Islamic Art Studies

Islamic Art Studies

An Intertextual and Postmodern Reading of Suhrawardī’s Illuminationist Aesthetics and Its Manifestations in Islamic Art

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 Department of Art Research, CT.C., Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 Department of Photography, CT.C., Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
3 Department of Photography, Iqbal Lahoori Institute of Higher Education, Mashhad, Iran
10.22034/ias.2026.556019.2437
Abstract
\This study offers an intertextual and postmodern reading of Suhrawardī’s Illuminationist aesthetics and its manifestations in Islamic art. The central question is how the luminous and imaginal apparatus of Ḥikmat al-Ishrāq becomes embodied in visual symbols and structures within selected domains of Islamic art, and to what extent it can be reinterpreted within the horizons of intertextuality and postmodern discourse. Accordingly, the research first identifies and systematizes key components of Illuminationist aesthetics—such as the gradations of light and darkness, the imaginal world (ʿālam al-mithāl), luminous forms (hayākil al-nūr), avian allegories, and the notion of Mount Qāf—on the basis of Suhrawardī’s treatises, and interprets them through the lens of intertextual theory. It then adopts a qualitative, interpretive methodology to conduct a comparative analysis of selected examples of Islamic art, including the organization of light in mosque architecture, glass mosque lamps inscribed with the Qur’ānic Verse of Light, and miniature painting and illumination centered on miʿrāj scenes and imaginal imagery. The findings indicate meaningful correspondences between the luminous–imaginal logic of Illuminationist philosophy and the visual logic governing the deployment of light, space, color, and ornament in these works, such that one may legitimately speak of “Illuminationist art” as one possible reading of Islamic art. The article ultimately argues that combining intertextual approaches with Suhrawardī’s Illuminationist metaphysics opens up a new horizon for layered, postmodern understandings of Islamic art and can serve as a basis for developing innovative analytical frameworks in theoretical studies of Islamic art.
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Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 25 February 2026