The Post-Ghazālī Criticism of Philosophy: The Case of Shihāb al-Dīn Umar al-Suhrawardī Gazzâlî Sonrası Felsefe Eleştirisi: Şihâbeddîn Ömer Sühreverdî Örneği

The criticism of philosophy in Islamic thought experienced a major shift with al-Ghazālī. The reflections of this shift have continued until today, and it has been commonly accepted that criticism of philosophy reached its peak with al-Ghazālī. However, this conventional wisdom neither means that no other studies on criticism of philosophy have been carried out after him nor implies that philosophy has completely lost its influence on Islamic thought. One of the most significant indicators of this is that many scholarly figures continued to write works in this field after al-Ghazālī. Shihāb al-Dīn Umar al-Suhrawardī (d. 632/1234), for instance, is one of these figures; he wrote an independent work entitled Rashf al-nasaʾiḥi'l-imaniyyah wa al-kashf-al-fazaʾiḥi'l-Yūnānīyah to criticize philosophy. The author, who can often be confused with Suhrawardī al-Maqtul (d. 587/1191), is famous for his Sufi identity and is the founder of the Suhrawardī sect. Al-Suhrawardī divided his work into fifteen sections and addressed the issues in a similar way to al-Ghazālī in terms of subject selection but differed from him in many ways in terms of method and style. In this sense, it is observed that al-Ghazālī tried to evaluate philosophy based on its inner integrity and after a serious preliminary preparation, whereas al-Suhrawardī mostly relied on Text (naṣṣ) in his criticism of philosophy and philosophers. At the same time, it is seen that al-Suhrawardī used clearer expressions in comparison to al-Ghazālī to declare philosophers’ unbelievers. This study addresses al-Suhrawardī’s criticisms and assesses his claims about philosophy. It is particularly important to understand al-Suhrawardī and his thoughts, not only because he was sent as the representative of the Caliphate to many different states by the Abbasid Caliph of his time, al-Nāṣir Li-Dīn Allāh, but also because he was personally assigned by the Caliph in the establishment of futuwwa organizations. Under the light of historical data, this study discusses why al-Suhrawardī’s political and social environment led him to write criticism of philosophy. In this way, it questions the position of philosophy and philosophers in Baghdad in the 13th century and examines their impact on society. Globally considered, this study aims to contribute to the understanding of the adventure of post-Ghazālī criticism of philosophy in Islamic thought.