Where is the appropriate place to ask about Shahab al-Din Yahya ibn Habash Suhrawardi, cited as founder of the philosophy of illuminationism?

Question

This is the gentleman I am referencing:--

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahab_al-Din_Yahya_ibn_Habash_Suhrawardi)

This is an example of his philosophy and/or theology:--

"Whoever knows philosophy (hikmat) and perseveres in thanking and sanctifying the Light of the Lights, will be endowed with royal glory (kharreh) and with luminous splendor (farreh), and—as we have said elsewhere—divine light will further bestow upon him the cloak of royal power and value. Such a person shall then become the natural ruler of the universe. He shall be given aid from the high heavens, and whatever he commands shall be obeyed; and his dreams and inspirations will reach their uppermost, perfect pinnacle." [English]

"و هر که حکمت بداند و بر سپاس و تقدیس نور الانوار مداومت نماید، او را خرّه کیانی بدهند و فرّ نورانی ببخشند، و بارقی الاهی او را کسوت هیبت و بهاء بپوشاند و رئیس طبیعی شود عالم را، و او را از عالم اعلا نصرت رسد و سخن او در عالم علوی مسموع باشد، و خواب و الهام او به کمال رسد." [Translated from Old Persian; not modern Farsi or modern Arabic]

-- Hossein Ziai, "The book of radiance", Mazda Publisher, 1998. pg 84-85. Note that Ziai, whose extensive studies establish Suhrawardi as a rationalist thinker rather than an "Oriental mystic" translates the word Hikmat (wisdom) as "philosophy" rather than "wisdom," as is more common.

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Notable References/Comments:--

• (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_light)
• (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohr)
• (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inward_light)
• (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/suhrawardi/)
• (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/illumination/)
• (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Fox)

Various famous figures, ranging from Joe Biden (whose style is eerily similar to this) to Eckhart Tolle†, have written about this.

I prefer to keep this focused on, but not limited to, secular morality. I am very serious, because there is a void where secular morality should be in our Human Society.

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I should clarify I am much more interested in Zoroastrianism, and relatively less in Islam. --[This is not a comment on the nature of Islam.]--

In which Stack Exchange website should he be discussed? Is this appropriate for the Philosophy Stack Exchange?

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† who was accepted into Cambridge (but dropped out), and has given talks at Google

Answer 1

Given the Wikipedia article and the quote are correct, I see nothing wrong in exploring his writings in the context of Philosophy.SE:

He seemingly argued for a cosmology, including some kind of a monistic ontology (emanation from the light of lights - somewhat similar to Spinoza but with more of an idealistic flavour), and critically commented on Avicenna. This is philosophical metaphysics, even if it may be in context of and reference to theological considerations. This is simply how philosophy at that time looked like everywhere (more precisely: where Abrahamic religions were prevalent) and I cannot see how it is much different from the philosophy of e.g. the Christian St. Thomas Aquinas or especially the Judaic Kabbalah.

That being said: As long as the question and its answers can be based on English translations, it should be perfectly fine to ask about the specifically philosophical aspects of his work. The more this goes from philosophical considerations towards the specific questions of how to interpret, say, Allah in the light of Qur'an (or other religious texts) according to the cosmology developed, this becomes more of a borderline case, as this tips into specifically theological considerations.