions of both phrases began to appear in coins and monumental architecture in the late seventh century, which suggests that it had not been officially established as a ritual statement of faith until then. An inscription in the Dome of the Rock (est. 692) in Jerusalem reads: "There is no deity but God alone; He has no partner with him; Muhammad is the Messenger of God". Another variant appears in coins minted after
8357-425: The Islamic philosophical tradition, which I have tried to revive and to which I also belong. And so I would say that for the first category, there are Guénon and Schuon ; if I had to name a third person, then Coomaraswamy ; and for the second category, Ibn Sina , Suhrawardı , Ibn Arabi , and Mulla Sadra ." According to Sarah Robinson-Bertoni, Nasr is one of the principal figures in Islamic philosophy, working at
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#17331225154058494-484: The Islamic understanding of natural sciences to some degree, all seek to explain at some level the principle of tawhid . The classical definition of tawhid was limited to declaring or preferring belief in one God and the unity of God. Although the monotheistic definition has persisted into modern Arabic, it is now more generally used to connote "unification, union, combination, fusion; standardization, regularization; consolidation, amalgamation, merger". Chapter 112 of
8631-451: The Principle which is at once the absolute and infinite Reality is the heart of metaphysics while the distinction between levels of universal and cosmic existence, including both the macrocosm and the microcosm, are like its limbs. [...] metaphysics is the primary and fundamental science or wisdom which [...] contains the principles of all the sciences. True metaphysics, underlines Nasr, can only be assimilated by intellectual intuition, that
8768-497: The Quran, titled al-Ikhlas , reads: Say, "He is Allah—One; Allah—the Sustainer. He has never had offspring, nor was He born. And there is none comparable to Him." The word 'tawhid' ( توحيد ) which means, "He asserted, or declared, God to be one", is derived from the Arabic root ' wahhada ' ( واحدة ) which means 'to unite' or 'to make one'. This term signifies the belief in absolute oneness and uniqueness of God. This reflects
8905-406: The Shahada is all that is required for a person to become a Muslim according to most traditional schools . The declaration reads: لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ There is no deity but God . مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ ٱللَّٰهِ Muhammad is the Messenger of God. The above two statements are commonly prefaced by the phrase ašhadu ʾan ('I bear witness that'), yielding
9042-471: The Tawhid and Shirk in practice is to assume something as an end in itself, independent from God, not as a road to God (to Him-ness). Al-Farabi , Al-Razi and especially Avicenna put forward an interpretation of Tawhid in light of reason, with the Qur'an and Hadith serving as a basis. Before Avicenna the discussions among Muslim philosophers were about the unity of God as divine creator and his relationship with
9179-505: The Unique, i.e., the only one to be. As this Divine Essence is infinite, his qualities are the same as his essence, Essentially there is one Reality which is one and indivisible. The border between theoretical Tawhid and Shirk is to know that every reality and being in its essence, attributes and action are from him (from Him-ness), it is Tawhid. Every supernatural action of the prophets is by God's permission as Quran points to it. The border between
9316-467: The United States so that he would not be present at the time of his father's imminent death. He would later say that there are three things that his father left him: "first of all, love of knowledge for our own Persian culture, our religious, literary, philosophical tradition; secondly, an avid interest in what was going on in the West in the realm of science and philosophy, literature and everything else; thirdly,
9453-708: The United States. Ismail al-Faruqi was his colleague during his time there. During the 1980 – 1981 academic year, Nasr delivered the Gifford lectures at the University of Edinburgh , which were later published under the title Knowledge and the Sacred . According to William Chittick, "three out of the four of his first books in English ( An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines , Three Muslim Sages , and Science and Civilization in Islam ) were published by Harvard University Press , and they immediately established him as one of
9590-403: The assessment of modern technology and its impact on human society and the environment. During this time, he was also involved in the creation of the Islamic and Iranian studies departments at Harvard, Princeton , the University of Utah , and the University of Southern California . I belonged to a new generation and was able to exercise much influence not only at Tehran University but also in
