Ayyubid Aleppo was the scene of the activity of an extra- ordinary Sufi, al-Suhrawardi (1155-1191), founder of the doctrine of illumination and of a dervish order. According to this doctrine light is the very essence of God, the funda- mental reality of all things and the representative of true knowledge, perfect purity, love and goodness. Clearly such theories combine Zoroastrian — more especially Manichaean — Neo-Platonic and Islamic ideas. The conception of God as light is stressed in the Koran. Intoxicated with his mystical fervour, young al-Suhrawardi so incensed the con- servative theologians that on their insistence he was starved or strangled to death on orders from the sultan. Another illuminationist Sufi, ibn-Arabi (1165-1240), left his native Spain on a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1202 and thereafter made Damascus his home. A pantheistic philosopher, ibn- Arabi is considered the greatest speculative genius of Islamic mysticism. He recognized the inner light as the one true guide and influenced such Christians as Raymond Lull and Dante.
In literature Syria of the Ayyubid - Mamluk period could boast an array of geographers, biographers, historians and encyclopaedic scholars without peer in Islamic history. Yaqut (1179-1229), originally a Greek slave, wrote a master- ful geographical dictionary at Aleppo, as well as a monu- mental dictionary of learned men. Ibn-Khallikan (d. 1282) was, for many years, chief judge of Syria, as well as compiler of the finest Moslem collection of biographies. He took pains to establish the correct orthography of names, fix dates, trace pedigrees, ascertain the significant events, and on the whole produce as accurate and interesting portrayals as possible. A continuation of this work was penned by al- Kutubi (d. 1363) of Aleppo. A more prolific biographer was al-Safadi (1 296-1 363), treasurer of Damascus and author of a thirty-volume work in the extant part of which the lives of some fourteen thousand rulers, judges and literati are portrayed.
