An Introductory Comparative Study on the Role of Corbin and Izutsu in the Philosophy of Contemporary ‘Iranian Islam’: Analyzing Its Motives and Resources from Heidegger to Massignon

Abstract

Henry Corbin was among those spiritual philosophers of the contemporary world who deserve novel and serious investigations, particularly in the realm of comparative 1 philosophy (and mysticism) with a phenomenological-hermeneutic vein serving as a connective bridge between the contemporary western philosophy (in the continental Europe) and the oriental philosophy (in Iran and in the Islamic world-and in particular, Shiism).This French philosopher was on the one hand, an expert in German philosophical language and translated for the first time two works by Martin Heidegger into French, while on the other hand, and at the same time, as a pupil of the eminent historian of the Middle Ages, Etienne Gilson, and of the protestant theologian, Jean Baruzi, and eventually under the guidance of Louis Massignon (as of 1928 onwards), turned to the spiritual philosophy, mysticism and Sufism in the Islamic World and the Shiism.After an initial fascination with Ibn Arabi, he particularly undertook a re-reading of the works of Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi (m.1191 AC) and his Hikmat Al-Ishraq (Theosophia Matutina or the Oriental Theosophy).He later set out to systematically introduce worldwide otherless known-Iranian Shiite theosophers such as Mirdamad, as well as MullaTowards a Philosophy of Co-existence: A Dialog with Iran-Islam(２) An Introductory Comparative Study on the Role of Corbin and Izutsu in the Philosophy of Contemporary 'Iranian Islam': Analyzing Its Motives and Resources from Heidegger to Massignon