Abstract

The rule "Basīṭ al-Ḥaqīqa kull al-ashyāʾ" (the Absolutely Simple is all things) is one of the pillars of metaphysics in the strict sense in Transcendent Philosophy, and is based on the principles of the primacy of existence, the gradation of the levels of existence, and the theory of the predication of truth and subtlety. Despite the fundamental status of this rule in the Sadraeian system, it has always faced criticism from alternative intellectual currents. The book al-Ruʾya al-Falsafiyya (The Philosophical Vision) by Ayatollah Mājid Kāẓimī is among the works that—adopting a tafkīkī (separatist) approach and relying on the principles of transmitted sciences—challenged not only this rule but also its ontological foundations. The present article, using an analytical-critical method, after extracting and logically formulating the author's six objections, shows that his critiques are mostly directed at an incomplete presentation of the rule and are based on confusion between various types of predication, neglect of the conventional nature of the composition of existence and non-existence in rational analysis, and failure to distinguish between "thing" and "perfection." In contrast, by re-reading the special argument of Ṣadr al-Mutaʾallihīn and correctly explaining the predication of truth and subtlety, it is proven that the aforementioned rule neither entails composition in the divine essence nor leads to the identity of the Creator and the created; rather, it is based on the sustaining encompassment of the Necessary Being and the gradational unity of existence. Thus, the falsity of the illusion that the rule is "without an instance" and the illusion of the predication between truth and subtlety become evident.