The Relation of Suhrawardi's Illuminative Wisdom and Plato's Philosophy

It is exhibited, that Illuminationism, as Suhrawardi acknowledges himself, is rooted in Plato's philosophy. The clues from Hikmat al Ishraq in which Suhrawardi maintains that Illuminationism which he presents is confirmed by Plato, will be considered firs. Cave allegory was explained after that, and four stage of it were described, i.e, when the chained man who deals with shadows, when he is free but still is in cave, when he ascend to ground and finally when come back to cave for liberation of others. Plato's interpretation on the allegory is considered in following. Plato, in every stage, emphasizes the reorientation of eyes, and states that with Paideia, a Greek word. Next part is commentary on paideia and its important role in philosophy of Plato. I examine the relation between sun of allegory and the idea of the good in next section, namely, sun in allegory is the image of the idea of the good, or the idea of ideas, and, as sun is the cause of seeing other things, the idea of ideas is the cause of knowing other things as well. Then, philosophy of Plato and philosophy of Illumination is compared and it will be justified that Platonism and Illuminationism are very close and isomorphic in philosophical principles and methods. Because, what Plato renders, is culminated by Suhrawardi. Afterwards, the effect and mediation of Neo-Platonists are pointed.