He studied jurisprudence in
Maraghah, then went to Ispahan, and later to Bagdad and Aleppo, where he
occupied himself chiefly with philosophical studies. He gave himself
the title "Disciple of the Spirit-world." In the Arabic biographies of
him, his teaching is said to have aimed at overthrowing Islam; this,
however, is always said of anyone who ventures to oppose the dominant
orthodox party. As a matter of fact, he founded a sect who bore the name
Ishrakiyya--"The Illumined." For them he composed a work, "Hikmat al
Ishrak," _i.e._, "The philosophy of illumination," containing mystical
and fantastic teaching. In Aleppo, where he finally took up his abode,
he seems to have exercised a powerful influence on Prince Malik Zahir,
the son of the famous Saladin. The orthodox party persuaded the latter
to pass sentence of death on him as a heretic, which sentence Malik
Zahir caused to be carried out (1191 A.D.), but not till he had received
a threatening letter from his father for his dilatoriness. Suhrawardy is
said when he heard the sentence, to have quoted a Persian verse:

"It is not worth while to draw the sword."

By his own consent, he was then shut up in a separate chamber and
deprived of meat and drink till he passed into the world for which he
longed. His tomb is still preserved in Aleppo, where the memory of him
as "the murdered Suhrawardy" has by no means faded. The inhabitants say
that no tree or shrub will grow in the tomb-enclosure. His real
character has, for the most part, been forgotten, and he is represented
as a magician and sorcerer who possessed the philosopher's stone, and
knew how to make gold. Many even believe that he was never killed at
all, but disappeared, while a phantom was put to death in his place.
They say that at night weird sounds are heard from his grave.

These popular legends give us reason to suppose that Suhrawardy's life
and death in Aleppo really made an extraordinary impression on the
people, and that his teaching penetrated more deeply than Muhammedan
writers find convenient to admit. Suhrawardy's writings were preserved
from entire destruction by the Persians and Turks. The most important of
them are the above-mentioned Hikmat al Ishrak, Haikal-un-nur (The Temple
of Light) and others. From the two first a few passages may be quoted,
which suffice to show that the theosophy of this Persian Sufi took a
much bolder flight than that of the Arabian Sufis, and that for it Islam
was