Shihāb ad-Dīn Yahya ibn Habash ibn Amirak as-Suhrawardī | |
|---|---|
_bin_Amirak_al-Suhrawardi_al-Maqtuli_(d._1191-92)%3b_Hikmat_al-Ishraq%2c_copied_by_Shams_bin_Jamal_al-Hatani%2c_post-Seljuq_Iran%2c_dated_Tuesday_13_October_1220.jpg) Manuscript of Suhrawardi'sHikmat al-Ishraq. Copy created in post-Seljuq Iran, dated 13 October 1220 | |
| Title | Shaykh al-Ishraq, Shaykh al-Maqtul |
| Personal life | |
| Born | 1154 |
| Died | 1191 (aged 36–37) |
| Other names | Sohrevardi, Shihab al-Din |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Islam,[1]ShafiSunni[2] |
| School | Illuminationism Perennial philosophy[3] |
| Senior posting | |
| Based in | Suhraward |
| Period in office | 12th century |
Shihāb ad-Dīn Yahya ibn Habash Suhrawardī[4] (Persian:شهابالدین سهروردی, also known asSohrevardi) (1154–1191) was a Persian philosopher and founder of the Iranian school ofIlluminationism, an important school inIslamic philosophy. The "light" in his "Philosophy of Illumination" is the source of knowledge. He is referred to by the honorific titleShaikh al-ʿIshraq "Master of Illumination" andShaikh al-Maqtul "the Murdered Master", in reference to his execution forheresy.[5]Mulla Sadra, the Persian sage of theSafavid era described Suhrawardi as the "Reviver of the Traces of the Pahlavi (Iranian) Sages",[6] and Suhrawardi, in his magnum opus "The Philosophy of Illumination", thought of himself as a reviver or resuscitator of the ancient tradition of Persian wisdom.[7] Suhrawardi provided a new Platonic critique of theperipatetic school ofAvicenna that was dominant at his times, and that critique involved the fields ofLogic,Physics,Epistemology,Psychology, andMetaphysics.[8][9]
OfPersian stock,[a] Suhrawardi was born in 1154 inSuhraward, a village located between the towns ofZanjan andBijar Garrus inIran.[16] He learned wisdom and jurisprudence in the city ofMaragheh. His teacher was Majd al-Dīn Jīlī who was alsoFakhr al-Din al-Razi’s teacher. He then went toIraq andSyria for several years and developed his knowledge while he was there.
His life spanned a period of less than forty years during which he produced a series of works that established him as the founder of a new school of philosophy, called "Illuminism" (hikmat al-Ishraq). According toHenry Corbin, Suhrawardi "came later to be called the Master of Illumination (Shaikh-i-Ishraq) because his great aim was the renaissance of ancientIranian wisdom".[18] which Corbin specifies in various ways as the "project of reviving thephilosophy of ancient Persia".[19]
In 1186, at the age of thirty-two, he completed his magnum opus,The Philosophy of Illumination.
There are several contradictory reports of his death. The most commonly held view is that he was executed sometime between 1191 and 1208 inAleppo on charges of cultivatingBatini teachings and philosophy, by the order ofal-Malik al-Zahir, son ofSaladin.[5] Other traditions hold that he starved himself to death, others tell that he was suffocated or thrown from the wall of the fortress, then burned by some people.[20]
Suhrawardi was a strong defender of Peripatetic philosophy, until he was influenced by those whom he described as those who "have traveled the path of God", like - as noted by Suhrawardi -Plato from the Greek tradition, Hermes (Thoth) from Egypt, andPythagoras the Phoenician, and also figures in the Persian tradition. His philosophical project aims to revive the losthikma of east and west.[9]
It is also apparent that Suhrawardi was strongly influenced by theSufi tradition, bearing in mind hismystical spiritual journeys that he considered a necessary prerequisite for understanding his Illuminationist philosophy.[9]Zoroastrianism also appears to have influenced Suhrawardi, as its symbols appear in some of his works.[9]
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Arising out ofperipatetic philosophy as developed byIbn Sina (Avicenna), Suhrawardi's illuminationist philosophy is critical of several of Ibn Sina's positions and radically departs from him in creating a symbolic language (mainly derived from ancient Iranian culture orFarhang-e Khosravani) to give expression to his wisdom (hikma).