9727-407: The attributes and names of God have no independent and hypostatic existence apart from the being and essence of God. Any suggestion of these attributes and names being conceived of as separate is thought to entail polytheism . It would be even incorrect to say God knows by his knowledge which is in his essence but God knows by his knowledge which is his essence. Also, God has no physical form, and he
9864-451: The conception of God as the Wajib al-Wujud (necessary existent). There is a gradual multiplication of beings through a timeless emanation from God as a result of his self-knowledge. The Qur'an argues that there can be no multiple sources of divine sovereignty since "behold, each god would have taken away what [each] had created, And some would have Lorded it over others!" The Qur'an argues that
10001-400: The condition that he remain faithful to himself as the central terrestrial figure created in the 'form of God' ... living in this world but created for eternity". This aspect of humanity, for Nasr, "is reflected in all of his being and his faculties". Among these faculties, Nasr underlines the primacy of intelligence, sentiments, and will: "as a theomorphic being", his intelligence "can know
10138-506: The crossroads of Western and Islamic intellectual traditions. Harry Oldmeadow considers Nasr to be "of the living traditionalists the most widely known in academic circles". For him, Nasr's works are characterized by "rigorous scholarly methodology, an encyclopedic erudition about all matters Islamic, a robustness of critical thought, and a sustained clarity of expression"; and he is "the foremost traditionalist thinker" to base himself on "eternal wisdom ( sophia perennis )" in order to provide
10275-419: The cultural and educational life of the country as a whole since I was a member of all the important national councils in those fields, [...] So there was a really formidable jihād on my hands to try to turn things around and to make Iranian society more aware of its own heritage. I tried to create a bridge between the traditional and the modern elements of our society. (interview) Nasr refused to engage in
10412-408: The danger, they however start associating other beings with God. "If they happen to be aboard a ship ˹caught in a storm˺, they cry out to Allah ˹alone˺ in sincere devotion. But as soon as He delivers them ˹safely˺ to shore, they associate ˹others with Him once again˺." ( 29:65 ). Next, the Qur'an argues that polytheism takes away from human dignity: God has honored human beings and given them charge of
10549-484: The direction of I. Bernard Cohen , Hamilton Gibb , and Harry Wolfson . At the age of twenty-five, Nasr graduated with a PhD from Harvard and completed his first book, Science and Civilization in Islam , the title being a direct tribute to Science and Civilization in China , the work by Joseph Needham which had for task to present to Westerners the complex developments of the history of science and technology in China ,
10686-459: The distinction between the creator and the creature, something incompatible with the genuine and absolute monotheism of Islam. Shahada The Shahada ( Arabic : الشَّهَادَةُ aš-šahādatu ; Arabic pronunciation: [aʃʃahaːdatʊ] , 'the testimony'), also transliterated as Shahadah , is an Islamic oath and creed , and one of the Five Pillars of Islam and part of
10823-401: The divine beneficence that creates and maintains the universe) and a few other specific names like al-Malik al-Muluk ("King of Kings") in an authentic narration of Muhammad , other names may be shared by both God and human beings. According to the Islamic teachings, the latter is meant to serve as a reminder of God's immanence rather than being a sign of one's divinity or alternatively imposing
10960-631: The doctrines "of all traditions" attest that "the genesis of man, occurred in many stages: first, in the Divinity Itself so that there is an uncreated 'aspect' to man", hence the possibility of "supreme union"; then "in the Logos which is in fact the prototype of man and another face of that same reality which the Muslims call the Universal Man and which each tradition identifies with its founder"; after this, "man
11097-516: The essence itself, and declaring that God is existing ubiquitously and in everything. They resorted to metaphorical interpretations of Qur'anic verses or Prophetic reports with seemingly anthropomorphic content, e.g., the hand is the metaphorical designation of power; the face signifies the essence; the fact that God is seated on the Throne is a metaphorical image of the divine reign, and so on. The solution proposed by Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari to solve
11234-429: The essence of Godhood, which implies the lesser God must lack in certain necessary attributes deeming this deity as anthropomorphic and snatching away the title of a god from such entity. The Qur'an argues that human beings have an instinctive distaste for polytheism : At times of crisis, for example, even the idolaters forget the false deities and call upon the one true God for help. As soon as they are relieved from
