The Vision of Hermes Trismegistus by Johfra Bosschart (1972/1985)

November 24, 2023

The Vision of Hermes Trismegistus by Johfra Bosschart (1972/1985)

Suhrawardi was also referred to as the Murdered Master, in reference to his being executed for heresy against Islam:

"Suhrawardi presented a more concrete architectural description depicting Hermes Trismegistus as a pilgrim seeking light within the temple. In his depiction the experiences of the body and building are analogues of one another:

'Hermes was occupied praying before a sun of night (north star) in the temple of light. When the pillars of dawn were split, he saw a land whose villages had sunk beneath the anger of God. He fell down and called, 'Father, deliver me from the vicinity of evil.' He heard a voice, 'Cling to the cord of ray and ascend to the lofty reaches of the throne.' He went up until earth and heavens were beneath his feet.'

Walbridge proposes that Suhrawardi's views on Hermes Trismegistus were most likely informed by the Sabians of Harran in northern Syria. This ancient religious community was established in Mesopotamia around 2000 BCE, and is mentioned in the Quran, alongside the Jews and the Christians, as a community that preceeded Islam. According to pre-modern Muslim historians, including al-Mas'udi (d. 956), al-Shahrastani (d. 1153), and Ibn Kathir (d. 1373 CE), the Sabians worshipped the stars and built temples dedicated to them 'at each of the seven gates of Damascus'. They described the particular shape these temples took: 'Saturn, which was hexagonal; Jupiter, triangular; Mars, rectangular; the Sun, square; Venus, triangular in a square enclosure; Mercury, triangular in a rectangular enclosure; and the Moon, octagonal'. Suhrawardi seems most likely to have developed his use of the architectural metaphor of the human temple, therefore, through the Sabians' temple model. The division of the chapters in Suhrawardi's Temples of Light supports this notion. Just as the Sabians responded to their adoration of the planets and stars with the seven types, Suhrawardi, too, divides his text into seven parts, with each part aptly named as a temple."

-Faris Hajamaideen, Chapter 8 ʿIlm and the human body: Al-Suhrawardī’s concept of the illuminated temple