Analyzing the Position of symbol in the idea of Suhrawardi according to his book «Hikmat al-Ishragh»

Allegory and symbol In the Sohrevardi’s view differ from the view of new philosophers who perceive allegory as a contractual matter. In the Illuminationists’s view, Symbolic language expresses truth. Allegories are glimpses from the higher world’s truth that open window and hatch to the sky. Allegories are sometimes intense and sometimes weak in the expression of the truth, in other words, they are gradational. In addition to his storybooks (which are filled with allegories) Sohrevardi also has Philosophical books and the most important one of them is “Hikmat Al-Ishragh”. This book, as evident from its name, is not only is a philosophical book, but the book of Illuminationist wisdom that mainly is expressed with the language of light and darkness. This book is filled with allegories that Sohrevardi put in place for their seekers to find and understand them. For example; an Illuminationist philosopher speaks about light, darkness, talismans, idol, mirror, Imaginal world (Alam al-Mithal) etc., each with their own specific meaning. In this research, we try to discover and decipher some of these allegories.