Semiotics of Love in Suhrawardis Allegorical Philosophy

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5958/2347-6869.2018.00013.4

Keywords:

Rationality, Mystical Love, Passionate Love, Suhrawardi, Allegory

Abstract

In his allegorical fictions, Shaykh al-Ishraq Suhrawardi conveys multiple mystical issues one most important of which is love. Also included in his theory of love is the concept of rationality. Fairly surprisingly, for Suhrawardi love in the mystical dimension goes to the heart of rationality. The guiding idea is that the hero of Suhrawardi’s allegorical treatises is a wayfarer who loves God, looking for the right way to the Divine. This love is to be some sort of spiritual emotion rather than a passionate love. Our claim would be proved by analyzing Suhrawardi’s fictions, decoding the allegories. On his way to God, the wayfarer may become waylaid by his own perceptions, i.e., five internal and five external senses. The wayfarer, however, must overcome these senses, that is, he should not be overwhelmed by his perceptions. These ten senses are symbolized in “On the Reality of Love” by five chambers and five gates, in “Treatise on Towers” by ten towers, in “A Tale of Occidental Exile” by ten graves, in “The Simurgh’s Shrill Cry” by ten flyers, and in “The Red Intellect” by ten wardens. And finally, the wayfarer conquers all of them.

DOI: 10.5958/2347-6869.2018.00013.4

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Author Biographies

Dr Ghasemali Kouchnani, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy and Islamic Theology , School of Islamic Studies, University of Tehran, Iran

Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy and Islamic Theology , School of Islamic Studies, University of Tehran, Iran

Nadia Maftouni, Associate Professor at University of Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Nadia Maftouni (Persian: نادیا مفتونی‎, born on 14 January 1966 in Tehran) is a prominent Iranian academic, philosophical author and artist. She is best known as a leading Researcher on Farabian, Avicennian and Suhrawardian philosophy with her modern reading of their works. She is an associate professor at University of Tehran, where she is an alumna and a member of the department of Philosophy and Islamic Theology. She is also famous for proposing to Iranian artist Hossein Nuri when he was already in a wheelchair.

Selected Articles:
  • Explanation of Diversity and Its Role in Farabi's Utopia, Biannual Journal of Avicinian Philosophy, Vol. 38, 2008.
  • A Comparative Study of Revelation and Prophecy according to Farabi and Ibn Sina, Biannual Journal of Avicinian Philosophy, Vol. 39, 2008.
  • Peripatetic Imagination, Ishraqi Imagination and Creativity, Kheradname-ye Sadra, Vol. 55, 2009.
  • Ibn Sina's Inner Perception in the Symbolic Treatises of Suhrawardi, Biannual Journal of Avicinian Philosophy, Vol. 41, 2009.
  • Art as Cultural Strategy in Farabi's Thought, Strategy of Culture, Vol. 10–11, 2012.
  • Evaluating Imaginal Forms from Farabi's Point of View, Ma’rifat-i Falsafi, Vol. 32, 2011.
  • Ethical Evaluation of the Subject of Artworks, Conference of Professional ethics in Civilization of Iran and Islam, 2007.
  • Position of Artist in Farabi's Politics, Conference of Farabi and Construction of Islamic Philosophy, 2010.
  • Art As It Is, and Art As It Should Be: An Analytical Study of Farabi, Transcendent Philosophy, Vol. 13, 2012.
  • Suhrawardi's Viewpoint on Human's Progressive Motion (N. Maftouni, M. Nuri) Pazhuhesh Name-e Akhlaq, Vol. 25, Autumn 2014.
  • Panamatorism according to Ibn Sina and Suhrawardi, Biannual Journal of Avicinian Philosophy, Vol. 48, Autumn and Winter 2012.
  • Foundations and Consequences of Suhrawardi’s Theory of Imagination, Falsafe va Kalame Eslami, Vol. 5, Spring and Summer 2013.
  • Conceptualization of Aesthetics according to Farabi, Kheradname-ye Sadra, Vol. 68, Summer 2012.
  • The Relationship between Thought and Imagination: A Case Study of Suhrawardi's Tale of Occidental Exile (N. Maftouni, M. Nuri) Philosophy and Children, Vol. 1/4, Winter 2014.
  • The Ladder-Like Process of Thinking and Imagination in Farabi's Viewpoint (N. Maftouni, M. Nuri) Philosophy and Children, Vol. 2/3, Autumn 2014.
Select Books
  • Farabi, Imagination and Artistic Creativity, Tehran, Sureh, 2010.
  • Art Ethics according to Farabi, Tehran, Cinema Foundation of Farabi, 2012.
  • Research in the Mirror of Ethics, Tehran, Khane Ketab, 2013.
  • Philosophy of Science according to Philosophers of the Islamic Era, Tehran, Sorush, 2014.
  • Farabi and Philosophy of Utopian Art, Tehran, Sorush, 2014.
  • Farabi and Conceptualization of Utopian Art, Tehran, Sureh, 2014.
  • Images of Illumination, Tehran, Vaya, 2015.
  • Philosophy on Stage: Dramosophy of Hossein Nuri's Plays, Qom, Majnun, 2016.

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Published

28-04-2019

How to Cite

Ghasemali, K., & Maftouni, N. (2019). Semiotics of Love in Suhrawardis Allegorical Philosophy. SOCRATES, 6(3 and 4), 27–36. https://doi.org/10.5958/2347-6869.2018.00013.4

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 3 and 4 (2018): Issue : September and December

Section

Philosophy

Categories

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Copyright (c) 2019 Ghasemali Kouchnani, Nadia Maftouni

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