The Place of Imagination in Suhrawardi’s Epistemological System

Abstract

In Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi’s Illuminationist philosophy (Ḥikmat al-Ishrāq), knowledge and being are founded upon light, and the faculty of imagination plays a fundamental role in connecting sensory perception, intellect, and illuminative intuition. By positing the existence of the ʿālam al-mithāl (the imaginal world) or the detached world of imagination, Suhrawardi introduces an ontological level that mediates between the sensible and the intelligible realms, wherein imaginal forms serve as intermediaries that transmit meaning from the luminous world to the human mind. The imaginative faculty within human beings—identified as the connected imagination—functions as the instrument for perceiving and reflecting these imaginal forms. From this standpoint, cognition is not merely the result of sensory or rational perception but rather a luminous process in which imagination acts as an epistemic mediator. Adopting an analytical–philosophical approach, this article examines the epistemological status of the faculty and world of imagination within Suhrawardi’s Illuminationist framework. First, the ontological and luminous foundations of the imaginal world are elucidated; then, the hierarchical stages of knowledge—from sensation to illumination and presence—and the mediating role of imagination in linking these stages are analyzed. In the final section, the expressibility or inexpressibility of imaginal knowledge and its relation to luminous truth are explored from the perspectives of Suhrawardi and his interpreters, Henry Corbin and Yazdanpanah. The findings indicate that in Illuminationist philosophy, imagination is not a fictive or illusory faculty but rather an ontological and epistemological level that enables the manifestation of luminous truth through symbolic and intuitive forms. Thus, imaginal knowledge in this system constitutes a luminous and presential mode of knowing attainable only through illumination and the purification of the soul.