11371-448: The essence of all orthodox religions, regardless of their formal particularities. His environmental philosophy is expressed in terms of Islamic environmentalism and resacralization of nature . He is the author of over fifty books and more than five hundred articles. Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born on April 7, 1933, in Tehran to Seyyed Valiollah Nasr, who was a physician to the imperial family, philosopher and homme de lettres, and one of
11508-405: The essence of existing things and that form and matter by themselves cannot interact and originate the movement of the universe or the progressive actualization of existing things. Existence must, therefore, be due to an agent-cause that necessitates, imparts, gives, or adds existence to an essence. An ontological argument for the existence of God was first proposed by Avicenna (965–1037) in
11645-416: The essence of existing things and that form and matter by themselves cannot interact and originate the movement of the universe or the progressive actualization of existing things. Existence must, therefore, be due to an agent-cause that necessitates, imparts, gives, or adds existence to an essence. To do so, the cause must be an existing thing and coexist with its effect. This was the first attempt at using
11782-417: The existence and unity of God. Ash'ari theologians rejected cause and effect in essence, but accepted it as something that facilitates humankind's investigation and comprehension of natural processes. These medieval scholars argued that nature was composed of uniform atoms that were "re-created" at every instant by God. The laws of nature were only the customary sequence of apparent causes (customs of God),
11919-423: The first phrase where the word 'Allah' ("God") is replaced by 'huwa' ("Him"). The chanting of the Shahada sometimes provides a rhythmic background for singing. The Shahada appears as an architectural element in Islamic buildings around the world, such as those in Jerusalem , Cairo , and Istanbul . Late-medieval and Renaissance European art displays a fascination with Middle Eastern motifs in general and
12056-569: The first rational proofs among Muslims of the Unity of God. Ali states that "God is One" means that God is away from likeness and numeration and he is not divisible even in imagination . The first step of religion is to accept, understand and realize him as the Lord... The correct form of belief in his unity is to realize that he is so absolutely pure and above nature that nothing can be added to or subtracted from his being. That is, one should realize that there
12193-610: The founders of modern education in Iran . He is a descendant of Sheikh Fazlollah Nouri from his mother's side, is the cousin of Iranian philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo , as well as the father of American academic Vali Nasr . The surname "Nasr", which means "victory", was given to his grandfather by the Shah. The title "Seyyed" indicates a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. Nasr completed his primary education in Tehran. His education
12330-444: The framework of a tradition, thus with the aid of a method, rites, symbols and other means sanctified by revelation. The truth, though veiled, is innate to the human spirit and its realization leads to what he calls "knowledge", that is to say gnosis or wisdom ( sophia ), hence the expression " sophia perennis ", common ground at the heart of all religions. Nasr clarifies that the notion of the philosophia perennis does not derive from
12467-419: The full form: أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ ٱللَّٰهِ I bear witness that there is no deity but God, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God. Audio The Shahada can be translated into English as "There is no god but God. Muhammad is the messenger of God." In English, capitalization of a word's initial letter indicates that it
12604-430: The grace issuing from each revelation. Huston Smith summarizes, in an analysis of Nasr's works, that Nasr contends it is "God who knows Himself" through man. For Nasr, indeed, "discrimination between the Real and the unreal terminates in the awareness of the nondual nature of the Real, the awareness which is the heart of gnosis and which represents not human knowledge but God's knowledge of Himself", consciousness which
12741-404: The graduate program in geology and geophysics at Harvard University , where he received a Master of Science in both fields in 1956, and went on to pursue his PhD degree in the history of science and learning at the same university. He planned to write his dissertation under the supervision of George Sarton , but Sarton died before he could begin his dissertation work and so he wrote it under
