who still maintains sovereign status as a spiritual leader for the Islamic East. Born in Shiraz, Mulla Sadra developed a unification of Sufi mystical or illuminationist traditions in Islam with Neoplatonic influences: his main precursor was Ibn Arabi. His ‘metaphilosophy’ is as much a spiritual exercise or route to salvation as a body of doctrine. The principal work is the Al-Asfar al-arbaa, trs. as The Four Journeys.