Suhrawardi’s Work Called al-Alwah al-Imadiyye and His Ideas about Physics and Metaphysics

Year 2017, Volume: 31 Issue: 43, 263 - 292, 22.12.2017

Salih Yalın

Abstract

Peripatetic School
and School of Illumination as the two-main philosophical school are within the
History of Islamic Philosophy. Suhrawardi is one of the important Islamic
philosophers and he is the founder of the School of Illumination. He has
developed a different understanding by combining the method of Peripatetics and
the unveiling (kashf) and intuition that is peculiar to Sufis (mystics).
However, it is possible to see Plato's thoughts, some old hermetic thought
elements, and ancient religious and philosophical traditions as sources of
Philosophy of Illumination. Suhrawardi wrote some of his works according to the
method of the Peripatetics and some of his works according to the Illumination
method. However, it can be said that he usually uses an eclectic method. For this
reason, although he sometimes criticized it, it cannot be said that Suhrawardi
completely rejected the Peripatetic thought. In fact, Suhrawardi expresses that
this school should be known for understanding his own thoughts.

Al-Alwah
al-Imadiyye is one of the important works of Suhrawardi which reflects the
views of both schools. This book was dedicated to Imad al-Din Abu Bakr b. Qara
Arslan, who was reigned in Kharput, Diyarbakır and their vicinity
in 1185-1204 years. In this treatise, Suhrawardi has examined many
philosophical subjects in a way that a king can understand. He also applied to
the Qur'anic references to support his views on these matters.

In accordance with
the order of Suhrawardi, in the scope of this research, firstly the subjects
such as dimensions, elements and their change and transformation, movement that
are the subjects of natural physics (philosophy of nature) are discussed.
Dimensions are limited; otherwise we would say that the universe is not limited but unlimited.
Suhrawardi thinks that there is an end and limit of the universe, and that
there is nothing beyond the realm. Unlike those who accept the Atomic view,
Suhrawardi thinks there is no void in the universe. The universe is completely
full. There is no void or
fullness beyond the outermost celestial sphere i.e. Limited. One of the
important topics of philosophy of nature is motion. The
motion is divided into two as circular and linear movement; heavenly motion is
circular, sublunar motion is linear. In another way, Suhrawardi refers to three
kinds of motion: natural motion, voluntary motion and compulsory motion. According to Suhrawardi, the existence of time depends on the
motion of celestial body and it is something that is not fixed and permanent.
He defines time as the measure of motion when it comes together before and
after in mind, and Time is divided into years, months, days and hours.

There are three types of motion as motion around a
center, motion away from a center to outward, motion toward a center.
Suhrawardi accepts four basic elements in Alwah al Imadiyye. These elements are
fire, air, water and earth. These four elements have some qualities: fire is
hot and dry; air is hot and humid; water is cold and humid; earth is cold and
dry.

There are three types of motion as motion around a
center, motion away from a center to outward, motion toward a center. The first
is motion of celestial bodies; the other two are the motions of elements.
Suhrawardi accepts four basic elements in Alwah al Imadiyye. These elements are
fire, air, water and earth. These four elements have some qualities: fire is
hot and dry; air is hot and humid; water is cold and humid; earth is cold and
dry. The bodies in our world come from the combination of these four elements.
The material principle of the celestial bodies is not these four elements but
the fifth element i.e. ether.

The second
important issue that Suhrawardi deals with in the context of philosophy of
nature is the soul, its’ powers, and soul-body relation. According to Suhrawardi, the soul is a non-physical substance and it
is defined as a light (nur) from the lights of Allah. The soul exists with the
body, not before or after the body. Despite the changes in his body, the thing
he perceives, as "I" does not change. Even though he is unaware of
all of his organs, one knows his own self. Therefore, the self is not in the
organs of the body but in the human soul.

In addition, faculties of sensation and
voluntary motion, animals have vegetative faculties. The human soul uses all of
these faculties. Human soul as a perceptive and intelligent soul employs all
the animal faculties. The vegetative faculties are three: nutritive, growth and
reproductive. Animal have a mover and a motivational faculty that has two modes
as anger and desire. There are five outer and five inner senses. Inner senses
are common sense, retentive imagination, estimation, creative imagination and
memory.

