A glimpse of logic and Angelology in Philosophy of illumination
1) A new Criterion for classifying the knowledge
Suhrawardi classifies all knowledge on the basis of whether it is acquired through the sense perception or whether it is innate. He argues that the knowledge that is through innate ideas is beyond logical analysis. Therefore, logic as such can be applied only to the category of acquired knowledge. So far, Suhrawardi has remained within the logical paradigm of the Peripatetics as exemplified by Ibn Sina’s book of Healing (Shifa). Logic for Suhrawardi is only a tool for analysis, and in that capacity it is subservient to philosophy. H. Zia’I summarizes Suhrawardi’s views on logic as presented in the al- Mutarahat in the following three principles:
( 1) Logic death with conception and assent insofar as they may be true, (2) logic is a speculative art (sina’a nazariyya) which death with conception and assent. The form of syllogism and the secondary intelligible, (3) logic is an axiomatic mind against error in thinking.
As far formal differences between Suhrawardi and Peripatetics are concerned, Suhrawardi does not adhere to the nine book of Aristote’s Organon. First of all, the Categories are absent from Suhrawardi’s analysis and there are only brief references to them in the Topics, Rhetoric, and Poetics. While there is no separate treatment of Aristote’s Categories as most of the Peripatetics (i.e. Ibn Sina) have done, Suhrawardi does consider the Aristotlian categories and in fact reduces them from ten to four, with motion being a new category.
2) The three general areas of Logic in philosophy of illumination
H. Zia’I argues in his work, Philosophy of Illumination, that while Suhrawardi does not deviate from the Peripatetic logic in a major way in the Intimations and Conversations, he does offer a “new structure” of logic in the Hikmat al-ishraq. This new structure according to Zia’I divides the field of logic into three general areas:
1. Semantics
2. Principles of proof
3. Errors of formal and material logic
On this Zia’I states: This new structure may be an attempt on the part of Suhrawardi to recognize the traditional Organon according to his general bipartite division of logic into expository propositions and proofs.
In the forthcoming chapter, I will demonstrate how Suhrawardi applies logic to comment on such topics as knowledge by definition, sense perception, etc. Suhrawardi’s use of logic can best be seen in his semantical analysis and his criticism of logic as applied by the Peripatetics, which he argues can only lead to a partial discovery of truth.
B. Angelology
1) Levels of light and Angels
Having used the symbolism of light and darkness, Suhrawardi then goes on to develop an elaborate angelology based on Zoroastrian angels. He achieves this by identifying different grades of lights with various angelic orders. Between the light of lights and total darkness, there are levels upon levels of light with different degrees of intensity such that each level corresponds to an angel.
The new schema of angels changes the traditional view of angels as the force behind the movement of the heavenly bodies. According to Suhrawardi, angels serve a number of functions, the most important of which is their intermediary role between the light of lights and man. For instance, an angelic order identified as the “lordly light” (al-nur al-isfahadi) is defined by Suhrawardi as that which is “within the soul of man” such that “every where its sings are manifested and all things attest to its presence.”
Suhrawardi’s ontology and its byproduct, angelology, are meant to map out the interior reality of man rather than to provide a logical explanation for such thing as angels “out there”. The Peripatetic view of the function of angels, especially that of Ibn Sina and Farabi, who simply saw the angels as beings who perform certain functions out there in the universe such as rotation of the heavens, was criticized by Suhrawardi. While Suhrawardi accepts the view that angels realities, he maintains that the number of angels are equivalent to the number of the fixed stars, meaning a virtually unlimited number of them.
A departure from the traditional Peripatetic view.
2) Longitudinal and latitudinal order of Angels
From the hierarchy of angels arise two angelic orders: a longitudinal (tuli), and a latitudinal (araqi) order with two separate functions. The longitudinal angelic order represents the vertical axis or hierarchy of light similar to ladder. The latitudinal angelic order for Suhrawardi is where the “archetypes” or “forms” reside. Suhrawardi goes on to argue that at the top of the longitudinal order of light there stands the supreme light which he calls by its Quranic and Mazdean names, al-nur ala’zam (the Supreme Light ) and Vohuman (Bahman). From this light of lights, issues the lower order that is illuminated by the light above it and the process of one light issuing a lower one continues until it reaches darkness. The higher light, which is marked by intensity, dominates (qahr) love for the higher one. This process remains valid for the entire succession from the nur al-anwar to darkness. As we see later, Suhrawardi applies this scheme to offer his epistemological view which for him can replace the Aristotelian categories as a means of epistemic analysis.
For Suhrawardi there exists a veil between each level of light which acts as a “purgatory” or Barzakh and allows the passage of only a certain amount of light. The primordial, original and all- encompassing nature of this system, through which Suhrawardi expresses a number of esoteric doctrines, is such that he calls it. al-ummahat ( the mothers), since all that exists originates from this hierarchy and therefore it contains within itself the ‘ideas” (ayan al-thabitah) whose unfolding is the world.
3) equating the angels of ancient Persia with the Platonic forms
In his attempt to equate the angels of ancient Persia with the Platonic form or archetypes, Suhrawardi considers the longitudinal order to have given rise to a latitudinal order and that to him is none other than the Platonic form or ideas. Each being in the world has its own archetype (arbab al- anwa) within the latitudinal axis which Suhrawardi identifies with Zoroastrian angelology For example, he identifies water the Mazdean angelKhurdad, fire with Urdibihisht, vegetables as Murdad, and minerals as Shariwar. These angels and many more are the archetypes whose actualization or manifestation from archetypes (al-a yan thabitah) appear in the material forms mentioned above.
Suhrawardi considers the heavenly bodies and the more visible and materialized aspect of the angelic order to have come from the longitudinal order, while the latitudinal order gives rise to more esoteric phenomena such as the lordly light.
4) Angelology and symbols of Traditions of religions
Since Suhrawardi know that in the final analysis the ultimate truth to which he is alluding lies at the heart of all the divinely revealed traditions, the use of various symbols from different traditions becomes secondary. Therefore, symbols, be they Mazdean or Quranic, allude to truths which are profoundly Islamic as well as Zoroastrian.
Suhrawardi ‘s angelology relies on the symbolism of many tradition in order to provide a map of man’s interior. It is a cosmological doctrine which alludes to the presence of a unifying element in all the traditional religions of man, namely a universal truth.
Sources :
suhrawardi and illumination school