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PHILOSOPHICAL SUFISM: AN ANALYSIS OF

SUHRAWARDIS CONTRIBUTION WITH
SPECIAL REFERENCE TO HIS SCHOOL OF
ILLUMINATION (ISHRAQI)
Muhammad Obaidullah
School of Islamic Studies, Manarat International
University. Dhaka-1216. Bangladesh.
Email: [email protected]
Khulasah
Kajian ini bertujuan menjelaskan falsafah mistik
Shihab al-Din Yahya Suhrawardi (1154-1191),
seorang ahli falsafah mistik dan pengasas aliran
iluminasi (Ishraqi), yang dikenali umum sebagai
Shaykh al-Ishraqi. Kertas ini juga menjelaskan asalusul teori iluminasi (Ishraqi), ciri-ciri dan peranannya
dalam pemikiran sufi falsafi. Kesimpulannya, doktrin
ini sangat diperlukan pada masa kini bagi memulih
dan menyucikan jiwa kita untuk meraih kejayaan di
dunia dan akhirat. Metodologi yang digunakan
dalam kajian ini adalah bersifat kritikal dan
analitikal.
Kata Kunci: Iluminasi; sufisme;
epistemologi; kosmologi; ontologi.

falsafah;

Abstract
Present study aims at asserting the philosophical
mysticism of Shihab al-Din Yahya Suhrawardi
(1154-1191 A.D.), the philosopher-mystic and the
founder of the School of Illumination (Ishraqi), who
is universally known as Shaykh al-Ishraqi. This paper
also highlights the origin of the theory of
Illumination (Ishraqi), its nature and role towards
the philosophical sufis thought. Additionally, it
concludes with stating the influential necessity of this
doctrine in the present world to revive and purify our
soul to accomplish the success in this life and
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hereafter with the critical evaluation of others. The

methodologies applied in the study are critical and
analytical.
Keywords: Illumination; Sufism;
epistemology; cosmology; ontology.

philosophy;

Introduction
Suhrawardis (d. 1191) contribution towards development
of Islamic mysticism and mystical philosophy with special
reference to his school of illumination is discussed,
analyzed and appreciated by scholars, thinkers, scholars
and others. His intellectual contributions and of the impact
he had on his successors, in particular later Islamic
philosophy which culminated in the School of Isfahan1
are also mentionable. The present work undertakes a study
of the mystical dimension of Suhrawardis thought. Like
many others, Suhrawardi (d. 1191) build up a system as well
as he commended on various traditional philosophical
topics such as metaphysics, 2 ontology,3 cosmology,4 and
1

The founder of this School is Mir Muhammad Baqir Damad Husayni

Astarabadi, known as Mir Damad, was one of the most outstanding
figures of this period. See more on School of Isfahan, Mehdi Amin
Razavi, Suhrawardi and the School of Illumination (Surrey: Curzon
Press, 1997), 124-128.
2
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of
ultimate reality. Metaphysics is customarily divided into ontology,
which deals with the question of how many fundamentally distinct
sorts of entities compose the universe, and metaphysics proper,
which is concerned with describing the most general traits of reality..
See for details, Donald M Borchert. (ed.), Encyclopedia of
Philosophy, 2nd ed. (United State of America: Thomson Gale, 2006),
vol. 6, 169.
3
In philosophy, ontology is the study of the nature of being, existence,
or reality in general and of its basic categories and their relations.
Traditionally listed as part of a major branch of philosophy known as
metaphysics, ontology gives particular emphasis to questions
regarding what entities exist or can be said to exist, and how such
entities can be grouped and related within a hierarchy, subdivided
according to similarities and differences. See for details, Borchert,
Encyclopedia of Philosophy, vol. 7, 21-22.

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epistemology5. His thought later on considered as the

school of Illumination or School of al-Ishraqi is one of the
most significant schools in Islamic mystical philosophy.
This paper basically introduces Suhrawardi and his
contribution. In this regard, his concept of Illumination
(Ishraqi) has been emphasized more in the discussion
rather than any other of his thoughts.
A Biographical Sketch of Suhrawardi (1154-1191 A.D.)
and His Works
Suhrawardi (d. 1191): The Master of Sufi Ishraqi
Suhrawardis fill name is Shihab al-Din Yahya ibn Habash
ibn Amirak Abu al-Futuh Suhrawardi al-Maqtul. He is
considered as the master of illumination (Shaykh alIshraqi). He was born in Aleppo, Syria, in 1154 and was
killed by order of Saladin in 1191.6 He started his
education in nearby Maraghah with the loves of Majd alDin al-Jili, one of the teachers of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi
4

