The founder of Illuminationist (Ishraqi) philosophy, who fused Avicennan thought, ancient Persian wisdom, and mysticism — and was executed young for his ideas.
Life
Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi (1154–1191) created the philosophy of Illumination (hikmat al-ishraq), reworking Avicennan metaphysics into a system built on light and intuitive vision and drawing on Neoplatonic and pre-Islamic Persian sources. His boldness alarmed jurists in Aleppo, and he was executed around 1191 on the order of Saladin's son al-Zahir — earning the title al-Maqtul, "the slain." Whether heretic or martyr-sage is debated; his Ishraqi school deeply shaped later Islamic, especially Persian, philosophy.