The influence of suhrawardi's doctrine on the afzal-addin kashani's theoretical and practical wisdom

Abstract

The wisdom of afzal-addin kāshāni has been studied by some scholars such as abbas zaryab khoyi and seyyed hossein nasr, and especially by william chittick. The first scholar has placed afzal-addin among isma'ili philosophers, while the second scholar thinks that he has been a sufi, as his title baba clearly shows. on the other hand, chittick in his book entitled the heart of Islamic philosophy argues that afzal can not be placed in categories such as isma' iliyyah or sufiyyah, but all that can be said about his wisdom is this: it is the wisdom of self- knowledge. In this essay we try to show that afzal has had a good knowledge of ishraqi wisdom of suhrawardi, and moreover he has translated in persian some passages of suhrawardi's at-talwihat. we can say that he has expressed in persian language the most complex ishraqi conceptions through the most clear sentences.