Sohravardi and the Question of Knowledge

[Introduction]

Shihab al-Din Yahya Sohravardi, known asShaykh al-Ishraq (the Master of Illumination), was born in Sohravard, a village close to the city of Zanjan in northwestern Persia, in the year 549/1154. After his preliminary education he went to Maragheh and studied Islamic sciences under Majd al-Din Jili. He then went to Isfahan, where he benefited from the teachings of Zahir al-Din Farisi. Sohravardi spent a major part of his life traveling, meeting many sages and Sufis from whom he acquired a high degree of knowledge and spirituality. At one point in life he traveled to Mardin in Anatolia, and it is said that he spent some time in the courts of the Seljuk kings. Finally, Sohravardi went to Damascus and settled in Aleppo, where he received a warm welcome from the city’s ruler, Malik Zahir. Sohravardi’s philosophical thoughts, expressed in the wake of Gazali’s harsh criticism of philosophy, as well as his novel ideas, careless statements, and persuasive power offended the sensibilities and incited the jealousy of other clerics. Malik Zahir’s intercession was of no use, and in the year 587/1191, at the age of 36, Sohravardi was executed in prison, ostensibly for heresy but more likely due to political reasons.

History indicates that Sohravardi manifested both philosophical and mystical tendencies from a very young age. In his treatiseFi halat al-tufuliyyah (“On the State of Childhood”), he speaks of his own spiritual journey and the light and knowledge he received during his childhood under the guidance of his spiritual master. He was a person of seclusion and asceticism (zuhd ) who spent extensive time in prayer.

Sohravardi produced around fifty works, and his masterpiece is considered to beHikmat al-ishraq (“Illuminative Wisdom”). This book contains Sohravardi’s philosophical views and spiritual findings and is the primary text of reference in Illuminationist Philosophy. It covers both the discursive and the visionary dimensions of Sohravardi’s philosophy. Sohravardi claimed that this book was given to him by the angel Gabriel in a single instant, saying that without guiding light from this angel the book cannot be understood by the reader. In order to study this book one must refer to a vicar of God (khalifat Allah ) who has the knowledge contained in this book.  In addition, before reading this work one should live an ascetic lifestyle of purification for 40 days (2/259).[^2] The book covers logic, metaphysics or the science of light, angelology, cosmology, psychology, and eschatology from an Illuminationist viewpoint. It is impossible to summarize Sohravardi’s philosophy in this article. My intention instead is to briefly examine Sohravardi’s epistemology. Before beginning this examination it is necessary to talk a little about the nature of what is called Illuminationist Philosophy.