Cosmology is study of the universe in its totality, and by extension,

humanitys place in it. The study of the universe has a long history
involving science, philosophy, esotericism, and religion. See for
details Ibid., vol. 2, 556-557.
Epistemology attempts to explain the nature and scope of knowledge
and rational belief. Its purview also includes formulating and
assessing arguments for skeptical conclusions that we do not have
knowledge of various kinds. In addition, epistemologists address
topics that are closely related to these core concerns, including
evaluations of thought processes and the relationship of science to
philosophy. Ibid., vol. 3, 270.
Majid Fakhry, Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Mysticism (Oxford:
Oneworld Publications, 1977), 113. Some writers mention that he
was born in the northwestern Iranian village of Suhrawardi located
in Kurdish in 1155 (See: Butterworth, C. E., The Political Aspects of
Islamic Philosophy: Essays in Honor of Muhsin S. Mahdi
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992), 336) inhabited region
in present-day northwestern Iran and was executed at age of 36 or 38
in 1191 in Aleppo. Suhraward or Suhrabard was a Kurdish village
located between present-day towns of Zanjan and Bijar. See: M.
Kamil, Mulla Sadrs Transcendent Philosophy (England: Ashgate
Publishing Inc. 2006), 136.

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(d.1209). He then traveled to Isfahan, where he studied

with the logician Zahir al-Farisi with whom he read a text
on logic written by Ibn Sahlan al-Sawi (d. 1170).
Suhrawardi then embarked on a journey that led him to
Anatolia. Shams al-Din al-Shahrazuri (d.1288) identifies
this period as his quest for spiritual guidance, a period
when he would have met a number of sufi masters, such as
Fakhr al-Din al-Maridini (d.1198), and would have sought
patrons among the local rulers of Anatolia.7
Once Suhrawardi arrived in Aleppo in 1183, the year
Saladin (d.1193) conquered that city and handed it over to
his son al-Zahir (d.1216), he made a name for himself
among religious scholars of the city, like Iftikhar al-Din
and others. In 1186, at the age of thirty-three, he
completed his most significant and famous work titled the
Philosophy of Illumination.
Suhrawardis Contribution to Knowledge
Suhrawardi wrote some books and treaties which
contribute a lot in the field of knowledge, especially in the
field of philosophical mysticism. Suhrawardis works
have been classified into five different categories which
are as follows:8
i. Treatise
Al-Talwihat (The Book of Intimations), al-Muqawamat
(The Book of Opposites), al-Mutarahat (The Book of
Conversations), and finally Hikmah al-Ishraq (The
Philosophy of Illumination) have been classified and
7
8

Ibid.
For more information on S.H. Nasrs classification, see: Three
Muslim Sages (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973), 58.
For H. Corbins classification see his Prolegomena Instruct to
Suhrawardi: Opera Metaphysica et Mystica, vol. 16, (Istanbul:
Bibliotheca Islamica, 1945), 16. As quoted by Razavi, Mehdi Amin
The Significance of Suhrawardis Persian Sufi Writings in the
Philosophy of Illumination, in The Heritage of Sufism: Classical
Persian Sufism from its Origins to Rumi (700-1300), ed. Leonard
Lewisohn (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 1999), vol. 1, 261.

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considered as the treatises of a philosophical nature. The

first three of these works were written in the tradition of
the peripatetic9 although there are criticisms of certain
peripatetic thinkers on them.
9

The term peripatetic is a transliteration of the ancient Greek word

peripatetikos, which means of walking or given to walking about,
or going from place to place. Sally Wehmeier ed., Oxford
Advanced Learners Dictionary to Current English (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2000), 865. The peripatetics were members
of a school of philosophy in ancient Greece. Their teachings derived
from their founder, the Greek philosopher Aristotle (d. 322 B.C.E)
and peripatetic is a name given to his followers. The name
Peripatetic came from Aristotles alleged habit of walking while
lecturing. See: G.W.F. Hegel, Lectures on the History of Philosophy
1825-1826: Greek Philosophy, 2, ed. Robert F. Brown, (United
Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 2006), 229. The main teaching
of this school, according to Aristotle (d. 322 B.C.E.), is philosophy
means science, and its aim is the recognition of the why in all
things. All change or motion takes place in regard to substance,
quantity, quality and place. There are three kinds of substances those alternately in motion and at rest, as the animals; those
perpetually in motion, as the sky; and those eternally stationary. The
last, in them immovable and imperishable, are the source and origin
of all motion. Among them there must be one first being,
unchangeable, which acts without the intervention of any other
being. All that is proceeds from it; it is the most perfect intelligence God. The immediate action of this prime mover - happy in the
contemplation of itself - extends only to the heavens; the other
inferior spheres are moved by other incorporeal and eternal
substances, which the popular belief adores as gods. The heavens are
of a more perfect and divine nature than other bodies. In the centre of
the universe is the earth, round and stationary. The stars, like the sky,
beings of a higher nature, but of grosser matter, move by the impulse
of the prime mover. Additionally, for Aristotle, matter is the basis of
all that exists; it comprises the potentiality of everything, but of itself
is not actually anything. A determinate thing only comes into being
when the potentiality in matter is converted into actuality. This is
achieved by form, the idea existent not as one outside the many, but
as one in the many, the completion of the potentiality latent in the
matter. Another teaching of this school is the soul is the principle of
life in the organic body, and is inseparable from the body. See for
details: Robert Audi, The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
(United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 659-660.