12878-565: The heart and the mind of man", making possible a "knowledge of an immediate and direct nature, [...] tasted and experienced", which extends to "certain aspects of reality" up to "the Absolute Reality". The human intellect is "the subjective pole of the Word or of the Logos – the universal Intellect – by which all things were made and which constitutes the source of objective revelation, that
13015-417: The holder and his subjects as 'absolute'—may lead the holder to think that he is God-like; such claims were commonly forced upon, and accepted by, those who were subject to the ruler. Also, certain natural phenomena (such as the sun, the moon and the stars) inspire feelings of awe, wonder or admiration that could lead some to regard these celestial bodies as deities . Another reason for deviation from monotheism
13152-435: The human being. The sacred manifests itself in "revelation, the sacred rites of various religions, spiritual and initiatory practices, sacred art, virgin nature", in fact everything that transmits "the presence of the Divine". It is possible for us to rediscover the sacred character of both knowledge and the world, and one might say that that has been the basic motif throughout my writings. For Nasr, true metaphysics –
13289-556: The image of God", whence the possibility of a "unitive knowledge which sees the world not as separative creation but as manifestation that is united through symbols and the very ray of existence". "The key to the understanding of the anthrōpos ", according to Nasr, is situated in "sapential teachings"; it is neither situated in "exoteric religious formulations", which relate essentially to "salvation", nor in what he considers to be "profane" science, generally evolutionary . Beyond his faith in " creationism ex nihilo " Nasr believes that
13426-405: The issue. Certain theologians use the term Tawhid in a much broader meaning to denote the totality of discussion of God, his existence and his various attributes. Others go yet further and use the term to ultimately represent the totality of the "principles of religion". In its current usage, the expressions "Tawhid" or "knowledge of Tawhid" are sometimes used as an equivalent for the whole Kalam ,
13563-447: The latter, contrary to the good, does not have its root in God. This "imperfect world" – the visible and tangible world of man – constitutes only the periphery of a hierarchy of increasingly subtle "worlds" according to their degree of proximity to Being. For Nasr, God is the only reality, and the world, which participates in his reality is therefore "unreal", not as "nothingness pure and simple" but as "relative reality"; it
13700-702: The library of her late husband, and Nasr spent much of his time there and worked to catalogue the library. He visited Schuon and Burckhardt in Switzerland while still a student and was initiated into the Alawi branch of the Shadhili Sufi order . He considered the works of Schuon, with central importance given to the practice of a spiritual discipline in addition to doctrinal knowledge, especially instrumental in determining his intellectual and spiritual life. After receiving an MIT B.S. degree in physics in 1954, Nasr enrolled in
13837-482: The major and original voices in Islamic studies. His strong endorsement of the writings of Schuon and Burckhardt in these books were in turn instrumental in bringing the Traditionalist school to the notice of official academia". Nasr left Temple University in 1984 to become a professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., a position he holds to this day. That same year, he established
13974-449: The many manifestations of a timeless wisdom. Although Islam and Sufism are present throughout his writings, his universalist perspective, which is that of perennial philosophy , takes into account what he assumes to be the common essence of all orthodox religions beyond their formal particularities or their current state: "My philosophical world is a kind of synthesis between the perennial philosophy, which I espouse and represent, and
14111-486: The method of a priori proof , which utilizes intuition and reason alone. Avicenna's proof of God's existence is unique in that it can be classified as both a cosmological argument and an ontological argument. "It is ontological insofar as 'necessary existence' in intellect is the first basis for arguing for a Necessary Existent ". The proof is also "cosmological insofar as most of it is taken up with arguing that contingent existence cannot stand alone and must end up in
14248-472: The mind, nor in the imagination. God alone possesses such a unity. The perception of tawhid laid the foundation of Muslim ethics. According to Islam, the world is sustained by God as the ultimate reality, unique in his attributes, distinct from everything else. Tawhid denies any affinity between the creator and its creation. This includes that invisible entities ( jinn ) do not partake in creation but are created; rejection of an avatar or offspring of God; or
