Conceptual Analysis of the Subject of Metaphysics in Suhrawardi's Hikmat al-Ishraq

Subject Areas : Philosophy

Mahmud Hedayatafza ¹ , Zeynab Bostani ²

1 - PhD of Islamic Philosophy, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran
2 - M.A of Islamic Philosophy, University of Qom, Qom, Iran

Received: 2021-09-24 Accepted : 2021-09-24 Published : 2021-08-23

Keywords: : Metaphysical Subject, Existence in Existence, Synonym of Existence with Exis, Peripatetic Literature, The Wisdom of Illumination, General Concept of Object, Denial of the Validity of Dark,

Abstract :

The subject of metaphysics, which was introduced in Greek philosophy, and especially in Aristotle's books, was expanded into the works of Muslim thinkers after being translated into Arabic. Most of them chose the most famous subject for the first teacher, that is, “existing in terms of existence”, sometimes under the influence of other words from Aristotle, “the object” and sometimes because of their religious tendencies, considered “obligatory existence” as the subject of philosophy. The present research is responsible for Hakim Sohrawardi's innovative view on this issue. The authors' method of discussion is a combination of historical description, analysis and comparison. Sohrawardi, in his works in the Peripatetic style, seems to have accepted Ibn Sina's view, preferring the title “existing in terms of existence” to other topics in philosophy in Peripatetic literature, and only in some places, the word “existence” in terms of its original meaning. Replaces “existing”. But in the book Hikmat al-Ishraq, we encounter a new conceptual system in which the “object” as the most obvious concept takes the place of existence and existence, and regardless of any constraints, is considered the subject of Enlightenment metaphysics. Sohrawardi from the beginning divides the object into light and darkness, and after that, other concepts of illuminated wisdom are formed. One of the important results of this approach is the denial of the validity of darkness and the rejection of the idea of the similarity of light, despite the fact that the commentators of the book Hikmat al-Ishraq have not properly.