From Linguistic Inimitability to Ontological Superiority: A Transcendental Re-reading of the Quranic Challenge (Tahaddī) in Mulla Sadra’s Existential Philosophy

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Faculty of Philosophy and Islamic wisdom, Shahid Motahari University, Tehran, Iran"

2 Professor, Department of Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Tehran, Iran

3 PhD student, Department of Philosophy and Islamic Wisdom, Shahid Motahari University, Tehran, Iran

10.22061/orj.2026.12891.937

Abstract

The explanation of the nature of the “Quranic Challenge” (taḥaddī) and its inimitability (i‘jāz) has often remained confined to literary and rhetorical analyses, neglecting its ontological depths; whereas Transcendent Theosophy possesses the capacity to transition from linguistic analyses to existential realms. This research seeks to answer the fundamental question: What new horizons does a re-reading of the concept of “transcendence” (isti‘lā’) within the Sadrian system open for the philosophical explanation of the Quranic challenge?

Findings indicate that by moving beyond common theological approaches and adopting a “transcendental phenomenology,” the Quranic challenge is not a linguistic confrontation but a truth rooted in the “gradational levels of existence.” Based on this study: First, human incapacity to rival the Quran stems not from literary weakness, but from an “existential inability” to access the exalted level of “Creative Speech” (al-kalām al-ibdā‘ī) from which the Quran originates. Second, it is proven that complete perception of the Quran’s truth requires “existential affinity” with the source of Revelation, realized only in the horizon of the “Perfect Man” who encompasses all levels of being. Third, this research transforms the function of taḥaddī from an “epistemic deadlock” into an “existential invitation”—a call summoning the audience to “intensificational motion” to elevate existential capacity. Ultimately, this approach establishes an “existential hermeneutics” wherein interpretation is no longer a purely mental activity, but a process of “becoming” and a “luminous union” of the interpreter with the text’s transcendent truth.

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Journal of Ontological Researches

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 01 July 2026

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