Mullā Muḥammad b. Murtaḍā b. Maḥmūd al-Kāshānī knows as Mullā Muḥsin & al-Fayḍ al-Kāshānī (Persian pronuciation: 'Fayz-e-Kashani') (Persian: ملا محسن فیض کاشانی) was an Iranian Akhbari Twelver[1] Shi'i Muslim, mystic,[2] poet, philosopher, and muhaddith (1598-1680 ᴄᴇ).
However, after a year in Isfahan, he moved to Shiraz to study Hadith and Fiq (Jurisprudence) under Majid Bahrani, one of the leading Shi'ite scholars of his time.
Bahrani died a few months later, and Fayz returned to Isfahan where he joined the circles of great scholar Shaikh Bahai and studied philosophy under Mir Damad.
Sadra gave Fayz one of his daughters to marry, they later had a son named, Muhammad Alam al-Huda, who followed in his fathers footsteps.
Fayz is said to have produced works that mixed Islamic scriptural moral concerns with Aristotelian, Platonic schemas and illuminationist mysticism- a rationalist gnostic approach.
(Rizvi) Some of his works brought him bad attention, he was criticized by Unlama for not using the Idjma in questioning jurisprudence, such as the legitimacy of music and the definition of impurity.
The rule at the time had happened to be traveling through Kashan and became greatly worried over the loss of life and infrastructure that had occurred.
[5] His other works include Abwab-ol-Jenan (the doors of the Paradise), the comment of Safi, the comment of Asfi, Wafi (on exposition of Usul Kafi), Shafi, (the thing which cures), Mafati'h al-Sharayi' (The Keys of Islamic Law), Asrar-o-ssalat (the secrets of the prayers), Elm-ol yaghin (certain knowledge) on the principles of the religion, Kalimát al-Maknúnah (Hidden Words) The exposition on astronomy, Safina-to-nejat (the ship of relief), the exposition on the Al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya, Tarjomat-ol salat (the translation of prayer) (in Persian), The translation of Taharat (the purification mentally and physically), Translations of the ideas, The "list of the sciences" and Divan of poems.
Borrowing heavily from Platonic ideas of universals and particulars, Fayz seeks to articulate the relationship between the spiritual and material worlds and how their interaction fulfills divine will.
[8] In his work Kalimāt-i Maknūnah, Fayz provides a theoretical understanding of knowledge and its impact on the relationship between the individual and his apprehension of divine mystery.
Borrowing from the works of al Ghazzali, Fayz likens the relationship between man and the soul to a business venture between two partners.
In this case, man spends his life refining and purifying the soul in order to reap the eternal benefits from doing so.
This stage of vigilance is characterized by a change in the heart that prompts a person to gain satisfaction when occupied with thoughts of heeding divine instruction.
Ultimately, the result of achieving this state is a type of knowledge which produces a greater awareness of God as He who observes the action of His servants.
Kashani describes this stage as a state in which the person reviews his actions and strives to know if the conditions set forth for the soul are being met.
It involves any kind of consideration of the frequency and order of actions performed and the positive and negative results which follow from them.
At the same time, this self-caused pain begins the slow process of purifying the soul of the effects caused by sin.
Over time, this constant urging will produce in the person a habit that lessens the struggle to always perform good actions.
[10] According to Kashani, the Perfect Man is one who has manifested within himself one of the divine attributes and has overcome the barrier between the Absolute and the mundane.
Further, the Perfect Man is the focal point of mediation and connection by which the unknowable aspects of the Absolute come down into the realm of knowable existence.
[11] According to Fayz, those that comprise the Muslim community are divided into four groups: the philosophers, the mystics, the theologians, and the deviates.
Their tendency to invoke a priori proofs ignores the importance of tradition and scripture in the effort to gain spiritual knowledge.
Mystics and theologians claim to be acting from within the school or tradition they are a part of, but often fall into the trap of pure speculation.