14385-512: The month of Ramadan , and making a pilgrimage to the Kaaba : the Five Pillars of Islam are inherent in this declaration of faith. Including: Recitation of the Shahadah is the most common statement of faith for Muslims. Sunnis, Shia Twelvers , as well as Isma'ilis consider it as one of the Five Pillars of Islam . It is whispered by the father into the ear of a newborn child, and it
14522-531: The omega. It is Emptiness if the world is envisaged as fullness and Fullness if the relative is perceived in the light of its ontological poverty and essential nothingness. These are all manners of speaking of the Ultimate Reality which can be known but not by man as such. It can only be known through the sun of the Divine Self residing at the center of the human soul. God is not only "Absolute and Infinite", he
14659-579: The oneness of God is equated in the Qur'an with the "belief in the unseen" ( 2:3 ). The Qur'an summarizes its task in making this "unseen", to a greater or lesser degree "seen" so that belief in the existence of God becomes a Master-Truth rather than an unreasonable belief. The Qur'an states that God's signals are so near and yet so far, demanding that its students listen to what it has to say with humility ( 50:33 , 50:37 ). The Qur'an draws attention to certain observable facts, to present them as "reminders" of God instead of providing lengthy "theological" proofs for
14796-445: The other hand to see that the duality between essence and attribute should be situated not on the quantitative but on the qualitative level—something which Mu'tazilis thinking had failed to grasp. Ash'ari theology, which dominated Sunni Islam from the tenth to the nineteenth century, insists on ultimate divine transcendence and holds that divine unity is not accessible to human reason. Ash'arism teaches that human knowledge regarding it
14933-459: The physical world, and yet they disgrace their position in the world by worshipping what they carve out with their own hands. Lastly, the Qur'an argues that monotheism is not a later discovery made by the human race, but rather there is the combined evidence of the prophetic call for monotheism throughout human history starting from Adam . The Qur'an suggests several causes for deviation from monotheism to polytheism: Great temporal power, regarded by
15070-845: The politics of his country despite a number of offers for ministerial positions and ambassadorship. In 1974, Empress Farah Pahlavi commissioned him to establish and lead the Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy (now the Institute for Research in Philosophy ), the first academic institution to be conducted in accordance with the intellectual principles of the Traditionalist School . During that time, Nasr, Tabataba'i, William Chittick , Peter Lamborn Wilson , Kenneth Morgan, Sachiko Murata , Toshihiko Izutsu , and Henry Corbin held various philosophical discourses. The book Shi'ite Islam and
15207-403: The possibility of lesser gods since these beings must be themselves created. For the Qur'an, God is an immanent and transcendent deity who actively creates, maintains and destroys the universe. The reality of God as the ultimate cause of things is the belief that God is veiled from human understanding because of the secondary causes and contingent realities of things in the world. Thus the belief in
15344-444: The present day, and the history of science. He argues in favor of revelation , tradition , and what he considers " scientia sacra " , in opposition to rationalism , relativism , and modern western materialism . Nasr has not developed a new system of thought, but instead hopes to revive traditional doctrines that he believes have been forgotten in the modern world. He is content to recall what, according to him, corresponds to
15481-416: The principle of tawhid . From an Islamic standpoint, there is an uncompromising nondualism at the heart of the Islamic beliefs ( aqida ) which is seen as distinguishing Islam from other major religions . The Quran teaches the existence of a single and absolute truth that transcends the world—a unique, independent and indivisible being who is independent of the entire creation. God, according to Islam,
15618-492: The problems of tashbih and ta'til concedes that the divine Being possesses in a real sense the Attributes and Names mentioned in the Qur'an. Insofar as these Names and Attributes have a positive reality, they are distinct from the essence, but nevertheless they do not have either existence or reality apart from it. The inspiration of al-Ash'ari in this matter was on the one hand to distinguish essence and attribute as concepts, and on
15755-437: The recitation of the Shahada must reflect understanding of its import and heartfelt sincerity. Intention is what differentiates acts of devotion from mundane acts and a simple reading of the Shahada from invoking it as a ritual activity. Though the two statements of the Shahada are both present in the Quran (for instance, 37:35 and 48:29 ), they are not found there side by side as in the Shahada formula, but are present in