Suhrawardi taught a complex and profoundemanationistcosmology, in which all creation is a successive outflow from the original Supreme Light of Lights (Nur al-Anwar). The fundamental of his philosophy is pure immaterial light, where nothing is manifest, and which unfolds from the Light of Lights in a descending order of ever-diminishing intensity and, through complex interaction, gives rise to a "horizontal" array of lights, similar in conception toPlatonic forms, that governs mundane reality. In other words, the universe and all levels of existence are but varying degrees of Light—light and darkness. In his division of bodies, he categorises objects in terms of their reception or non-reception of light.
Suhrawardi considers a previous existence for every soul in theangelic realm before its descent to the realm of the body. The soul is divided into two parts, one remains in heaven and the other descends into the dungeon of the body. The human soul is always sad because it has been divorced from its other half. Therefore, it aspires to become reunited with it. The soul can only reach felicity again when it is united with its celestial part, which has remained in heaven. He holds that the soul should seek felicity by detaching itself from its tenebrous body and worldly matters and access the world of immaterial lights. The souls of thegnostics andsaints, after leaving the body, ascend even above the angelic world to enjoy proximity to the Supreme Light, which is the only absoluteReality.
Suhrawardi elaborated theneoplatonic idea of an independent intermediary world, theimaginal world (ʿalam-i mithal عالم مثال). His views have exerted a powerful influence down to this day, particularly throughMulla Sadra’s combined peripatetic and illuminationist description of reality.
Suhrawardi's Illuminationist project was to have far-reaching consequences for Islamic philosophy in Shi'ite Iran. His teachings had a strong influence on subsequentesoteric Iranian thought and the idea of “Decisive Necessity” is believed to be one of the most important innovations in the history of logical philosophical speculation, stressed by the majority ofMuslim logicians and philosophers. In the 17th century, it was to initiate an IlluminationistZoroastrian revival in the figure of the 16th century sageAzar Kayvan.
Many later philosophers were influenced by the Illuminationist philosophy of Suhrawardi includingAthir al-Din al-Abhari,Al-Allama al-Hilli,Ibn Abi Jumhur al-Ahsa'i,Jalal al-Din Davani, and alsoMulla Sadra.[9]
Suhrawardi thought of himself as a reviver or resuscitator of the ancient Persian wisdom.[7] He states inHikmat al-'Ishraq that:
There was among the ancient Persians a community of people guided by God who thus walked the true way, worthy Sage-Philosophers, with no resemblance to theMagi (Dualists). It is their precious philosophy of Light, the same as that to which themysticalexperience of Plato and his predecessors bear witness, that we have revived in our book calledIlluminationist Philosophy (Hikmat al-'Ishraq), and I have had no precursor in the way of such project.
Suhrawardi uses pre-IslamicIraniangnosis, synthesising it with Greek andIslamicwisdom. The main influence from pre-Islamic Iranian thought on Suhrawardi is in the realm ofangelology andcosmology. He believed that the ancient Persians' wisdom was shared by Greek philosophers such as Plato as well as by the Egyptian Hermes and considered his philosophy of illumination a rediscovery of this ancient wisdom. According to Nasr, Suhrawardi provides an important link between the thought of pre-Islamic and post-Islamic Iran and a harmonious synthesis between the two. AndHenry Corbin states: "In northwestern Iran, Sohravardi (d. 1191) carried out the great project of reviving the wisdom or theosophy of ancient pre-Islamic Zoroastrian Iran."[21]
In his workAlwah Imadi, Suhrawardi offers an esoteric interpretation ofFerdowsi'sEpic of Kings (Shah Nama)[22] in which figures such asFereydun, Zahak, Kay Khusraw[22] and Jamshid are seen as manifestations of the divine light.Seyyed Hossein Nasr states: "Alwah 'Imadi is one of the most brilliant works of Suhrawardi in which the tales of ancient Persia and the wisdom of gnosis of antiquity in the context of the esoteric meaning of the Quran have been synthesized".[22]
In this Persian workPartaw Nama and his main Arabic workHikmat al-Ishraq, Suhrawardi makes extensive use ofZoroastrian symbolism[22] and his elaborate angelology is also based on Zoroastrian models.[22] The supreme light he calls both by its Quranic andMazdean names,al-nur al-a'zam (the Supreme Light) andVohuman (Bahman). Suhrawardi refers to thehukamayya-fars (Persian philosophers) as major practitioners of hisIshraqi wisdom and considersZoroaster,Jamasp, Goshtasp,Kay Khusraw, Frashostar andBozorgmehr as possessors of this ancient wisdom.
