Hermes in Manichaeism and its Impact on Suhrawardi's Thoughts

One of the most important consequences of the encounter of the two ancient Egyptian and Greek civilizations in Alexandria was the development of a rational school of thought called Hermeticism, which derives its name from the person to whom it is attributed. Later, this school managed to exercise a huge influence over the western world and then over the Islamic world. Some Islamic, Jewish, and Christian philosophers, particularly in the Middle Ages, believed that Hermes was the founder of all sciences. The number of thinkers and scholars who were influenced by Hermetic ideas was not small and, in fact, we must say that they were mostly affected by Hermeticism through their study of Islamic books. During the Renaissance, the western thinkers’ attention to this school of thought did not decline and, generally speaking, the Hermetic School, which promoted a particular philosophy concerning the world and nature, greatly influenced both western and Islamic civilizations. Accordingly, a study of the ideas and origins of this school could be illuminating in inferring the essential features of the intellectual life of the world of Islam and Christianity. The important effects of this rational school are also manifested in Islamic philosophy, particularly in Illuminationist philosophy. The belief in heavenly guidance, which is also called “Perfect Nature”, is the same ideas that we see in Manichean writings in China and the rest of them in the Coptic language. The Manicheans also believed in a truth similar to “Perfect Nature” and called it the “Great Vohu Mana”.