Suhrawardi - Three Treatises on Mysticism.pdf - Platonic Philosophy

the (j^tyMii
and the doctrines of Islam to a great
extent
in an esoteric and allegorical way. His philosophical
and
mystical ideas and teachings are reflected ii* his works on
philosophy, mysticism, and metaphysics. Stihlrawerdi's principal
and most characteristic work, Kitdb hikmat, u ll-ishraq The
Philosophy of Illumination" is well-known; and his philosophy
is living- upto this day
in the order the followers of which call
l
themselves "Ishraqlyun".
Professor L. Massignon has given a chronological classification
of Suhrawerdl's works, 2 and differentiates between
works of his youth, of the Peripatetic period, and the Avicenno-
Platonic period.
3
The works of his youth reveal a struggle,
between his
Iranian conceptions and Islamic doctrines. He was a Persian
by birth and a Muslim by faith. So, on the one hand,
he is
to his
strongly attached to Iranian beliefs and on the other,
Arabian faith. His earlier writings, consequently, are an
attempt to reconcile his philosophical ideas with Islam so
much so that inspite 0f the storm and stress of youth he did
not dare to pronounce^iiis doctrines publicly; and so he clothed
them in the garb of allegory. When 4 he later on professed
his ideas boldly and openly
at Aleppo he had to suffer death
for his
outspokenness.
The three mystico-philosophical treatises which we edit
and translate, for the first time, in the following pages belong
to the class of his works of youth Of this period besides his
Arabic works of which Hayakil un-nfir is the most important,
Suhrawerdi has also some nice and original Persian treatises
1. Of. Encyclopaedia of Islam, s.v. SuhrawardI; O. Spies, loc. cit., p. 18
2. Only 17 of his works are quoted there, a list containing 50 books,
however, is given on the pages 101-102 of this book.
3. Cf. L. Massignon, Textes inedits etc., p. 113.
literature
4. These allegories are the oldest allegories in Persian
known so far.