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ii. Shorter Works

There are also some shorter works, some of which are also
of a doctrinal nature. These are: Hayakil al-Nur (Temples
of Light10), Alwah al-`Imadiyyah (The Tablets of `Imad
al-Din), Partaw-nama (Treatise on Illumination), Fi
`Itiqad al-Hukama (On the Faith of the Adepts), alLamahat (Flashes of Light), Yazdanshinakht (Knowledge
of the Divine), and Bustan al-Qulub (The Garden of the
Heart). Some of these works are in Arabic and some in
Persian. His works in Persian are among the finest literary
writings in the Persian language. Suhrawardi (d. 1191)
himself may have translated some of these treatises from
Arabic into Persian.
iii. Treatises of Exotic Nature in Persian
These are initiatory narratives which contain a highly
symbolic language, most of which incorporate
Zoroastrian and Hermetic symbols as well as Islamic
ones. These treatises include: Aql-i surkh (The Red
Intellect), Awaz-i par-i Jibrail (The Chant of the Wing of
Gabriel), al-Qissah al-Ghurbat al-Gharbiyyah (Recital of
the Occidental Exile), Lughat-i muran (Language of the
Termites), Risalah fi Halah al-Tufuliyyah (Treatise on the
State of Childhood), Ruzi ba jama'at-i sufiyan (A Day
among the Community of the Sufis), Safir-i simurg (The
Song of the Griffin), and Risalah fi al-Mi`raj (Treatise on
the Nocturnal Journey). These treatises are intended to
demonstrate the journey of the soul toward unity and the
inherent yearning of man toward gnosis (ma`rifah). As
will be seen, without the help of the above works Ishraqi
doctrine cannot be fully understood.
iv. Treatises of a Philosophic and Initiatic Nature
There are also a number of treatises of a philosophic and
initiatic nature. These include his translation of Risalah al10

This book is translated into English which was edited by M.A. Abi
Rayyan and published by Al-Maktabah al-Tijariyyah al-Kubra, Cairo
in 1957.

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Tayr (Treatise of the Birds) of Ibn Sina (d. 1037) and the
commentary in Persian upon Ibn Sinas al-Isharat wa alTanbihat. There is also his treatise Risalah fi Haqiqah alIshq (Treatise on the Reality of Love) which is based on
Ibn Sinas Risalah fi al-Ishq (Treatise on Love) and his
commentaries on verses of the Quran and the Hadith. It is
also said that Suhrawardi may have written a commentary
upon the Fusus of al-Farabi, which has been lost.11
v. Liturgical Writings
Finally, there is the category of his liturgical writings,
namely prayers, invocations and litanies. Shahrazuri calls
them al-Waridah wa al-Taqdisat12 (Invocations and
Prayers).13 Despite certain extracts which appear in Henry
Corbins LArchange empourpre, these important writings
of Suhrawardi have received the least amount of attention.
They are of a liturgical nature and represent Suhrawardis
angelology and its relationship to the spiritual entities of
the planets.
Suhrawardis works circulated mainly within the
traditional philosophical circles of learning of the Islamic
East until the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th
centuries. Later his all books are translated into many
languages.
Suhrawardi and the Philosophical Sufism
Suhrawardis Concept of Light
Suhrawardi, in his Philosophy of Illumination, developed
a truly original light ontology. While light always remains
in itself identical, its proximity or distance from the Light
of Lights determines the ontic light reality of all beings.
Light operates through the activities of dominion of the
11

Nasr, Three Muslim Sages, 150.

The invocations and prayers have been published in M. Mu`in (ed.),
Majala-yi amuzish wa parvarish (Tehran: Ministry of Education
Press, 1924), 5.
13
Nasr, Three Muslim Sages, 150.
12

