Critical Analysis of the Creation of the Soul in the Views of Sheikh Ishraq

The pre-eternity and temporal contingency of the soul has been one of the concerns of Muslim philosophers. Sheikh Ishraq, based on his philosophical principles and special arguments, believes in the temporal contingency of the soul. He believes that the soul, simultaneously with the creation of the material body, occurs as an abstract entity. The commentators of Suhrawardi’s works have considered his thought incompatible with religious texts, just as they have considered his arguments for the creation of the soul incomplete. On the other hand, Sheikh Ishraq in his symbolic treatises and interpretations refers to the presence of the soul in the previous worlds, therefore, it seems that the soul has come to this material world from the higher worlds and has traveled the worlds before this world. Using an analytical method and neo-Ishraqi approach, this paper seeks to analyzes the inconsistency in Suhrawardi’s views. The findings show that, the human souls existed before the world in the area of their cause and the lord of species in a general and collective way and then they are created in this material world in a partial and personal way.