The mystical philosopher, whose work was an inspiration to intellectuals, revolutionaries and modernisers, especially in Iran. Mulla Sadra believed in linking philosophy and spirituality, and training their disciplines, which enabled them to acquire a sense of alam al-mithal and the spiritual world. He insisted that a philosopher must be as rational and scientific but he must also cultivate the imaginative and intuitive approach to truth. Mulla Sadra opposed the new intolerance of some of the ulama, which he regarded as a perversion of religion. Truth could not be imposed by force and intellectual conformism was in compatible with true faith. Coercion in religious matters is forbidden in the Qura'an, and was abhorred by Mulla Sadra. Mulla Sadra also saw political reform as inseparable from spirituality. In his masterpiece Al Afsan al-Arbaah (The Fourfold Journey) he described the mystical training that a leader must undergo before he could start to transform the mundane world. He must first divest himself of ego, and receive divine illumination and mystical apprehension of Allah. Mulla Sadra led the Iranian cultural renaissance in the 17th century and his teaching profoundly influenced Ayatullah Khomeini. In his last address to the Iranian people, Ayatullah Khomeini, before his death, begged Iranians to continue the study and practice of irfan, since there could be no truly Islamic revolution unless there was also a spiritual reformation. Mulla Sadra was born Sadruddin Ash, at Shiraz, and educated in Isfahan.