Philosophy

Philosophy

Phenomenology of Love and Its Relation to Beauty in Suhrawardῑ

Document Type : Scientific-research

Author
shamsolmoluk mostafavi
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch, Iran
10.22059/jop.2025.399022.1006929
Abstract
This article examines the phenomenology of love and its relationship to beauty in the thought of Shihāb al-Dīn Yaḥyā Suhrawardī, the Illuminationist philosopher and eminent Iranian sage. Suhrawardī succeeded in intertwining discursive philosophy with intuitive wisdom and establishing a firm ontological foundation for his doctrine of illumination. Known as the “Philosopher of Light,” he not only mastered the sciences of his era but also engaged in spiritual discipline and mystical wayfaring, attaining numerous revelations. Incorporating the wisdom of ancient Greece and Iran, which he regarded as expressing a single truth, he combined rational inquiry with unveiling and intuition in pursuit of a comprehensive and unified divine reality. Through a phenomenological reflection on the meaning and concept of love in Suhrawardī’s works, this study seeks to elucidate the essence of his theory of love and clarify its relationship with beauty. The central question addressed here is as follows: What does love signify in Suhrawardī’s philosophy, and how is it related to beauty? The findings demonstrate that love, like existence, originates from the Divine Essence, identified as the Light of Lights and the manifestation of perfection and beauty of absolute love, and flows throughout the whole of being. Its connection with beauty is eternal, and both, like light and existence, are realities of gradation. The primary sources employed are Suhrawardī’s Muʾnis al-ʿUshshāq (or Fī Ḥaqīqat al-ʿIshq), along with Ḥikmat al-Ishrāq, composed largely through an intuitive method based on unveiling, and other relevant works by Suhrawardī.
Keywords
Suhrawardī
Love
Beauty
Being
Light
al-Munīs al-ʿUshshāq
Ḥikmat al-Ishrāq
Subjects
 
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Philosophy
Volume 23, Issue 1 - Serial Number 44
December 2025
Pages 251-270

  • Receive Date 31 August 2025
  • Revise Date 20 December 2025
  • Accept Date 22 October 2025