There are altogether about fifty titles of Suhrawardi's...

There are altogether about fifty titles of Suhrawardi's writings which have come down to us in the various histories and biographies.[^5] They may be divided into five categories as follows: [^6] The four large doctrinal treatises, the first three dealing with Aristotelian ( masha'i ) philosophy with certain modifications and the last with ishraqi wisdom proper.

These works, all in Arabic, include the Talwihat , Muqawwamat , Mutarahat , and the Hikmat al-Ishraq .[^7] Shorter doctrinal treatises like Hayakil al-Nur , al-Alwah al-`Imadiyyah , Partau-Nameh , I`tiqad al-Hukama' , al-Lamahat , Yazdan Shinakht , and Bustan al-Qulub [^8] all of which explain further the subject-matter of the larger treatises. These works are partly in Arabic and partly in Persian.

Initiatory narratives written in symbolic language to depict the journey of the initiate towards gnosis ( ma`rifah ) and illumination ( ishraq ). These short treatises, all written in Persian, include 'Aql-i Surkh , Awaz-i Par-i Jibra'il , al-Ghurbat al-Gharbiyyah (also in Arabic), Lughat-i Muran , Risalah fi Halat al-Tufuliyyah , Ruzi ba Jama`at-i Sufiyan , Risalah fi al-Mi`raj , and Safir-i Simurgh .

Commentaries and transcriptions of earlier philosophic and initiatic texts and sacred Scripture like the translation into Persian of the Risalat al-Ta'ir of Ibn Sina, the commentary in Persian upon Ibn Sina's Isharat wa Tanbihat , and the treatise Risalah fi Haqiqat al-`Ishq which last is based on Ibn Sina's Risalat al-`Ishq and his commentary upon the verses of the Qur'an and on the Hadith.[^9] Prayers, litanies, invocations, and what may be called books of the hour, all of which Shahrazuri calls al-Waridat w-al-Taqdisat .

These works and the large number of commentaries written upon them during the last seven centuries form the main corpus of the tradition of ishraq and are a treasure of traditional doctrines and symbols combining in them the wisdom of Sufism with Hermeticism, and Pythagorean, Platonic, Aristotelian, and Zoroastrian philosophies together with some other diverse elements.

There is little doubt that Suhrawardi is greatly indebted to the Muslim philosophers, especially Ibn Sina, for the formulation of many of his ideas. Moreover, inasmuch as he is a Sufi as well as a philosopher or, more properly speaking, a theosophist, [^10] he is in debt, both for spiritual inspiration and for his doctrines, to the great chain of Sufi masters before him.