Ma`rifat Kalami

Philosophers before Suhrawardī confined the cosmos to three levels: the world of intellects (longitudinal and latitudinal), the world of souls, and the world of matter. However, Suhrawardī, the founder of Illuminationist philosophy (Ḥikmat al-Ishrāq), through mystical experience, discovered another level in the cosmos, which he called the world of images (ʿālam al-mithāl) or the eighth clime, thus positing four levels in the universe. In ordering the cosmic realms, he placed the world of images below the world of lights (the world of intellects and souls) and above the world of intermediality (the world of matter), regarding it as the realm of images and imaginal forms. Suhrawardī's discovery of the world of images opened a new horizon in Islamic philosophy and provided a rational answer to problems that had been difficult for earlier philosophers and theologians to analyze and explain. The present study, employing an analytical-citational method and based on the book Ḥikmat al-Ishrāq and the works of commentators on Illuminationist philosophy, first explains the place of the world of images in Suhrawardī's philosophical system and offers a clear account of how this world is demonstrated; it then addresses issues related to prophethood that have been explained on the basis of the world of images. The findings indicate that by demonstrating the world of images, Suhrawardī was able to provide a philosophical explanation for certain truths related to prophethood, such as knowledge of the unseen, visions of angels, miracles, and the Prophet's ascension (Miʿrāj). Accordingly, Suhrawardī's theory not only offers a novel explanation of the levels of existence but also provides a rational basis for understanding many religious phenomena, including the understanding of truths related to prophethood in Islamic philosophy.