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higher triumphal or victorial lights, as well as the

desire of the lower lights for the higher ones, operating at
all levels and hierarchies of reality.14 According to him,
the core of the wisdom of illumination is the science of
light, which deals with the nature of light and the manner
of its fusion. This light is indefinable, because it is the
most manifest reality; it is indeed the reality which
manifests all other things and is the substance that enters
into the composition of all other substances, material or
immaterial.15
Light, in the view of Suhrawardi, is divided into two
such as; (1) light of itself and in itself, and; (2) light of
itself but in another. It is latter light that illuminates all
things; but whether in itself or in another, light is
supremely manifest and is the cause of the manifestation
all things which actually emanate from it. It follows,
therefore, that is living, since life is nothing but the
essential self-manifestation outwardly on other things.16
Furthermore, there are another three lights in the
view of Suhrawardi which are described by Majid Fakhry
in his book. That is why I would like to quote his words
here. He states that:
in addition to necessity, the Light of Lights
is characterized by unity. For if we posit two
primary lights, we would be involved in this
contradiction, that they must derive their being
from a third light, which is entirely one.
Similarly, it is characterized by the capacity to
import its light to all the secondary lights
emanation from it. The first of these lights is
called by Suhrawardi the First Light, which
14

J.Walbridge, The Leaven of the Ancients: Suhrawardi and the

Heritage of the Greeks (Albany: State University of New York Press,
2000), 24.
15
Majid Fakhry, Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Mysticism
(Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 1977), 114.
16
See for detail, Ibid., 115.

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differs from its source or the Light of Lights

only in the degree of its perfection or purity.
Next, from the First Light emanate the
secondary lights, the heavenly bodies and the
physical compounds or elements making up
the physical world, to which Suhrawardi
applies the name isthmuses. This latter world
may also be described as the shadow of the
Light of Lights or its penumbra and like its
source or cause is eternal.17
In summary, it is very complicated to show the view
of Illuminationist philosophy. Because Suhrawardi uses
various term to depict the level of light. For example, he
uses the term The Self-Subsisting Light, The Holy Light,
The Necessary Being, The Pure Light to describe the
Light of Light which is the source of all Lights. So that,
after above discussion, we can conclude to state that the
Light of Light is God and all other things manifest from
this Light of Light means this is the source of other lights.
According to Suhrawardi, there are many lights levels
according to their perfection. The lowest level of these
lights is darkness, in Suhrawardis view, the body without
soul, light. In this matter, he uses the term isfandar
mood, whose talisman is earth or dust, to state the
elemental combination of the physical objects.
The most perfection mood of elemental combinations
is the humankind, who receive their perfection from
Gabriel and this is the Holy Spirit, which breathes into the
humankind the human spirit, called the Isfahbad of
humanity, according to Suhrawardis view. Moreover,
everything other than pure light consists both of that
which requires a bearer and is called the dark substance,
or the form of that substance, which is darkness itself. He
uses the term isthmuses (Barzakh) which are pure
17

Ibid.

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darkness and receive all the light permeating them from an

outside source. It is also mentionable to state that the
nature of the soul is to return to the world of Pure Light.18
The Origin of Suhrawardis Concept of Light
It is difficult to find out the exact origin of Suhrawardis
concept of light while his philosophy of Illumination is
not based on any particular idea or philosophy. It is
seemed that the philosophy of Illumination is related to
many ideas, i.e. to the Platonic philosophy, Peripatetic
school and so on. To depict the origin of the Suhrawardis
concept of light, according to my opinion, it is necessary
to discuss the historical background of using light in
philosophy including epistemology, ontology, physics,
metaphysics, and so on. Consequently, in this passage, we
are going to discuss on the light used in any philosophy
before Suhrawardi (d. 1191) from the historical
background.
In discussion of the concept of light or the philosophy
of Illumination some ancient ides come to show their
relation to this concept such as the philosophy of Plato
(d.347 B.C.E.), the philosophy of Aristotle (d.322 B.C.E.),
the philosophy of Ibn Sina (d.1037) and the Ghazalis
(d.1111) discussion on the ontology of light in the Quran
in his works Mishkat al-Anwar (The Niche for Light).
Therefore we are going to discuss on these philosophies
and their relation to the Suhrawardis concept of light in
brief.
In Platos philosophy, light is used as an example to
describe the cosmology, epistemology and other
philosophical issues. In cosmology, according to the
philosophy of Plato, the physical objects and physical
events are shadows of their ideal or perfect forms, and
exist only to the extent that they instantiate the perfect
versions of themselves. While he used the word shadow
18

Fakhry, Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Mysticism, 115.

