As a young boy, Mulla Sadra was very smart, serious, energetic, eloquent, and curious and he had managed to learn all the courses related to Persian and Arabic literature as well as the art of calligraphy over a short period of time. The other subjects he studied and mastered during his early youth included jurisprudence, Islamic law, logic, and philosophy. He, however, was very much interested in and inclined towards philosophy and mysticism.
Sadr al-Muta’allehin Shirazi is one of the philosophers who has introduced new concepts and raised new issues in the philosophical thought of the Islamic world.
Mulla Sadra’s works are said to be more than fifty, which can be placed in two main categories of narrative sciences and rational sciences. From among his most outstanding works mention can be made of “Hikmat Al Muta’alyah fil Asfar al-‘Aqliyya al-Arba’a (The Transcendent Theosophy in the Four Journeys of the Intellect), “Mafatih al-Ghayb” (The Unseen Keys), “Asrar al-Ayat” (The Mysteries of the Quranic Verses), “Al-Ta’liqiya ‘Ala Elahiyat al-Shifa” (Commentary on Ibn Sina’s book Elahiyat Al-Shifa), The Explanation of the Sufficient Principles, “Sharh Usul Al-Kafi” (Notes on Usul-e Kafi), “Al-Mash’ir”, “Iqaz al-Na’imin”, “Risalah fi Al-waridat al-Qalbiyah” (Treatise on Divine Inspirations), “Risalah fi Al-Hashr” Treatise on Resurrection), “Risalah fi Ittisaf al-Mahiyah Bilwujud” (Treatise dealing with the issue of existence), “Risalah fi Al-Huduth” (Treatise on events), “Risalah fi Al-qaza wa Al-Qadar” (Treatise on predestination), “Tafsir al-Qur’an al-Karim” (Exegesis of the Holy Qur’an), A Divan of the poetry, Kashkul, etc.
Mulla Sadra Shirazi passed away in the city of Basra in the year 1640 CE and was buried in the city of Najaf.