Medieval alchemy, Kabbalah and Islamic esotericism
Suhrawardī
Shihāb al-Dīn Yaḥyā al-Suhrawardī
Founder of the Philosophy of Illumination: reality understood through hierarchies of light rather than through Aristotelian substance.
- Dates
- 1154 – 1191
- Dating
- documented dates
- Born
- Suhraward, Persia
- Died
- Aleppo
The life
He travelled widely, studied philosophy and Sufism, and combined Platonic philosophy, visionary illumination, angelology and a reconstructed 'wisdom of ancient Persia'. Saladin's son al-Malik al-Ẓāhir patronised him at Aleppo, but pressure from religious authorities resulted in his execution at roughly thirty-seven.
Place in the tradition
One of the great esoteric philosophers of Islam, and the founder of a continuing Illuminationist tradition.
the written record
Principal works
-
completed 1186
Philosophy of Illumination
His central systematic work: reality understood through hierarchies of light.
-
before 1186
Intimations
Talwīḥāt
Integrates Peripatetic reasoning with his developing illuminationist perspective.
-
before 1191
Temples of Light
A shorter metaphysical exposition emphasising the human soul and luminous realities.