TEHRAN--The birth anniversary of Sheikh Shahabeddin Sohrevardi, Iranian philosopher and founder of the Iranian school of Illuminationism, has been named as Zanjan Day (July 30) in the Iranian calendar. It is considered day of cultural and scientific activities in gnosis and philosophy fields.

Shahabeddin Yahya ibn Habash Sohrevardi (1154–1191) was a Persian philosopher and founder of the Iranian school of Illuminationism, an important school in Islamic philosophy. The light in his “Philosophy of Illumination” is the source of knowledge, Mehr news agency wrote.

He is referred to by the honorific title Shaikh al-Ishraq “Master of Illumination”. Mulla Sadra, the Persian sage of the Safavid era described Sohrevardi as the “Reviver of the Traces of the Pahlavi (Iranian) Sages”, and Sohrevardi, in his magnum opus “The Philosophy of Illumination”, thought of himself as a reviver or resuscitator of the ancient tradition of Persian wisdom. Sohrevardi provided a new Platonic critique of the peripatetic school of Avicenna that was dominant at his times, and that critique involved the fields of Logic, Physics, Epistemology, Psychology, and Metaphysics.

His life spanned a period of less than 40 years during which he produced a series of works that established him as the founder of a new school of philosophy, called “Illuminism” (hikmat al-Ishraq). According to Henry Corbin, Sohrevardi "came later to be called the Master of Illumination (Shaikh-i-Ishraq) because his great aim was the renaissance of ancient Iranian wisdom". In 1186, at the age of 32, he completed his magnum opus, “The Philosophy of Illumination”.

Sohrevardi was a strong defender of Peripatetic philosophy, until he was influenced by those whom he described as those who "have traveled the path of God", like - as noted by Sohrevardi - Plato from the Greek tradition, Hermes (Thoth) from Egypt, and Pythagoras the Phoenician, and also figures in the Persian tradition. His philosophical project aims to revive the lost hikmat of east and west.

Sohrevardi taught a complex and profound emanationist cosmology, in which all creation is a successive outflow from the original Supreme Light of Lights (Nur al-Anwar).

The fundamental of his philosophy is pure immaterial light, where nothing is manifest, and which unfolds from the Light of Lights in a descending order of ever-diminishing intensity and, through complex interaction, gives rise to a horizontal array of lights, similar in conception to Platonic forms, that governs mundane reality. In other words, the universe and all levels of existence are but varying degrees of Light—light and darkness. In his division of bodies, he categorizes objects in terms of their reception or non-reception of light.

Sohrevardi considers a previous existence for every soul in the angelic realm before its descent to the realm of the body. The soul is divided into two parts, one remains in heaven and the other descends into the dungeon of the body. The human soul is always sad because it has been divorced from its other half. Therefore, it aspires to become reunited with it. The soul can only reach felicity again when it is united with its celestial part, which has remained in heaven. He holds that the soul should seek felicity by detaching itself from its tenebrous body and worldly matters and access the world of immaterial lights. The souls of the gnostics and saints, after leaving the body, ascend even above the angelic world to enjoy proximity to the Supreme Light, which is the only absolute Reality.

Sohrevardi elaborated the neoplatonic idea of an independent intermediary world, the imaginal world. His views have exerted a powerful influence down to this day, particularly through Mulla Sadra’s combined peripatetic and illuminationist description of reality.

Sohrevardi's Illuminationist project had a strong influence on subsequent esoteric Iranian thought and the idea of “Decisive Necessity” is believed to be one of the most important innovations in the history of logical philosophical speculation, stressed by the majority of Muslim logicians and philosophers.

Sohrevardi was born in 1154 in Sohrevard, a village located between the towns of Zanjan and Bijar Garrus in Iran.

Introduction to Zanjan

Located on the Commercial Silk Road and on Iran–Europe transitway, Zanjan province is 338 kilometers from Tehran and it is a strategic city in terms of connecting central parts, the west, and northwest of Iran together. 

Zanjan is a mountainous province whose climate is characterized by cold snowy weather in the mountains and a moderate climate in the plains in wintertime. In the summers, the weather is warm.

World city of filigree work

Being designated as “world city of filigree” by the World Crafts Council, Zanjan is well known for its noble craftsmanship of filigree work.

Filigree consists of curling, twisting, or plaiting fine, pliable metal threads (especially silver) and soldering them at their points of contact with each other with a metal groundwork.

Handmade knives

Having fine patterns on their handle and lining, the stainless handmade knives of Zanjan are famous in Iran due to their cutting power, sharpness, high quality, durability, and plating style.

Coppersmith

The outstanding coppersmith craft has a long and shining history in Zanjan which is characterized by its specific motifs carved on a wide variety of copper products. The history of copper handicrafts in Zanjan dates back to more than a thousand years ago and to the Sassanid era.

Soltanieh Dome

Dating back to 700 years ago, Soltanieh Dome is one of the most exceptional and famous Islamic sites of the province that was built commissioned by Sultan Mohammad Khodabandeh (Oljaytu) in the old Soltanieh city of Zanjan, the capital of the Ilkhanid dynasty from 1302 to 1312.

The historical and magnificent edifice of the Dome of Soltanieh is the largest brick dome in the world and the world's third tallest dome which has been registered on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2005.

Colorful mountains of Mahneshan

While traveling to the western parts of Zanjan, the rare colorful mountains and clay hills in red, brown, green, orange, yellow, and white catch everyone's eyes.

The breathtaking scenery of these mountains is a good choice for photographers and mountain climbers as well.

Located in the Mahneshan county of Zanjan, these amazing mountains are called “Ala Dagh Lar” by local people.

Zanjan Anthropological Museum 

The historical building of Zanjan Wash House, locally dubbed as Rakhtshooy Khaneh lies at the historical texture of the Zanjan city which was built in nearly the 20th century in the Qajar Era.

Since there was no washing machine in ancient times, most people in Zanjan used to go to the river to wash their clothes and dishes. Therefore, a laundry house was built for women to wash their household clothing in a closed space during the harsh winters of that time for free.

Currently, Rakhtshooy Khaneh has changed into an anthropological museum where you can find the sculptures of the people of Zanjan in ancient times. These sculptures are holding their washing equipment and they have dressed up in the local clothes of Zanjan people in old times.

Salt Men Museum (Zolfaghari Mansion)

Six mummies were found in Chehrabad Salt Mine in southern Zanjan in 1993. Salt cured mummies (dated back to Achaemenid and Sassanid eras) were in fact ancient corpses killed or crushed in the cave and mummified by the extreme conditions and their hair, flesh, and bone were all preserved by the dry salinity of the cave, and even internal organs such as stomachs and colons have been found intact.

One of the mentioned salt men has been transferred to the National Museum of Iran in Tehran (all can be seen by the public), the final salt man remains in-situ, half stuck in a mountain of salt.

The other four salt-cured mummies are kept in the Zanjan Archaeology Museum, known as Zolfaghari Mansion, in the center of Zanjan city along the northern side of Sabzeh Meydan square.

Historical Bazaar of Zanjan

The traditional bazaar of Zanjan is the longest covered market in Iran which was founded in 1784 under the command of Aqa Mohmmad Khan Qajar and was completed in 1792.

The bazaar consists of two parts, namely Bazaar-e Bala (upper bazaar) and Bazaar-e Paieen (lower bazaar), which are divided into different sections by professions and commodities.

Two mosques, namely Aqa Sheikh Fayyaz Mosque and Mirza Mosque, two caravansaries of Serai Malek, and Serai Golshan as well two public baths also exist in this bazaar.

KD