According to the Iranian philosopher, Suhrewardi (d. 1191), each human soul had a previous existence in the spirit world before descending into the body. Upon entering the body, the innermost center of the human soul which is immortal and angelic in nature, divided into two parts. One part remains in the spiritual or angelic realm and the other, descended into the prison of the body. This explains the unhappiness or dissatisfaction that man experiences in this world, which is due to his search for his true self, and he cannot be happy until he is reunited with it. Man’s task in this world is therefore, to regain his true self and be reunited with it in order to be whole again. [1] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: [1] Moris, Zalin. “Revelation, Intellectual Intuition and Reason in the Philosophy of Mulla Sadra.” 1/27/2018 interesting Similarities between Ancient Anti-Women laws and Today’s Extremist Islamic LawsRead Now It is interesting to see the similarities between some of the ancient discriminatory laws against women and those present today within religious extremist groups such as Iran’s Islamic regime and Afghanistan’s Taliban. For example, Mesopotamia’s Code Hammurabi (1700 BC) allowed men to easily divorce their wives, particularly if they had not borne children, whereas women could only obtain divorce with great difficulty. [1] A text from third millennium BC says that a wife who contradicted her husband should be punished, even have her teeth smashed with burnt bricks. The man’s power over wife, children and slaves was absolute. And the penalty of an unmarried rapist was to marry the woman he had raped. Men were permitted to take second wives or have sexual intercourse with slaves but adultery by the wife was punishable by death. The rules on veiling—specifying which women must veil and which could not—were carefully detailed in laws such as the Assyrian and Byzantine ones. [1] The veil was used to differentiate between “respectable” women and prostitutes. The similarities between some of these laws to the extremist religious teachings are difficult to dispute. How can these similarities be explained except that they have been passed on from one culture to another throughout centuries and continue in the anti-women laws which Islamic extremists enforce to this day? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: [1] Leila Ahmed. “Women and Gender in Islam.” Yale University Press. https://www.amazon.com/Women-Gender-Islam-Historical-Modern/dp/0300055838 Photo: By Milkau_Oberer_Teil_der_Stele_mit_dem_Text_von_Hammurapis_Gesetzescode_369-2.jpg: Luestlingderivative work: Fred the Oyster (talk) -Milkau_Oberer_Teil_der_Stele_mit_dem_Text_von_Hammurapis_Gesetzescode_369-2.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9812640 Do you know that the great Iranian philosopher, Suhrewardi, who was killed by Muslim extremists in 1191, established The School of Illumination?
He considered discursive philosophy as developed by Ibn Sina (Avicenna) to be only the first, necessary step in the attainment of true philosophy, which must also be based on intellectual intuition or ishraq (illumination). Suhrewardi combined Platonic philosophy, Neoplatonism, the wisdom of the ancient Persians, especially Mazdaean, and Avicennian philosophy in the matrix of Islamic gnosis to create this widely influential school of thought. His masterpiece Hikmat al-ishraq (Theosophy of the Orient of Light) has been translated into English. The school exercised a deep influence not only in Persia, but also in Ottoman Turkey and the Indian subcontinent, and continues to be active to this day. [1] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: [1] Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. “Islamic philosophy from its Origin to Present: Philosophy in the Land of Prophecy.” State University of New York Press. 2006. Photo: www.pixabay.com Do you know the great philosopher Suhrawardi who was killed by Muslim extremists? Suhrawardi was born in Iran in 1154. He learned jurisprudence in Maragheh (located in the East Azarbaijan province of Iran). He then went to Iraq and Syria for several years to develop his knowledge. His life spanned a period of less than forty years during which he produced a series of works that established him as the founder of a new school of philosophy called "Philosophy of Illumination" (hikmat al-ishraq). Like most philosophers he was often accused of heresy by Muslim extremists and was finally killed by them. [1] According to Suhrawardi, all of reality is nothing but light (nur) which possesses various degrees of intensity. In Suhrawardi's metaphysics, the Supreme Light is the source of all existence: The whole universe or all of creation is degrees of irradiation of this Light which shines everywhere while it itself remains immutable. [2] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sources: [1] Shahab al-Din Yahya ibn Habash Suhrawardi. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. CC BY SA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahab_al-Din_Yahya_ibn_Habash_Suhrawardi [2] Moris, Zalin. “Revelation, Intellectual Intuition and Reason in the Philosophy of Mulla Sadra.” As women are at the forefront of protests in Iran, we ponder the reasons why women have been treated as subordinates for so long in so many societies? Was there a time when women were held in high esteem and had favorable positions in society? According to Leila Ahmad, author Women and Gender in Islam, contrary to androcentric theories claiming that the inferior social status of women is based on biology and has existed as long as human beings have, archeological evidence suggests that women were held in high esteem prior to the rise of urban societies. Historical sites such as Catal Huyuk, a Neolithic settlement in Asia Minor (today’s Turkey) dating back to 6000 BC, show women’s elevated and even dominant position. Within this settlement the larger burial platforms contained women and paintings on walls of shrines featuring female figures. This is not the only historical site that provides evidence of women having a favorable position. Archeological evidence indicates that cultures throughout the Middle East including Mesopotamia, Elam, Egypt and Crete, venerated the mother-goddess and held women in high esteem thousands of years ago. Feminist author, Gerda Lerner, has provided the most compelling theory as to why male dominance gained prominence. She suggests that urbanization, importance of increasing the population and providing labor power in early societies led to the theft of women, whose sexuality and reproductive capacity became the first “property” that tribes competed for. The first urban centers of the Middle East rose in Mesopotamia in 3500 BC, and with it the increasing importance of military competitiveness and therefore male dominance. The decline in women’s status was followed eventually by the decline of the goddesses and the rise to supremacy of gods. [1] -------------------------------------------------------------
Source: [1] Leila Ahmad. “Women and Gender in Islam.” Yale University Press. 1993. https://www.amazon.com/Women-Gender-Islam-Historical-Modern/dp/0300055838 Photo: By Elelicht - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22743701 |
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AuthorSaghi (Sasha) Archives
May 2019
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