The Ways to Understand and the Nature of God in the Thoughts of Attar and Sohravardi

Sheikh Shahab Al-Din Yahya Sohravardi is the mystic philosopher possessing a wisdom composed of both theoretical knowledge and practical conduct. In his thoughts, one can trace elements of thinking in ancient Iran, ancient Greece, and the Islamic culture. His main concern was to resuscitate the apocalyptic thinking through employing the advantages of the three above-mentioned cultures. Sohravardi shares his thinking based on Khosravani (Royal) School and Islamic thoughts with that of Sheikh Farid Al-Din Attar. The ways to understand and the nature of God for both thinkers is a crucial issue. In their thinking, other theories of knowledge are overshadowed by the mentioned fundamental knowledge. The key to understand Sohravardi’s apocalyptic wisdom is self-knowledge, which is, in turn, dependent on knowing God and the knowledge of the universe. Thus, he believes that his knowledge of the universe depends on the recognition of “lights”. In his thinking, God id the true and absolute light. Attar also believes that the light is the source and spirit of life and living. Without this light there is no stability, and no part of the universe is deprived of its sign. Both thinkers, like other Eastern ones, maintain that sensory and intellectual ways are not sufficient to understand God. The most genuine way, they argue, to understand God is through apocalypse and revelation. This paper is an attempt to analyze and evaluate Sohravardi’s and Attar’s thoughts.