Human Dignity in the Illuminative Philosophy

In the philosophy of Shahāb ad-Dīn Suhrawardī (Shaykh al-Ishraq) (549-587AH / 1191-1154 AC), which is known as “Illuminative Philosophy”, human stage and place is very special in the world. In order to determine this position, and under the influence of ancient Iranian religions and views of Sufism, he offers certain classification of beings in the world. In his opinion, beings in themselves are either light or darkness. What is light is twofold: substantial light which is the “immaterial pure light” (such as God –or, in Sohrevardi’s word, Light of Lights (Noor al-Anwar)– and angels) and accidental light (whether it is immaterial, such as spiritual lights from God and angels enlightening the heart of travelers of the path –Salik al-Tariqah– or material like the sunlight that shines on objects and material objects). What is darkness is twofold: the substantial darkness (material substances) and accidental darkness (nine accidental categories that depend on their material substance). According to Suhrawardi, the human soul that constitutes his/her main essence, like God and the angels comes from substantial or immaterial pure light, but the human body like any other material things is composed of substantial darkness. Man’s soul is similar to God and the angels and this is the main reason of the human dignity, because the soul came from that world, to which God and angels belong, i.e. the world of lights. However, in accordance with the principle of gradation (al-Tashkik) of light, man regarding to his/her soul, is at a level inferior to God and the angels; just as material light has different levels and degrees (e.g. sunlight, lamplight and candlelight), spiritual light is the same: from god, which is the highest light, to the angels which are in the middle, and to the human beings which are inferiors. However, with regard to the human’s body, although it is superior to the bodies of animals, plants and solids, since it is body hence it is still darkness not light, so there is no dignity. Thus, according to Suhrawardi, man in this world is a combination of soul and body and therefore, he/she is a mixture of light and darkness; although the body is considered as the prison of the soul, because the soul has been isolated from the world of Lights and is caught in this world in the prison of the body. Thus, man in this world must try by strengthening the soul and weakening the body (by leaving worldly affairs and by austerity) and finally the separation of the soul from the body (detachment from the world –al-Tajrid– or voluntary death) to direct his/her soul toward the world of lights that is his/her actual home and to intuition directly the truth and to regain his/her dignity.