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to describe the physical world, the perfect form of this

world is pure light. The shadows, as an example, which he
uses in the allegory of the Cave19 to illustrate our nature
in its education and want of education. Obviously, it has
link to his doctrine of the forms.20 Moreover, in his
description of the pure land, he uses the term the true
light as he states:21
But the true earth is pure and situated in the
pure heaven... and it is the heaven which is
commonly spoken by us as the ether... for if
any man could arrive at the extreme limit... he
would acknowledge that this other world was
19

The Allegory of the Cave is an allegory used by the Greek

philosopher Plato (d. 347 B.C.E) in his work The Republic to
illustrate our nature in its education and want of education. The
allegory of the cave is written as a fictional dialogue between Platos
teacher Socrates (d. 399 B.C.E.) and Platos brother Glaucon. Plato
imagines a group of people who have lived chained in a cave all of
their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected
on the wall by things passing in front of the cave entrance, and begin
to ascribe forms to these shadows. According to Plato, the shadows
are as close as the prisoners get to seeing reality. He then explains
how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and
comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are not constitutive
of reality at all, as he can perceive the true form of reality rather than
the mere shadows seen by the prisoners. The allegory is related to
Platos theory of forms. In addition, the allegory of the cave is an
attempt to explain the philosophers place in society. See for details,
Charles H. Khan, Plato and the Socratic Dialogue: The
Philosophical use of a Literary Form (United Kingdom: Cambridge
University Press, 2004), 125-133.
20
Platos Theory of Forms asserts that forms (or ideas), and not the
material world of change known to us through sensation, possess the
highest and most fundamental kind of reality. The forms are the only
true objects of study that can provide us with genuine knowledge.
Plato spoke of forms in formulating his solution to the problem of
universals. See for details, Stephen Watt, Introduction: the theory of
forms (London: Wordsworth edition, 1997), 114-116.
21
As quoted by Martha C. Back, Platos Self-Corrective Development
of the Concepts of Soul, Form and Immortality in Three Arguments
of the Pheado (United Kingdom: Edwin Mellon Press, 1999), 148.

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the place of the true heaven, and the true light

and the true earth.
Additionally, in the The Republic, Plato uses the sun
as a metaphor for the source of intellectual illumination,
which he holds to be The Form of the Good.22 He also
states that the strongest and the best source of light is the
sun.23 And everything is the illuminated by the highest of
the Forms, that of the Good.24
Likewise, in the philosophy of Aristotle, the notion of
light is also discussed. But it is not more than his teacher.
In reality, Aristotle follows his teacher in most cases. In
few cases, however, he argues on Platos view in the
notion of light. For example, Aristotle rejected the theory
of Plato that light rays were emitted from the eyes and so
on.25
It should be noted here that the Master of
Illumination is a Persian and there is a deity or divine
concept in Persian culture, especially in the
Zoroastrianism that they believe that the Mithra is a
member of the Ahuric triad, protectors of truth and justice
and the source of cosmic light. Mithra, according to their
doctrine, is the controller or administrator of this universe
and to aid in the destruction of evil.26 He is then the divine
representative of the Creator on earth, and is directed to
protect the righteous.27

22

See for details, Norman Melchert, The Great Conversation: A

Historical introduction to Philosophy (London: McGraw Hill, 2002),
52-57.
23
Ibid., 55.
24
Ibid.
25
For more information on his theory of optics, see, David Bolotin, An
Approach to Aristotles Physics: With Particular Attention to the
Role of His Manner of Writing (Albany: SUNY Press, 1998), 67.
26
William Malandra, An Introduction to Ancient Iranian Religion
(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983), 138-139.
27
Ibid.

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As the enemy of darkness and evil spirits, he

protected soul, accompanying them to paradise, and was
thus a redeemer.28 Because light is accompanied by heat,
he was the promoter of vegetation and increase; he
rewarded the good with prosperity and annihilated the
bad.29 While he is the source of light they warship fire,
The Sun. Therefore, the concept of light has a position in
Persian culture as a divine deity.
This concept, obviously, is verily rejected by
Suhrawardi as well as other Muslims scholars while this
idea is discarded in the view of Islam. So, we cant find
out that this idea influences on Suhrawardis concept of
light. The view held by some of the prominent scholars of
Islamic philosophy regards Suhrawardi as a philosopher
who remains essentially within the Ibn Sina philosophical
domain despite his innovations and deviations from the
Peripatetic view.30 It is known to us that the philosophy of
Ibn Sina is merely influenced by the Aristotles
philosophy. Thus he is well known as peripatetic master.
Preliminarily if we examine the philosophy of Ibn
Sina, we can define that some of Suhrawardis ideas are
influenced by it, i.e. the theory of knowledge31 and so on.
There is another prominent work which has been done by
al-Ghazali. In his book named Mishkat al-Anwar (The
28

Ibid.
Ibid.
30
Mehdi Amin Razavi, Suhrawardi and the School of Illumination
(Surrey: Curzon Press, 1997), xvii-xviii.
31
According to Ibn Sina (d. 1037), the human intellect has neither the
role nor the power to abstract the intelligible from the sensible.
Humans are intellectual only potentially, and all knowledge and all
recollection are emanation and an illumination which come from the
Angel. Only illumination by the Angel confers upon them the ability
to make from this potential a real ability to think. See for more
details on the theory of knowledge in the Ibn Sinas philosophy:
Henry Corbin, History of Islamic Philosophy, trans. from French into
English by Philip Sherrard (London: Kegan Pawl International with
Islamic Publications for the Institute of Ismaili Studies, 1993), 172.
29

