Suhrawardi’s Illuminationism

In Suhrawardi’s Illuminationism, Jari Kaukua offers a new interpretation of Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi’s (d. 1191 CE) illuminationist (ishraqi) philosophy. Commonly portrayed as a philosophically inclined mystic, Suhrawardi appears here as a perspicacious critic of Avicenna who developed his critique into an alternative philosophical system.

Focusing on metaphysics and theory of science, Kaukua argues that Suhrawardi’s illuminationist philosophy combines rigorous metaphysical monism with a modest but positive assessment of scientific explanation. This philosophical core of Suhrawardi’s illuminationism is reconcilable with but independent of the mystical side of the shaykh al-ishraq.