Ontology of Light in the Philosophy of Illumination and its Association with the Iranian-Islamic Architecture

Sheike Eshraq is the most prominent figure in the world and has a unique position among Islamic mystics and philosophers. He was the founder of the philosophy of illumination. The common philosophical heritage among Iran, Islam and Greece is clearly observed in his wisdom and philosophy. Sheike Eshraq’s field of thought is based on the ontology of light. He decrypted the light and determined a hierarchy for it. This hierarchy begins with the light of lights (Nour Al-Anwar ), which can be considered as the major cause the existence of all beings, and ends with darkness and lack of light. The ray of light in Sheikh Eshraq's thought had on a great influence on the Iranian-Islamic architecture because architecture as the body of time is affected by philosophy as the spirit of time. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the theory of Nour Al-Anwar developed by Sohrevardi in order to make a comparison between the philosophy of illumination and the Iranian-Islamic architecture. This was the qualitative research, and also the descriptive analytical method was used in this study. The results demonstrated that light existed in Iranian-Islamic architecture, just like illuminative wisdom, is a manifestation of divine unity. The light hierarchy in Iranian-Islamic architecture is influenced by the light hierarchy in the philosophy of illumination, which is based on degrees of light and darkness. The Iranian-Islamic architects is influenced by the emanation of Nour Al-Anwar using light and light games in different elements and parts of the architecture and created a light hierarchy in the interior and exterior in the architecture of the buildings and their different components.