The Reception of Shahrazūrī’s World of Image up until the Present Day
The idea as Shahrazūrī interpreted it, denoted by the term ‘world of image’, received a reception much wider than the commentary tradition. Searching for this term, however, yields many false positives. Instead, it seems that all discussions that have to do with Suhrawardī and Shahrazūrī include a sentence which Shahrazūrī prominently used in his discussion. This chapter is divided by centuries, discussing the trajectory this discussion took. From the commentators, it went on to be discussed by a handful of philosophers and theologians. From there it enjoyed reception from Istanbul to Hyderabad, and notably entered into texts of Shiʿi traditional thinkers. Dozens of authors and their texts are discussed, with close attention given to how each author slightly alters the wording and thereby contributes to an evolution (as opposed to revolution) of the expression of the idea of a world of image. The chapter closes by discussing how Ibn ʿArabī and his commentators also use a notion called the world of image, but do so fully separately from Suhrawardī and his commentators.