Mulla Sadra (c. 1571-1641) was a Persian Shia Islamic philosopher, theologian who led the Iranian cultural renaissance in the 17th century. According to Oliver Leaman, Mulla Sadra is arguably the single most important and influential philosopher in the Muslim world in the last four hundred years.

Though not its founder, he is considered the master of the Illuminationist, or (Ishraghi or Ishraqi) school of Philosophy, a seminal figure who synthesized the many tracts of the Islamic Golden Age, and Andalusian, philosophies into what he called the Transcendent Theosophy or al-hikmah al-muta’liyah.
Born in Shiraz to a notable family of court officials in 1571 or 1572, Mulla Sadra moved first to Qazvin in 1591 and then to Isfahan 1597 to pursue a traditional and institutional education in philosophy, theology, Hadith, and hermeneutics. Each city was a successive capital of the Safavid dynasty and centers of Twelver Shi’ite seminaries at that time.

He eventually retired for a lengthy period of time to a village named Kahak near qom, where he engaged in contemplative exercises.(read more on wikipedia)

Photos by Abolfazl Mahrokh, Mehr News Agency