The Doctrine of Harmony with the Cosmos

Illuminat ion philosophy has been one of the intellectual movements in Iran.Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi, the founder of this school, t ied the ancient thought ofpersia to Islam. Suhrawardi considers the harmony with the cosmos of much necessityfor man and his society, for he believes nuder such a harmony man´s character can beilluminated. like the ancient Persians, Suhrawardi construes existence as light. The ideaof light has a relat ion with "Khoraa" (radiat ion) on the one hand, and with the verses ofNur (one of the suras of the Holy Qur´ an) on the other hand. "Khorra" is a radiatonby which the mind and body become illuminated. In his Hayakil al-nur (the Figures ofLight), Suhrawardi speakes of the iedal when such an imprisoned light is set free. Healso holds that as the basis of the cosmos "Love" is spreading and flowing throughoutas whole phenomena of the world. Henry Corbin considers the Illuminat ion philosophyas the passage from "the heroic epic period" of ancient Persia to "the myst ical epic" ofIran in the Islamic period.