An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, Vol. 4 From the School of Illumination to Philosophical Mysticism
I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies
The fourth volume of the Anthology of Philosophy in Persia deals with one of the richest and yet least known periods of philosophical life in Persia, the centuries between the seventh/thirteenth century, that saw the eclipse of the school of Khorosan, and the tenth/sixteenth century that coincided with the rise of the Safavids. The main schools dealt with in this volume are the Peripatetic (mashsha'i) School, the School of Illumination (ishraq) of Suhrawardi, and various forms of philosophical Sufism, especially the school of Ibn 'Arabi, that had its origins in the works of Ghazzali and 'Ayn al-Qudat Hamadani. This period was also notable for the philosopher-scientists such as Nasir al-Din Tusi and Qutb al-Din Shirazi.
List of Reprinted Works
Note on Transliteration
List of Contributors
General Introduction, S. H. Nasr
Introductory Analysis, M. Aminrazavi
Part I: The School of Illumination
1. Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī
Introduction, M. Aminrazavi
The Philosophy of Illumination (from Ḥikmat al-ishrāq)
2. Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad Shahrazūrī
Introduction, M. Aminrazavi
Excursion of Spirits and Garden of Delights (from Nuzhat al-arwāḥ wa rawḍat al-afrāḥ)
3. Quṭb al-Dīn Shīrāzī
Introduction, M. Aminrazavi
Pearl of the Crown (from Durrat al-tāj)
4. Jalāl al-Dīn Dawānī
Introduction, S. H. Nasr
Commentary on Suhrawardī’s ‘Temples of Light’ (from Sharḥ hayākil al-nūr)
Flashes of Illumination on Praiseworthy Ethics, or, The Jalālian Ethics (from Akhlāq-i jalālī)
5. Ibn Abī Jumhūr Aḥsāʾī
Introduction, S. H. Nasr
The Book of the Illuminated, Mirror of the Saviour (from Kitāb al-mujlī mirʾāt al-munjī)
6. Mullā Ṣadrā
Introduction, S. H. Nasr
Glosses upon the Commentary of Suhrawardī’s Philosophy of Illumination (from Taʿliqāt ʿalā sharḥ ḥikmat al-ishrāq)
Part II: The Revival of Peripatetic Philosophy
Introduction, S. H. Nasr
1. Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī
Introduction, M. Aminrazavi
Commentary on Ibn Sīnā’s Remarks and Admonitions (from Sharḥ al-ishārāt wa’l-tanbīhāt)
Treatise on the Division of Existents (from Risālah andar qismat-i mawjūdāt)
2. Afḍal al-Dīn Kāshānī
Introduction, M. Aminrazavi
Compositions (from Muṣannafāt)
3. Dabīrān-i Kātibī-yi Qazwīnī
Introduction, S. H. Nasr
Wisdom from the Source (from Ḥikmat al-ʿayn)
4. Athīr al-Dīn Abharī and Amīr Ḥusayn Maybudī
Introduction, S. H. Nasr
Commentary upon Guidance through Wisdom (from Sharḥ hidāyat al-ḥikmah)
5. Quṭb al-Dīn Rāzī
Introduction, M. Aminrazavi
Conception and Judgment (from al-Taṣawwur wa’l-taṣdīq)
Part III: Philosophical Sufism
Introduction, S. H. Nasr
1. Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad Ghazzālī
Introduction, M. Aminrazavi
The Niche of Lights (from Mishkāt al-anwār)
The Wisdom from God (from al-Risālat al-laduniyyah)
Three Treatises on Knowledge (from Thalāth rasāʾil fi’l-maʿrifah)
2. Aḥmad Ghazzālī
Introduction, M. Aminrazavi
Auspices of Divine Lovers (from Sawāniḥ al-ʿushshāq)
3. ʿAyn al-Quḍāt Hamadānī
Introduction, M. Aminrazavi
Dispositions (from Tamhīdāt)
The Letters (from Nāma-hā)
4. Ṣadr al-Dīn Qūnawī
Introduction, S. H. Nasr
The Texts (from al-Nuṣūṣ)
5. Sayyid Ḥaydar Āmulī
Introduction, S. H. Nasr
The Sum of Secrets and the Source of Lights (from Jāmiʿ al-asrār wa manbaʿ al-anwār)
6. Ibn Turkah Iṣfahānī
Introduction, S. H. Nasr
Establishing the Principles (from Tamhīd al-qawāʿid)
7. Maḥmūd Shabistarī and Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad Lāhījī
Introduction, S. H. Nasr
Commentary on the Secret Garden of Divine Mystery (from Sharḥ gulshan-i rāz)
8. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī
Introduction, M. Aminrazavi
The Precious Pearl (from al-Durrah al-fākhirah)
Select Bibliography
Index
Seyyed Hossein Nasr received his early education in Iran and completed his formal studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. He is the author of over five hundred articles and fifty books. He has taught at a number of universities, both in the Middle East, including Tehran University, and in the United States, and he has lectured widely on Islamic philosophy. He is currently University Professor of Islamic Studies at The George Washington University.
Mehdi Aminrazavi received his early education in Iran and completed his master's degree in Philosophy at the University of Washington and his doctorate in Philosophy of Religion at Temple University. He is the author and editor of numerous articles and books and is currently Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the University of Mary Washington and Director of the Middle Eastern Studies Program.