15892-450: The reign of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan , the fifth Umayyad caliph : "Muhammad is the Servant of God and His messenger". Material evidence from the 690s documents the existence of differing versions of the Shahada in different regions as opposed to what would standardize into a uniform version in later periods. Although it is not clear when the Shahada first came into common use among Muslims, it
16029-496: The scholarly community, and his conceptual proficiency in modern scientific languages have all contributed to make him a particularly apt interpreter of perennialist ideas in the contemporary public arena. For Nasr, the expression " philosophia perennis ", as understood by the Perennialist school, refers to both the universal metaphysical truth and to its spiritual realization. The latter can only be considered, according to Nasr, in
16166-416: The second is specific to Islam, as it is understood that members of the older Abrahamic religions do not view Muhammad as one of their prophets. The Shahada is a statement of both ritual and worship. In a well-known hadith , Muhammad defines Islam as witnessing that there is no deity but God and that Muhammad is God's Messenger, giving of alms ( zakat ), performing the ritual prayer , fasting during
16303-501: The self by elevating oneself above others and associating attributes of God with a created being. Because of that, Sunni scholars have accused Salafis and Wahhabis of depicting God as a created object ruling from the sky. Shirk is classified into two categories: Chapter 4, verse 48 of the Qur'an reads: Indeed, Allah does not forgive associating others with Him ˹in worship˺, but forgives anything else of whoever He wills. And whoever associates others with Allah has indeed committed
16440-447: The stability and order prevailing throughout the universe shows that it was created and is being administered by only one God ( 28:70-72 ). The Qur'an in verse 21:22 states: "Had there been within them [i.e., the heavens and earth] gods besides Allāh, they both would have been ruined". Later Muslim theologians elaborated on this verse saying that the existence of at least two gods would inevitably arise between them, at one time or another,
16577-418: The struggle of monotheism against polytheism . In order to explain the complexity of the unity of God and of the divine nature, the Qur'an uses 99 terms referred to as "Excellent Names of God" ( 7:180 ). The divine names project divine attributes, which, in turn, project all the levels of the creation down to the physical plane. Aside from the supreme name "Allah" and the neologism ar-Rahman (referring to
16714-509: The study of physics would not bring answers to his questions, he enrolled in additional courses on metaphysics and philosophy with Giorgio de Santillana who introduced him to the works of René Guénon . From there, Nasr discovered the works of other Perennialist metaphysicians, notably Frithjof Schuon , Ananda Coomaraswamy , Titus Burckhardt , Martin Lings , and Marco Pallis . This school of thought has shaped Nasr's life and thinking ever since. The widow of Commaraswamy gave him access to
16851-689: The temporal in a practical way. The ideal is a radical purification from all worldliness. According to Vincent J. Cornall, it is possible to draw up a monist image of God ( see Sufi metaphysics ) by describing the reality as a unified whole, with God being a single concept that would describe or ascribe all existing things: "He is the First and the Last, the Evident and the Immanent: and He has full knowledge of all things."( 57:3 )" However many Muslims criticize monism for it blurs
16988-469: The ternary "spirit, soul, and body ( pneuma , psychē , and hylē or spiritus , anima , and corpus ". "The human spirit is an extension and reflection of the Divine Spirit", it coincides with the "intellect" and "resides at the center of the spiritual heart" of the human being. Nasr always uses the word "intellect" in "its original sense of intellectus ( nous )" and not "of reason ( ratio )", which
17125-565: The traditionalist journal Sophia Perennis were products of this period. In 1978, he was named director of the Empress's private bureau, while continuing to teach philosophy at Tehran University, and serve as chancellor of Aryamehr University, and president of the Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy. In January 1979, the Iranian Revolution brought an end to the Pahlavi dynasty, and Nasr, who
17262-667: The truth as such", his sentiments "are capable ... of reaching out for the ultimate through love, suffering, sacrifice, and also fear", and his will "is free to choose ... it reflects the Divine Freedom". But, "because of man's separation from his original perfection", a consequence "of what Christianity calls the fall", itself followed by further declines, these faculties no longer operate invariably according to their "theomorphic nature". Thus, "intelligence can become reduced to mental play", "sentiments can deteriorate to little more than gravitation around that illusory coagulation which [...]
