Enter: Illuminationism Philosophy

[Javad]

Hello. How's everyone doing?

So I realized something sad, and that's how little Islamic enlightenment-related philosophy is known in the world. Some of the best descriptions of the path of enlightenment that both make sense to the rational mind, and transcends rationality in practice, have been created in the Islamic tradition. But because of a lot of reasons, they have been almost totally unknown to the west and the east, and even the majority of Muslims themselves are unaware of its existence! (as based on the spiral dynamics, majority of Islam falls into stage blue and thus is not interested in stage turquoise material unless it has blue appeals)

 

Anyway! I want to give you a few links to introduce you to the school called "Illuminationism", synthesis of the works and views of Neoplatonism, Ibn-Sina's philosophy, and influences from early Persian wisdom, as well as original ideas from the creator of this school: Suhrawardi.

 

This is the main link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminationism

In it, you can find a lot of links to get you started in digging deeper into the subject. It can give you a very general glimpse of the philosophy/view and be your starting point.

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I think it's very important to know about "Knowledge by Presence" before continuing to read the rest, as it is the epistemological foundation for the whole illuminationism stuff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_by_presence

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This one goes into it a bit more in-depth: https://iranicaonline.org/articles/illuminationism

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If you got interested in the epistemological foundations of this school, check this: http://www.mullasadra.org/new_site/english/Paper Bank/Ontology/Knowledge as light @.htm

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I highly recommend you read these articles listed below as well, so you get a good contextual understanding. It helps you understand where the ideas of this school came from.

First, the schools and views that influenced the creation of Illuminationism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripatetic_school

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoplatonism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_philosophy

And especially: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avicenna (Ibn-Sina is called Avicenna in English)

Then we have the most influential persons of the school:

Suhrawardi, the creator of the school: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahab_al-Din_Yahya_ibn_Habash_Suhrawardi

Mulla Sadra, the master, took the school to its highest form: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulla_Sadra

Plus, this is and interesting and short read. It's Mulla Sadra's book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Transcendent_Philosophy_of_the_Four_Journeys_of_the_Intellect

 

I hope this helps someone. The interesting thing about this school is how organized it is and how much it MAKES SENSE if you have the contextual knowledge. It helps you map out the journey, not just in terms of metaphors, but with a good rational and philosophical understanding as well.