The teachings of al-Suhrawardī
The first master of the new wisdom, al-Suhrawardī (12th century), called it the “wisdom of illumination.” He rejected Avicenna’s distinction between essence and existence and Aristotle’s distinction between substance and accidents, possibility and actuality, and matter and form on the ground that they are mere distinctions of reason. Instead, he concentrated on the notion of being and its negation, which he called “light” and “darkness,” and explained the gradation of beings as gradation of their mixture according to the degree of “strength,” or “perfection,” of their light. This gradation forms … (100 of 29,257 words)
Being Free 