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Niche for Lights),32 the light is described more than any

other particular works. In the first section of this book, he
considers the word light itself, and its plural lights, as
applied to physical light and light; to the eye; to the
intelligence, to prophets, to supernal being and finally to
Allah Himself, who is shown to be not the only source of
light and of these lights, but also the only real actual light
in all existence. In the second part of this book, he
considers a philosophical basis for this fidelity-a fidelity
which some of the bolder and more extreme mystics found
illogical and unspiritual.
Here, if we compare between the concept of light in
Suhrawardis philosophy and in al-Ghazalis illustration of
light we must find out a link. The idea which is developed
by the Shaykh al-Ishraq is influenced by the al-Ghazalis
concept of light. However, the Niche of Light is discussed
from the view of mystical epistemology using Quranic
light terminology, whereas Suhrawardi, in his Philosophy
of Illumination develops a truly original light ontology.
According to the above discussion, it can be said that
Suhrawardi accordingly is regarded as one who by
drawing from various sources33 interprets Ibn Sina,
thereby synthesizing Aristotle and Plato. In real sense, the
concept of light in the philosophy of Illumination is more
related to the Platonic philosophy then other philosophies.
However, the whole philosophy of Illumination is
regarded to the peripatetic school.
Therefore, it should not be prudent to relate the origin
of Suhrawardis concept of light to the Peripatetic school,
as a whole, while Suhrawardi states that the intimations,
32

For more information of the Niche for Lights, see: Al-Ghazali,

Mishkat al-Anwar (the Niche for Lights), trans. W.H.T Gairdner
(Lahore: SH. Muhammad Ashraf, 1952), 175.
33
For more information on the origin or the source of Suhrawardis
idea, see: S. H. Nasr, Suhrawardi: The Master of Illumination,
Gnostic and Martyr, in Islamic Philosophy and Theology, vol. 4, ed.
I.R. Netton (ed.), 74-77.

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for example, is written according to the Peripatetic

method, this should not be considered an independent
work written about Peripatetic philosophy. Rather, it
indicates that the philosophy of Illumination includes but
is not defined by accepted Peripatetic teachings, parts of
which Suhrawardi accepted and parts of which he rejected
or refined.34 Finally, we can mention here a statement of
Suhrawardi himself to state explicitly the nature of ishraq
wisdom and its relation to ancient doctrines. He writes:
Although before the composition of this book
I composed several summary treatises on
Aristotelian philosophy, this book differs from
them and has a method peculiar to itself. All of
its material has not been assembled by thought
and reasoning; rather intellectual intuition,
contemplation, and ascetic practices have
played an important role in it. Since our
sayings have not come by means of rational
demonstration but by inner vision and
contemplation, they cant be destroyed but the
doubts and temptations of the sceptics.
Whoever is a traveller (salik) on the way to
truth is my compaction and a help on this
path. And the ishraqi wisdom the foundation
and basis of which are the two principles of
light and darkness as established by the Persian
sages. is among these hidden, secret
symbols. One must never think that the light
and darkness which appear in our expressions
are the same as those used by the infidel Magi

34

Hossein Ziai, Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi: Founder of the

Illuminationist School, in Islamic Philosophy and Theology, vol. 4,
ed. I.R. Netton (London: Routledge, 2002), 39.

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or the heretical Manicheans for they finally

involve us in idolatry (shirk) and dualism.35
The above mentioned quotation
summarized in the figure below:

can

be

simply

Figure 1: Shihab al-Din Suhrawardis sources of

doctrine36
Hermes
Agathodemon (Seth)

Asclepius
Pythagoras
Empedocles
Plato
Neo-Platonists
Dhun al-Nun Mir
Ab Sahl Tustari

Persian priest-kings:
Kiumarth, Faridun,
Kai Khusrau
Abu Yazid Bistami
Mansur Hallaj
Abu al-Hassan
Kharraqani

Suhrawardi

Suhrawardis Philosophical Epistemology

The cornerstone of Suhrawardis Ishraqi epistemology is
that any epistemological relationship can take place if, and
only if, we know ourselves first. In fact, this idea can also
be viewed in the contest of Socrates thesis know
thyself. For Suhrawardi, when we say I know P or I
do P, we have implicitly stated that we know ourselves.
The basic Illuminationist principle is that to know
something is to obtain an experience of it, tantamount to a
35

Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi, Kitab Hikmat al-Ishraqi, in Majmu'ah

Musannafat Ishraq (Tehran: n.p., 1373 AH), 9-11.
36
Nasr, Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi al-Maqtul, 376.

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primary intuition of the determinants of the thing.

