Conceptual Elucidation of Afterlife Life Based on the Principle of the Nobler Contingency (Imkān al-Ashraf): A Comparative Approach to the Views of Mīr Dāmād and Mullā Ṣadrā

Abstract

The issue of afterlife life is one of the most fundamental subjects in Islamic philosophy, bearing a deep connection with ontology, epistemology, and philosophical anthropology. One of the major philosophical principles that can play a decisive role in this domain is the principle of Imkān al-Ashraf (“the Nobler Contingency”). According to this principle, the existence of a higher ontological degree has priority over the existence of a lower one, and this very assumption became a metaphysical foundation for the School of Isfahan and for Ṣadrian ḥikma mutaʿāliya. The central question of this study concerns the role of the principle of Imkān al-Ashraf in the rational explanation of afterlife life, and the ways in which the perspectives of Mīr Dāmād and Mullā Ṣadrā differ or converge on this matter. The research method is analytical–comparative and is carried out through a close examination of the works of Mīr Dāmād and Mullā Ṣadrā, along with relevant philosophical and exegetical sources. The findings indicate that Mīr Dāmād, based on his doctrine of ḥudūth dahrī (atemporal origination), employs the principle of Imkān al-Ashraf to clarify the status of the Barzakh world and its relation to resurrection, whereas Mullā Ṣadrā—by integrating this principle with substantial motion, the immateriality of imagination, and the gradation of existence—offers a more comprehensive and dynamic account of the post-mortem levels of being and even bodily resurrection. The conclusion is that although both philosophers accept the principle itself, the fundamental difference between ḥudūth dahrī and substantial motion leads Mullā Ṣadrā’s explanation of afterlife life to exhibit greater coherence and philosophical efficacy.