The theory of suspended ideas is one of Suhrawardī’s most important philosophical innovations. Several challenging queries have been ventured regarding this theory; for example, questions have been raised about the identity of this world in the hierarchy of the realms o
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The theory of suspended ideas is one of Suhrawardī’s most important philosophical innovations. Several challenging queries have been ventured regarding this theory; for example, questions have been raised about the identity of this world in the hierarchy of the realms of being. This question, in its Illuminationist sense, has been posed as follows: Is the identity of this world of the type of light, darkness, or a combination of both of them? Another question asks whether this theory is related to the legacy of Islamic philosophy, wisdom, and kalām, and to which views it leads in its genealogical sense in the history of these three disciplines. The findings of the present study indicate that the discussions of the faculty of imagination in Fārābī’s philosophy, imagination and spherical souls in Ibn Sīnā’s philosophy, the belief in Purgatory in Islamic kalām, and the theory of allegory in gnosis are the philosophical and ideological legacies which have influenced the explanation of this theory. On the other hand, resorting to Suhrawardī’s principles and arguments to explain this theory and the identity of the world of Ideas indicates that the existents of the world possess collective modal ideas and both luminous and dark identities.
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