Therefore, the knowledge of Illuminationist is called
knowledge by presence. If we study Suhrawardis
works, it would be clear to us that the Ishraqi
epistemology consists of four stages. First three stages
dealing with the question of knowledge while fourth stage
dealing with describing the experience.
The first stage is preparing activities for accepting
experience, the last stage. The second is the stage of
illumination, in which the philosopher attains vision of a
Divine Light. The third stage is the stage of construction
where he obtains unlimited knowledge and this is the
Illuminationist knowledge or Ishraqi knowledge. The last
stage is the documentation or written form of that
visionary experience. Therefore, the third and fourth
stages as documented in Suhrawardis writings are the
only components of the philosophy of Illumination.
There is a way to attain this knowledge in the
philosophy of Illuminationist. In the first stage, there are
three things consist of; (1) an activity,37 (2) a condition,
and; (3) personal revelation. According to Suhrawardi, a
portion of the light of God resides within the
philosopher, who possesses intuitive powers. Therefore,
by practicing the activities in this stage, he or she is able,
through personal revelation and vision, to accept the
reality of his or her own existence and admit the truth of
his or her own intuition.38
Actually, first stage leads to the second, and the
Divine Light enters the being of the human. This light
then takes the form of a series of apocalyptic lights, and
through them the knowledge that serves as the foundation
of real sciences is obtained. In third stage, philosopher
37

Activities refer to go on a forty-day retreat, abstaining from eating

meat and preparing for inspiration and revelation. Suhrawardi,
Opera II, 241, as cited in Ziai, Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi, 51.
38
Ibid, 52.

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constructs his knowledge. Thus, it can be called this stage

as the stage of constructing a true science. Here, the
experience is put to the test. This is accomplished through
a process of analysis aimed at demonstrating the
experience and constructing a system in which to place the
experience and validate it, even after the experience has
ended.39 The impact of the specifically Illuminationist
theory of knowledge, generally known as knowledge by
presence, has not been confined to philosophical and
other specialist circled, as Illuminationist logic has been,
for instance. This model involves a subject and
creativity.40
In summary, we can conclude to state that the Ishraqi
epistemology is not like any other philosophy. The true
knowledge can be gain by the experience with some
practices which is from the Divine knowledge and it is
the unlimited knowledge. Specially, in the philosophy of
illumination, The Light of Light controls everything, and
illuminates everything. On the other hand, the Light of
Light is self-emanating, and its attributes and essence are
one. Thus, all abstract lights are illuminated directly by
the Light of Lights, whose luminosity; essence and power
are all one and the same. When the heavenly
illuminations reach the human soul through the
intervention of the isfahbad light, all knowledge is given
to the person. Such moments are the visions of the
apocalyptic lights, which are the foundation of visionary
experience, and means of obtaining unrestricted
knowledge. It is gained in third stage.
Essence and Existence
The concept of light manages to disrupt classical
Peripatetic ontology by somehow rendering irrelevant
the Ibn Sina distinction between essence and existence in
39
40

See for details, Ziai, Suhrawardi, 51.

See for details, Ibid., 52.

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contingent beings.41 Perhaps following Aristotle, Ibn Sina

favored the primacy of essence over existence; the latter
considered an abstract concept. Suhrawardi criticized and
rejected the Peripatetic logical distinction between the two
concepts, insisting that the concept of existence is added
to quiddity in re, such that the general extension of the
concept of existence remains a mental predicate, not a real
one. For Suhrawardi, concepts such as essence and
existence considered a priori and real were merely mental
considerations (`itibari) with no corresponding reality.42
The primacy of light signals a shift in the
understanding of the very nature of the essence of things.
The degree or intensity of light of essences makes them
distinct from one another, although they all share in the
same light whose origins remain with the Light of Lights.
Everything partakes in and of light, in an almost infinite
manner. The distinction between essence and existence no
longer becomes appropriate to assert contingency and only
remains notional, since the difference between necessary
and contingent beings now depends on whether a being
possesses light in itself or light for other than itself.43 In
his Philosophy of Illumination, Suhrawardi writes: Light
is divided into light of itself and in itself and light of itself
but in another. You know that accidental light is light in
another. Thus, it is not a light in itself although it is a light
of itself.44

41

S. H. Rizvi, Roots of an Aporia in Later Islamic Philosophy: The

Existence-Essence Distinction in the Philosophies of Avicenna and
Suhrawardi, Studia Iranica, vol. 29, (2000), 61-108.
42
S. H. Rizvi, An Islamic Subversion of the Existence-Essence
Distinction? Suhrawardis Visionary Hierarchy of Lights, Asian
Philosophy, vol. 9.3, (1999), 222.
43
Ibid., 223.
44
Shams al-Din Shahrazuri, Sharh Hikmah al-Ishraq, ed. H. Ziai
(Tehran: Muassasah-yi Mutaliat wa Tahqiqat-i Farhangi, 1993), 24.

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The Relationship between God and Man in Sufi Ishraqi

It is well know that the relationship between Allah and
human being is the Creator and the creation. The Quran
states: Behold, the Lord said to the angels: I am about to
create man from clay.45 Additionally, the ultimate goal of
Man is achieve pleaser of Allah to be success in this world
as well as in the life after death. But what is the
relationship between God and Man in the view of Sufi
Ishraqi? Yes, the main objective of this section is to depict
the relationship between God and Man according to the
Sufi Ishraqi.
It is necessary to discuss two things if we are
required to discuss the relationship between God and Man.
Firstly the concept of God and secondly the concept of
Man according to the view of this school.
First of all, the concept of God according to the
school of Illumination is the real manifest. In this school,
God is equated with the Light of Lights from whom
emanate the lower levels of light, the angelic order and the
archetypes. Therefore, the existence of God is
fundamental for the validity of the philosophy of
illumination and in particular the emanationistic scheme.
There is nothing Necessary Being except He, there is no
power equal to His power and there is nothing equal to
Him and so on. Suhrawardi states to describe the existence
of a Necessary Being and its attributes as follows:
Since there is no other Necessary Being, He
has no match and because there is no force
equal to Him in power and might, there is
nothing to oppose Him. Since He has no
location, He has no negation like the negation
of whiteness that is black. All the power is
emanated from Him and therefore nothing is
His enemy. He is the Truth, meaning He exists
because of His own essence and everything
45

Al-Quran, 36:71.

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other than His essence is not real since in their

won essence they are not worthy of existence
by necessity. Therefore, their truth comes from
the ultimate truth and not of their own
essence.46
If we refer to the Philosophy of Illumination, we can
see that the God is described as the Light of Light, the
source of all other lights. He is self-manifested. By
demonstrating that the existence of all beings is
contingent, he has also prepared the path which leads to
his Ishraqi views where he equates God with Light and
Light with Being.
Finally, everything is manifested from the Light of
Light, God. Nothing has the real existence except God.
The man is one thing of His other creation. It is also
manifested from Him. But, according to the philosophy of
Illumination, man has two parts, i.e. the body and the soul.
He adheres to the traditional distinction between the body
and the soul. Body for him represents darkness, and
absence or a lack of light to which he refers as body
(Haykal). The soul is the Holy Spirit, which breathes into
humankind the human spirit, called the Isfahbad of
humanity which is received because of their perfection
from the Gabriel.
The ultimate return of the soul is to its original abode
in the intelligible world, according to the philosophy of
Illumination. For him, the final liberation of the terrestrial
light from the bondage of the body in which it dwells and
which it manages is contingent upon the disintegration of
the body. It will be released from all the fetters which held
it down and will be able to join the ranks of the holy
spirits which dwell in the world of pure light. Man should
seek perfection to get love of Allah. The Man must return
46

Suhrawardi, Opera Metaphysica et Mystical 2 (Istanbul: Marif

Matbasi, 1945), 140. As quoted by Razavi, Suhrawardi and the
School of Illumination, 39.

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to Allah so that he needs perfection. That is why he,

Suhrawardi, states some paths to achieve perfection of
human life in his book Bustan al-Qulub.47 And this is
the practical aspects of the sufi path according to the Sufi
Ishraqi.
In summary, the relationship between God and Man
is the God is the real Existence, which is the Light of
Light described by Illiminationist and Man is manifested
light form the source of Light, God. The body without
soul is the last level of light, darkness and the soul is light
which he has received with his perfection from the angel
Gabriel. This is the Holy Spirit which is called Isfahbad
of humanity by Illuminationist. The soul must return to
the world of pure light to join the ranks of the holy
spirits.
Conclusion
The contribution of Suhrawardi in Islamic Philosophy as
well as in the history of Islamic mysticism is considered as
a new distinct from the Peripatetic school. One of the
foundations of the Philosophy of Illumination is that the
laws governing sight and vision are based on the same
rule, consisting of the existence of light. Thus, in
Suhrawardis
Illuminationist
philosophy,
light,
illumination, sight, vision, creative acts and by extension
all things-may be explained through the existence of light
emanated by the Light of Light. It can also be stated that it
is not been possible to discuss all of his contributions to
the Islamic knowledge while he has numerous works and
a strong position as the master of illumination among the
Muslim sages in the world, especially in Persia. Therefore,
future research on his life and his philosophy should be
done deeply by the researcher of comparative philosophy

47

See for details, Razavi, Suhrawardi and the School of Illumination,

71-72.

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including those who are interested to study the Islamic

philosophy and Islamic mysticism.
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