The Philosophy of Illumination (Hikmat al-ishraq)

Introduction

Suhrawardi wrote this Arabic work, according to his own note, in 1186, five years before his execution in Aleppo. It has two parts. The first criticises Peripatetic logic, especially the claim that definitions convey the essence of things. The second develops a metaphysics of light: everything that exists is light or darkness, ranked by intensity, from the Light of Lights down to bodies. Suhrawardi claims to revive a wisdom shared by Hermes, Plato and ancient Persian sages. Commentaries by Shahrazuri and Qutb al-Din Shirazi made it a school text, and Henry Corbin’s edition of 1952 made it known in Western scholarship.

Connections

Criticizes

• The Book of Healing (Kitab al-Shifa)c. 1027 · Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

Taken up in

• Commentary on the Philosophy of Illumination1295 · Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi
• The Four Journeys (al-Asfar al-arbaʿa)c. 1628 · Mulla Sadra
• Knowledge and the Sacred1981 · Seyyed Hossein Nasr