Suhrawardi 1154 – 1191
Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi was a Persian philosopher and the founder of the Illuminationist school of Islamic philosophy. Drawing on Avicennan philosophy, ancient Persian wisdom, and Neoplatonism, he developed in The Philosophy of Illumination a metaphysics in which reality consists of a graded series of lights emanating from a Light of Lights and made known to the soul through a direct intuitive vision. He criticized the Peripatetic reliance on definition and opened a path toward a more presence-based epistemology. He was executed at thirty-six by order of the Ayyubid prince of Aleppo.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Persian
- Era
- Medieval
- Movements
- Islamic, Medieval
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Suhrawardi:
“Light is the most evident of all things, and through it everything else becomes evident.”
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Attributed to Suhrawardi:
“Existence is light, and the difference between things is in the intensity of their light.”
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Attributed to Suhrawardi:
“Knowledge by presence is more certain than knowledge by representation.”
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Attributed to Suhrawardi:
“The Light of Lights is the source from which all other lights derive.”
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Attributed to Suhrawardi:
“The soul knows itself directly, without need of intermediary.”