In the context of
metaphysics, Suhrawardi studies the issues such as the Necessary Being and his
unity, celestial bodies, their movements and movers namely separate beings.
Finally, the subjects such as the order of the universe, evil, eternity of
souls and their happiness and unhappiness, pleasure and pain were examined. According to Suhrawardi being has three types: Necessary Being, Impossible Being and Possible Being. Necessary Being is
cause of existence of all Possible Beings. Necessary Being is
not a body. There cannot be two Necessary Being, so he must one. Necessary Being is absolutely rich, other
things are poor.

Suhrawardi
explains the emergence of existence by the theory of emanation. The first thing
that exists from Necessary Being is one and perfect. The multiplicity and
deficiency arise in the next stages. Thus, celestial bodies and separated intellects exist. Suhrawardi thinks that the celestial bodies have soul and that their motions
originate from the separated intellects. Their circular motions are not
natural, it is voluntary.

The universe has the best possible asset
structure, and this is an effect of divine mercy. There is no reality of evil;
it is something accidental. Many good things lead
to evil in small quantities. Neglecting them because of little evil does not
conform to the mercy of the Creator. It is much worse to abandon many good
things for a little evil.

Soul
(i.e. intellect soul) is immortal because its being is not connected to the
body. However, this immortality cannot be considered as a metempsychosis.
According to Suhrawardi,
metempsychosis is impossible. One of the topics examined by Suhrawardi is
pleasure and pain. Commons thinks that there is no pleasure other than sensory
pleasure and denies spiritual pleasures. However, when physical obstacles are
removed will experience infinite pleasure, as he beholds the light of Necessary
Being and the amazing things of the realm of lights. When such a soul reaches
eternal pleasures, a contrary human soul will remain in sadness and darkness.
Likewise, when the physical obstacles weaken - just as it is when you are
asleep- human obtains unseen information.

Keywords

Suhrawardi, The Philosophy of Illumination, al-Alwah al-Imadiyye, Physics, Metaphysics

Sühreverdî’nin el-Elvâhu’l-İmâdiyye Adlı Eseri Temelinde Fizik ve Metafiziğe İlişkin Görüşleri

Abstract

İşrâkîlik
İslam Felsefesi Tarihi içerisinde ana akım ekollerden biri olarak kabul
edilmektedir. İşrâkî ekolün kurucusu Şihâbuddin Sühreverdî’dir. O Meşşâîlerin
yöntemi ile daha çok sûfîlere özgü olarak görülen keşif ve sezgiyi
birleştirerek farklı bir anlayış geliştirmiştir. Sühreverdî bazı eserlerini
Meşşâîlerin yöntemine göre, bazı eserlerini de İşrâkî yönteme göre kaleme
almıştır. Fakat genelde eklektik bir yöntem kullandığı da söylenebilir. Bu
nedenle Meşşâî düşünceyi zaman zaman eleştirmiş olsa da Sühreverdî’nin onu
tümüyle reddettiği söylenemez. Hatta o, kendi düşüncelerinin anlaşılması için
öncelikle bu ekolün ortaya koyduğu düşüncelerin bilinmesi gerektiğini ifade
eder. el-Elvâhu’l-İmâdiyye her iki ekolün görüşlerini de yansıtan
Sühreverdî’nin önemli eserlerinden birisidir.

Bu çalışma kapsamında Sühreverdî’nin
sıralamasına uygun olarak ilkin doğa felsefesi (fizik) konuları olan boyutlar,
unsurlar ve bunların değişim ve dönüşümü ve hareket ele alınmıştır. İkinci
olarak nefis, onun yetileri ve nefsin bedenle ilişkisi incelenmiştir. Daha
sonra metafiziğe ilişkin konular ele alınmış; bu bağlamda zorunlu varlık ve
O’nun bir oluşu, felekler, onların hareketi ve hareket ettiricileri yani ayrık
varlıklar incelenmiştir. Son olarak da âlemin nizâmı, kötülük, nefislerin
bekası ve onların mutluluk ve mutsuzluğu, haz ve elem gibi konular
incelenmiştir. Bu inceleme çerçevesinde Sühreverdî’nin yöntem ve düşüncelerinin
anlaşılması, sonraki dönemlerde çok sayıda mensubu bulunan İşrâkîliğin
anlaşılmasına da bir ölçüde önemli katkılar sağlayacaktır

Keywords

Sühreverdî, İşrâkîlik, el-Elvâhu’l-İmâdiyye, Doğa Felsefesi, Metafizik

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