Towards a Comparative Understanding of Human and Divine Visual Intuition in Suhrawardi’s Illuminationism and Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta

Document Type : پژوهشی

Author

دانشگاه شهید مطهری

Abstract

In the philosophy of Illumination, Suhrawardi refers divine knowledge to the attribute of vision and introduces vision as the principal attribute in the essence of the Divine, such that other divine attributes like knowledge, hearing, and light also derive from it. However, he has not extended this theory to humans and has not examined the relationship between human attributes and essence. This knowledge gap becomes more pronounced when, according to the theology of al-ma'na al-akhas, the divine attributes and essence are correlated, while human attributes and essence have a relationship of equality. Can the referral of all attributes to vision be extended to humans as well? And how can this difference be explained based on the mystical and philosophical foundations of the Illuminationist philosophy? This article, using a descriptive-analytical method and a comparative approach between Illuminationist philosophy and the teachings of Advaita Vedanta, addresses this question. Shankara, the eminent philosopher of Advaita, considers visual intuition as the most fundamental tool of knowledge and elevates the role of vision in cognition to a level beyond the apparent senses. Utilizing this approach, the article attempts to reassess Suhrawardi's theory within the framework of the anthropological mysticism of Vedanta and explore the possibility of extending it to humans.

Keywords

Main Subjects

New Religious Researches
Volume 5, Issue 2 - Serial Number 16
September 2025
Pages 89-112

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics