Introduction

Abstract

This chapter provides an introduction to the discursive bond between philosophy and Shiʿism. It discusses the relation between narratives of Islamic epistemology/psychology and those of Shīʿī authority in their complex religious and political applications. The author argues that the possibility of historical confluence aside, the two fields share narratives, arguments, statements, and concepts. She also highlights the synthetic methodology which is prominent in the philosophical texts produced in a Shīʿī context. The chapter also explains the rationale for comparing Ḥamīd al-Dīn Kirmānī and Mullā Ṣadrā. The author argues that though separated by time, location, and ideology, Kirmānī and Mullā Ṣadrā belong to the same tradition of synthesizing Greek discourses on knowledge with Shīʿī discourses on the imamate. This chapter ends with notes on the author’s method of analysis and style.