‘Red Intellect’; Where Suhrawardi Distances from Greek Philosophy
Qasim Pour Hassan, a professor of philosophy at Tehran’s Allameh Tabatabai University gave a speech about prominent Muslim thinker Shihab al-Din Yahya Suhrawardi (1154-1191 CE) in a seminar in Tehran. Here is a summary of his remarks:
The most brilliant phrase of Suhrawardi in Red Intellect is when he says if you start to walk, you will find the way. The Red Intellect is Suhrawardi himself. I want to first emphasize the importance of this work. This is the most mysterious and allegorical treatise of the Muslim philosopher especially compared to his other work titled “Yazdan Shenakht” which bears no allegory at all.
There have been some scientific works on Red Intellect aiming at discovering its meaning and purpose but I think the important point about this book is that it shows Suhrawardi’s distancing and break from the Greek intellect. The treatise is comprised of 35 questions and answers between Suhrawardi and the old or red intellect. The most significant effort of Islamic philosophers is to understand human beings. French philosopher Henry Corbin (1903-1978) is right when he says the essence of Greek philosophy is nature and that of Islamic philosophy is mankind.
Misconceptions about Muslim philosophers
Suhrawardi is not just a philosopher as he tries to ask questions about man and the world, based on religious teachings, verses, and Illumination concepts. Therefore, it seems that we should pay attention to our philosophers in a different way.
Similar to Abu Nasr Al-Farabi (870-950 CE) and Ibn Sina (980-1037 CE), Suhrawardi is a different thinker. He is different from Ibn Rushd (1126-1198 CE) and Ibn Bājja (1085-1138 CE) because we believe that these had studied Aristotle and Greek philosophy and invented some words.
In “Red Intellect”, Suhrawardi talks about the human journey towards perfection. He says that the path to finding the fountain of life lies in this world. Contrary to our perceptions, Muslim philosophers follow concrete thoughts, not abstract ones. This is why Suhrawardi says if you start to walk you will discover the way.
