Suhrawardi and the School of Illumination

Shihab al-Din Yahya Suhrawardi, also known as Shaikh al-ishraq or the Master of Illumination, lived in the sixth century AH / twelfth century CE. His thoughts form a consistent and coherent philosophical system, and a close study of his writings in Persian reveals a theory of knowledge generally called 'Knowledge by Presence'. The elaborate web of myth and symbolism in Suhrawardi's philosophy articulates his theory of knowledge, an important subject in the ishraqi school of thought. Suhrawardi, who claims first to have discovered the truth and then embarked on a path to find the rational basis of his experiential wisdom, represents a thinker who tried to reconcile rational discourse and inner purification.

Acknowledgements

xiii

Introduction

xv

1. The Life and Works of Suhrawardi

1

(30)

A. Life

1

(4)

B. Intellectual Context

5

(2)

C. Works: A Survey of Suhrawardi's Works

7

(71)

1. The Intimations

9

(2)

2. The Opposites

11

(1)

3. The Paths and the Conversations

11

(2)

4. The Philosophy of Illumination

13

(1)

5. Treatise on Illumination

14

(1)

6. Luminous Bodies

15

(1)

7. Tablets of 'Imad al-Din

15

(2)

8. Treatise of the Birds

17

(3)

9. The Chant of Gabriel's Wing

20

(1)

10. The Red Intellect

21

(1)

11. A Day Among the Sufis

22

(1)

12. On the State of Childhood

23

(1)

13. On the Reality of Love

24

(1)

14. Prayers and Supplications

25

(1)

15. Conclusion

25

(6)

2. Central Themes

31

(27)

1. Ontology

31

(2)

2. Existence and Essence

33

(2)

3. On Necessary and Contingent Beings

35

(1)

4. Limit and Infinity

36

(1)

5. God's Existence

37

(2)

6. Self-Body Problem

39

(2)

7. Life After Death

41

(3)

8. Logic

44

(1)

9. Angelology

45

(2)

10. Physics

47

(1)

11. Psychology

48

(1)

12. Eschatology

49

(1)

13. Hikmat vs. Philosophy

50

(8)

3. Practical Sufism

58

(20)

1. Suhrawardi's Vision

58

(4)

2. On the Nature of Man

62

(3)

3. On the Spiritual Journey and Ascetiscism

65

(7)

4. Unity and the Final Abode

72

(6)

4. Philosophical Sufism

78

(43)

1. On Light and Its Varieties

78

(3)

2. Angelology

81

(6)

3. The Archetypal World: Mundus Imaginalis

87

(2)

4. Vision

89

(1)

5. Vision and Intellection

90

(1)

6. Knowledge and Presence

90

(2)

A. Epistemology

92

(10)

1. Knowledge by Definition

93

(3)

2. Knowledge by Sense Perception

96

(3)

3. Knowledge Through Innate Ideas

99

(1)

4. Suhrawardi's Philosophy of Epistemology

100

(2)

B. Knowledge by Presence

102

(19)

1. Arguments from "I/IT" Dichotomy

103

(4)

2. Arguments from Pre-cognitive Mode of Knowledge

107

(1)

3. Arguments from Attributes

108

(2)

4. Conclusion

110

(1)

5. Practical Consequences of a Philosophical Historical Analysis

111

(2)

6. A Critical Analysis of Knowledge by Presence

113

(8)

5. The Influence of Suhrawardi on Islamic Philosophy

121

(25)

A. The Greater Persia

122

(15)

1. Ishraqi Philosophy Before the School of Isfahan

123

(1)

2. School of Isfahan

124

(4)

3. Suhrawardi and Mulla Sadra

128

(2)

4. The Qajar Period

130

(5)

5. Shaykhiyyah School

135

(1)

6. Contemporary Period

135

(2)

B. India

137

(2)

C. Suhrawardi in Syria and Anatolia

139

(1)

D. Suhrawardi in the West

140

(6)

6. Concluding Remarks

146

(4)

7. Appendix: A Translation of the Text and Commentary of the Chant of Gabriel's Wing

150

(16)

Bibliography

166

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Suhrawardi and the School of Illumination

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