The Seven Paths in the Hikmat al-ishrâq of Suhrawardî

At the end of his magnum opus, Hikmat al-ishrâq, Suhrawardî, the founder of the Illuminationist school of Islamic philosophy, has alluded to the seven paths in which, upon reaching the seventh path, the sâlik (spiritual wayfarer) reaches an extraordinary joy. The traditional exegetes of Hikmat al-ishrâq have interpreted these seven paths as the five external senses plus the faculties of imagination and reason. However, this article is shows that it is more appropriate to understand the seven paths as symbolising the seven stages of gnosis, in a way similar to that which has been described from the famous Sufi writer, Abû Tâlib al-Makkî.