Abd al-Razzaq Qashani and his sufi thought

ʿAbd al-Razzāq al-Kāshānī was born during the rule of the Ilkhanate (1256-1353), a Mongolian state established in Iran. In this study, in which his life adventure and sufi views are examined, as a beginning, an overall picture of this period is drawn and the formation and development ground of his understanding of sufism is revealed. The sufis who were influential in shaping al-Kāshānī's sufi thoughts and his life story are attempted to be narrated in the light of the existing materials and documents. Then, in order to evaluate al-Kāshānī's understanding of sufism holistically, the approaches that he put forward on the axis of certain mystical concepts are traced. al-Kāshānī is acknowledged as one of the prominent figures of the Akbarī tradition and has an outstanding role to gain a systematic structure of the idea of waḥdat al-wujūd (unity of being) with his works. In the last part of the study, al-Kāshānī's interpretations on the basic concepts of this systematic thought are discussed. Thus, on the one hand, al-Kāshānī's understanding of sufism is described in general, on the other hand, an important step is taken in terms of determining the harmonies and/or incompatibilities between his and Ibn ʿArabī's views, the founder of the system.