Ontological concepts –from the branch of metaphysics concerned with the nature of being- occupy a central position in philosophy. This is primarily because human beings are interested in understanding the natüre of existence, the question of why there is “something” rather than “nothing”, of enquiring into the meaning of existence and so forth. Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī (d. 1661), known as Ṣadrā or Mullā Ṣadrā, developed a new philosophical system based totally upon the concept of existence (wujūd) ...