Suhrawardi, in full Shihab ad-Din Yaḥya ibn Ḥabash ibn Amirak as-Suhrawardi, also called al-Maqtul or Shaykh al-Ishraq, (b. c. 1154, Suhraward, Seljuk Empire [near Zanjan, Iran] — d. 1191, Halab, Ayyubid Sultanate [today Aleppo, Syria]), mystic theologian and philosopher who was a leading figure of the illuminationist school of Islamic philosophy, attempting to create a synthesis between philosophy and mysticism.
As-Suhrawardi was the founder of the Iranian school of Illuminationism, an important school in Islamic philosophy. The "light" in as-Suhrawardi's The Philosophy of Illumination is the source of knowledge. He is referred to by the honorific title Shaikh al-ʿIshraq -- "Master of Illumination" -- and Shaikh al-Maqtul -- "the Murdered Master" -- in reference to his execution for heresy. Mulla Sadra, the Persian sage of the Safavid era described as-Suhrawardi as the "Reviver of the Traces of the Pahlavi (Iranian) Sages", and as- Suhrawardi, in his magnum opus The Philosophy of Illumination, thought of himself as a reviver or resuscitator of the ancient tradition of Persian wisdom.
Suhraward is a village located between the present-day towns of Zanjan and Bijar Garrus in Iran. As-Suhrawardi was born in Suhraward around 1154. He learned wisdom and jurisprudence in Maragheh (located today in the East Azerbaijan Province of Iran). His teacher was Majd al-Dīn Jīlī who was also Fakhr al-Din al-Razi's teacher.
After studying at Eṣfahan, a leading center of Islamic scholarship, as-Suhrawardi traveled through Iran, Anatolia, and Syria. Influenced by mystical teachings, as-Suhrawardi spent much time in meditation and retreat and, in Ḥalab (modern Aleppo), he favorably impressed its ruler, Malik az-Zahir, the son of Saladin. However, the teachings of as-Suhrawardi, particularly the pantheistic overtones of his mystical doctrines, aroused the opposition of the established and orthodox ʿulamaʾ (“men of learning”), who persuaded Malik aẓ-Ẓāhir to have as-Suhrawardi put to death. The appellation al-Maqtūl (“the Killed”) meant that he was not to be considered a shahīd (“martyr”).
As-Suhrawardi's 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). As-Suhrawardi came later to be called the Master of Illumination (Shaikh-i-Ishraq) because his great aim was the renaissance of ancient Persian wisdom.
In 1186, at the age of thirty-two, as-Suhrawardi completed his magnum opus, The Philosophy of Illumination.
As-Suhrawardī wrote voluminously. The more than 50 separate works that were attributed to him were classified into two categories: doctrinal and philosophical accounts containing commentaries on the works of Aristotle and Plato, as well as his own contribution to the illuminationist school; and shorter treatises, generally written in Persian and of an esoteric nature, meant to illustrate the paths and journeys of a mystic before he could achieve ma ʿrifah (“gnosis,” or esoteric knowledge).
Influenced by Aristotelian philosophy and Zoroastrian doctrines, as-Suhrawardi attempted to reconcile traditional philosophy and mysticism. In his best-known work, Ḥikmat al-ishrāq (“The Wisdom of Illumination” -- The Philosophy of Illumination), he proposes that essences are creations of the intellect, having no objective reality or existence. Concentrating on the concepts of being and non-being, he held that existence is a single continuum that culminates in a pure light that he called God. Other stages of being along this continuum are a mixture of light and dark.
Arising out of peripatetic philosophy as developed by Ibn 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 Persian culture or Farhang-e Khosravani) to give expression to his wisdom (hikma).
Suhrawardi taught a complex and profound emanationist cosmology, 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 to Platonic 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 categorizes objects in terms of their reception or non-reception of light.
Suhrawardi considers a previous existence for every soul in the angelic 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 happiness again when it is united with its celestial part, which has remained in heaven. Suhrawardi holds that the soul should seek happiness by detaching itself from its earthly body and worldly matters and accessing the world of immaterial lights. The souls of the gnostics and saints, after leaving the body, ascend even above the angelic world to enjoy proximity to the Supreme Light, which is the only absolute Reality.
Suhrawardi elaborated the neoplatonic idea of an independent intermediary world, the imaginal world (ʿalam-i mithal). His views have exerted a powerful influence down to this day, particularly through Mulla Sadra's combined peripatetic and illuminationist description of reality.
As-Suhrawardī also founded a mystical order known as the Ishraqiyah. The Nurbakhshiyah order of dervishes (itinerant holy men) also traces its origins to him.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shihab_al-Din_Yahya_ibn_Habash_Suhrawardi
https://www.britannica.com/biography/as-Suhrawardi
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