Ontological Foundations of Political Idealism in Islamic Philosophy with Focus on the Illuminationist Philosophy of Suhrawadi

In this paper, we focus on the relationship between ontology and political thought in Moslem philosophers’ views, especially in Iran. According to ancient philosophical systems, the ontological point of view is very important, and every intellectual argumentation, including political one, must be understood in the light of ontology. Islamic political philosophy consists in an idealism that rejects the political reality and opens new ideal horizons. This political idealism is based on the ontological foundations of Islamic philosophy; therefore, understanding Islamic political philosophy implies understanding its ontological and cosmological basis. This is important for the present article, especially in this point that according to Muslem philosophers an ideal political system should be of the same system as the whole cosmos. Discussing the basis of ideaism, the present paper, as a case study, aims to show that the Illuminationist philosophy of Suhrawadi has elaborated a new ontological system, based on the Light, and therefore, it can provide a new model for ideal politics.