17399-424: The ultimate cause of each accident being God himself. Other forms of the argument also appear in Avicenna's other works, and this argument became known as the Proof of the Truthful . Avicenna initiated a full-fledged inquiry into the question of being , in which he distinguished between essence ( Mahiat ) and existence ( Wujud ). He argued that the fact of existence can not be inferred from or accounted for by
17536-463: The verb šahida ( [ʃa.hi.da] شَهِدَ ), from the root š-h-d ( ش-ه-د ) meaning "to observe, witness, testify", translates as "testimony" in both the everyday and the legal senses. The Islamic creed is also called, in the dual form, shahādatān ( شَهَادَتَان , literally "two testimonies"). The expression al-šahīd ( ٱلْشَّهِيد , "the Witness") is used in the Quran as one of
17673-415: The world as creation. The earlier philosophers were profoundly affected by the emphasis of Plotinus on divine simplicity . In Islamic mysticism ( Sufism and Irfan ), Tawhid is not only the affirmation in speech of God's unity, but also as importantly a practical and existential realization of that unity. This is done by rejecting the concepts tied to the world of multiplicity, to isolate the eternal from
17810-620: The world over". The language of the perennial philosophy is symbolism. According to Nasr, the "Divine Reality" includes, metaphysically speaking, an "Impersonal Essence" and a personal aspect that the believer "ordinarily identifies with God", in accordance with the perspective of "most religions". Only the "esoteric dimension" within these religions take into account the "Impersonal Essence", as can be seen most notably in "the Kabbalah , Sufism , and among many Christian mystics such as Meister Eckhart and Angelus Silesius ". "God as ultimate Reality"
17947-434: The world without any pre-established archetype and without an auxiliary. According to Henry Corbin , the result of this interpretation is the negation of the divine attributes, the affirmation of the created Quran, and the denial of all possibility of the vision of God in the world beyond. Mu'tazilis believed that God is deprived of all positive attributes, in the sense that all divine qualifications must be understood as being
18084-468: Was appointed a professor of philosophy and Islamic sciences at Tehran University . He held various academic positions in Iran, including vice-chancellor at Tehran University and president of Aryamehr University , and established the Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy at the request of Empress Farah Pahlavi , which soon became one of the most prominent centers of philosophical activity in
18221-600: Was at that time the director of the French Institute for Iranian Studies in Tehran. Five years later he would be made the dean of the faculty of letters and then vice-chancellor of the university. In 1972, the Shah chose him to become the president of Aryamehr University (now Sharif University of Technology ). There, Nasr created a faculty for the humanities in order to encourage the students not to focus exclusively on scientific matters. He also designed courses that focused on
18358-576: Was introduced in 1973. The Flag of Somaliland has a horizontal strip of green, white and red with the Shahada inscribed in white on the green strip. The flag of Afghanistan under the Taliban is a white flag with the Shahada inscribed in black. The various jihadist black flags used by Islamic insurgents since the 2000s have often followed this example. The Shahada written on a green background has been used by supporters of Hamas since about 2000. The 2004 draft constitution of Afghanistan proposed
18495-603: Was offered the position of associate professor at MIT, as well as a three-year research position as a junior fellow followed by a formal teaching position at Harvard, but he decided to return to Iran. That same year, Tehran University hired him as associate professor of philosophy and the history of science. He continued his study of Islamic sciences with traditional Iranian masters and philosophers ( Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i , Allameh Sayyed Abul Hasan Rafiee Qazvini and Sayyid Muhammad Kazim Assar ), completing his dual education, academic and traditional. He had married and started
18632-491: Was supplemented by religious and philosophical discussions with his father and an entourage of theologians, ministers, scholars, and mystics. He immersed himself in the Koranic studies, Persian literature, Arabic and French languages at an early age. While he was completing his first year of secondary school at Firooz Bahram High School , his father was hurt in a serious accident, so his mother sent him to continue his education in
18769-469: Was visiting London with his family at the time, was unable to return to Iran. As a result, he lost his possessions, including his manuscripts and library. His family later settled in Boston. After teaching for a few months at the University of Utah , Nasr was appointed a professor of Islamic studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, which had one of the largest Ph.D. programs in religious studies in
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