Ideal Ruler and the Imaginal World in the Suhrawardī's Illuminationist Political Doctrine

In this paper, I focus on the political aspects of philosophy of Illumination that played a crucial role in the Iranian intellectual history. Before Suhrawardì, the theory of philosopher-king was the common political doctrine of Muslim peripatetic philosophers (especially Fåråbi), but, Suhrawardì, posed the necessity of the Pole’s government for the first time (he’s the mystic “Qotb” or the perfect human being). This political theory is based on the ontological or metaphysical foundations explained in detail in the Suhrawardì’s “Science of light” (‘ilm- ul- anwår) and as Henry Corbin (1903-1979) mentioned, the Imaginal World is the most important element of this philosophical system. In this paper I will explain the relationship between the Imaginal World (as an ontological area between the intelligible world and the sensible one) and the political idealism in the philosophy of Illumination. Discussing the basis of political idealism, the present paper aims to show that the Illuminationist Ideal Politics implies the realization of “divine kingdom” and therefore, the ideal ruler must be connected to the Imaginal World that provides a perfect model for ontological coherency of the whole Cosmos.Keywords: Islamic Philosophy, Political Thought, Philosophy of Illumination, Illuminationist Political Doctrine, Imaginal World.