Journal of the Council for Research on Religion

Alternative Orientalism

Journal of the Council for Research on Religion April 24, 2026 Mohammad Meerzaei

Henry Corbin (1903–1978), through his extensive contributions to Islamic and Iranian studies, introduced a paradigm shift in modern Western scholarship on Iran and Islam. As a counternarrative to classical Orientalism’s relegation of Islamic societies, Corbin’s construction of “Iranian Islam” generated a comprehensive body of knowledge that valorized Iran as a model for the West. He depicted...