This study provides a philosophical account of the “plurality and development of religions” through the framework of Mulla Sadra’s Transcendent Philosophy (Ḥikmat al-Muta‘āliyah). It seeks to reconcile the ontological unity of religion with the historical multiplicity of revealed laws (sharā’i‘) by applying the principle of substantial motion to the collective human experience, introducing the concept of “collective substantial motion.”The study argues that the human soul, as the primary locus for receiving religion, undergoes perpetual existential intensification. This development is not confined to the individual; it unfolds within the historical evolution of the human species. Consequently, the plurality of historical religious laws is neither accidental nor contradictory; rather, these laws function as graded, existential manifestations of a singular, noumenal religion (dīn nafs al-amrī), calibrated to the expanding capacity of the collective human soul across different epochs.Within this model, the final revealed law, Islam, serves as the pinnacle of this developmental trajectory, representing the “ultimate comprehensiveness” of religion. With this arrival, guidance based on the manifest proof—the sending of new prophets—concludes, shifting to the domain of the hidden proof: an intellect illuminated by revelation and spiritual witnessing. This approach successfully preserves the ontological unity of religion while offering a robust anthropological justification for the necessity of religious plurality throughout history. Keywords: Transcendent Philosophy; collective substantial motion; religious plurality; the soul as the receptacle of religion
Babaei, A. , Amiri, A. and Forouhi, N. (2026). Collective Substantial Motion and the Unity of Religions in Sadrian Wisdom: The Soul as the Locus of Religion's Manifestation. SADRĀ’I WISDOM, (), -. doi: 10.30473/pms.2026.79038.2222
MLA
Babaei, A. , , Amiri, A. , and Forouhi, N. . "Collective Substantial Motion and the Unity of Religions in Sadrian Wisdom: The Soul as the Locus of Religion's Manifestation", SADRĀ’I WISDOM, , , 2026, -. doi: 10.30473/pms.2026.79038.2222
HARVARD
Babaei, A., Amiri, A., Forouhi, N. (2026). 'Collective Substantial Motion and the Unity of Religions in Sadrian Wisdom: The Soul as the Locus of Religion's Manifestation', SADRĀ’I WISDOM, (), pp. -. doi: 10.30473/pms.2026.79038.2222
CHICAGO
A. Babaei , A. Amiri and N. Forouhi, "Collective Substantial Motion and the Unity of Religions in Sadrian Wisdom: The Soul as the Locus of Religion's Manifestation," SADRĀ’I WISDOM, (2026): -, doi: 10.30473/pms.2026.79038.2222
VANCOUVER
Babaei, A., Amiri, A., Forouhi, N. Collective Substantial Motion and the Unity of Religions in Sadrian Wisdom: The Soul as the Locus of Religion's Manifestation. SADRĀ’I WISDOM, 2026; (): -. doi: 10.30473/pms.2026.79038.2222
)