 It was however, his student Ṣadr al-Dīn Shirāzī, known as Mullā Ṣadrā, who is perhaps the greatest metaphysician of the Islamic philosophical tradition. His grand synthesis of discursive philosophy, intellectual intuition, and asceticism came to be known as the “Transcendental Theo-Sophy” (al-ḥikmat al-muta‘āliyah). This philosophical perspective, according to Mullā Ṣadrā, was unveiled to him by God after many years of inner purification. With Mullā Ṣadrā, an attempt to offer a spiritual commentary (ta’wīl) from a Shi‘ite gnostic perspective on the Qur’an and the concept of “spiritual guardianship” (wilāyah) reaches its pinnacle.