Sadr ol-Din Mohammad Shirazi, known as Sadr ol-Motealehin and Mollasadra, a great scholar, mystic and interpreter of Shite and Islam, was born in 979 AH in Shiraz. Apparently, Mollasadra went to Qazvin when he was six years old with his father. He began his education under many masters of different sciences, and advanced to higher levels sooner than the others. Mollasadra met and was educated by two other scientists and genius of Qazvin, Sheikh Bahayi and Mirdamad, who were unique and celebrated not only during their life but also four centuries later. He became one of their best students very soon.
Mollasadra mostly benefitted from the philosophical and mystical educations of Mirdamad, and he always considered and introduced him as true his master and guide. He most probably returned to Shiraz in 1010 AH. His rivals found their social position endangered, and also tried to defend their opinions in front of him. So they began mocking his beliefs, and mistreated and insulted him. These actions were not something Mollasadra could put up with. So he left Shiraz and moved to Qom. He did not stay there, either. He went to a village called Kahak in Qom.
Mollasadra left education and debates for a while. As he recalls in his autobiography, Asfar, he spent his life praying, fasting. He used this opportunity to further work on his spiritualism. He spent a long time in Kahak and trained a lot of students. Fayaz Lahiji and Alameh Feiz Kashani are some of his most famous and followers. About 1040 AH he went back to Shiraz and it seems that, like the first time, he was pushed by the mistreating, but this time he was stronger and lasted under the pressure.
He believes that “On the path to its perfection, body turns into the soul. We should not mistake that soul is a separate thing that is pushed into body at the time of birth, or is taken out of the body at the time of death.” He believes that nature and the supernatural do not contrast. But they are two parts of one existence. One is less complete than the other. He says I, the I that I am today was once a wheat, but now is an existence. Do not think that it fades away. This ever-changing unstable matter turns into a stable existence. Mollasadra became sick during his seventh Hajj pilgrimage. He passed away in Basrah.