Among pre-Islamic Iraniansymbols andconcepts used by Suhrawardi are:minu (incorporeal world),giti (corporeal world),Surush (messenger, Gabriel),Farvardin (the lower world),gawhar (pure essence),Bahram,Hurakhsh (the Sun),shahriyar (archetype of species),isfahbad (light in the body),Amordad (Zoroastrian angel),Shahrivar (Zoroastrian angel), and theKiyaniKhvarenah.
With regards to the pre-Islamic Iranian concept ofKhvarenah (glory), Suhrawardi mentions:[23]
"Whoever knows philosophy (hikmat) and perseveres in thanking and sanctifying the Light of the Lights, will be endowed with royal glory (kharreh) and with luminous splendor (farreh), and—as we have said elsewhere—divine light will further bestow upon him the cloak of royal power and value. Such a person shall then become the natural ruler of the universe. He shall be given aid from the high heavens, and whatever he commands shall be obeyed; and hisdreams and inspirations will reach their uppermost, perfect pinnacle."
و هر که حکمت بداند و بر سپاس و تقدیس نور الانوار مداومت نماید، او را خرّه کیانی بدهند و فرّ نورانی ببخشند، و بارقی الاهی او را کسوت هیبت و بهاء بپوشاند و رئیس طبیعی شود عالم را، و او را از عالم اعلا نصرت رسد و سخن او در عالم علوی مسموع باشد، و خواب و الهام او به کمال رسد.»
According toHossein Nasr since Sheykh Ishraq was not translated into Western languages in the medieval period, Europeans had little knowledge about Suhrawardi and his philosophy. His school is ignored even now by later scholars.[24] Sheykh Ishraq tried to pose a new perspective on questions like the question of Existence. He not only caused peripatetic philosophers to confront new questions but also gave new life to the body of philosophy after Avicenna.[25]
According to John Walbridge, Suhrawardi's critique on peripatetic philosophy can be counted as an important turning point for his successors. Suhrawardi tried to criticize Avicennism in a new approach. Although Suhrawardi first was a pioneer of peripatetic philosophy, he later became a Platonist following a mystical experience. He is also considered as the one who revived the ancient wisdom of Persia by his philosophy of Illumination. His followers include otherKurdish and Persian philosophers such asShahrazuri andQutb al-Din al-Shirazi who tried to continue the way of their teacher. Suhrawardi made a distinction between two approaches in hisIlluminationism: one approach is discursive and the other is intuitive.[26]
There are different and contradictory views regarding the character of Suhrawardi's school. Some scholars such as Hossein Ziai believe that the most important aspects of his thought are his logic and critique of the peripateticconception of definitions.[22][page needed] On the other hand,scholars like Mehdi Hairi and Sayyid Jalal Addin Ashtiyyani, believe that Suhrawardi remained within the framework of peripatetic and neo-Avicennian philosophy. Mehdi Amin Razavi criticises both these groups for ignoring the mystical dimension of Suhrawardi's writings.[22][page needed] In turn, scholars such asHenry Corbin andHossein Nasr view Suhrawardi as atheosophist and focus on the mystical dimension of his work.[citation needed] Viewing in another way,Nadia Maftouni has analysed Suhrawardi's works to figure out the elements of philosophy as a way of life. As she holds, the priority ofpractical reason totheoretical reason, the emphasis onintuition, taking philosophy as a practice of attaining optional death, and proposing ways to heal mental diseases may well be considered the main elements of philosophy as a way of life in Suhrawardi'sallegoricaltreatises.[27]
Suhrawardi left over 50 writings in Persian and Arabic.
