The Legacy of Henry Corbin: Majnoun et Layla

"...the Imagination (or love, or sympathy, or any other sentiment) induces knowledge, and knowledge of an 'object' which is proper to it..."

Henry Corbin (1903-1978) was a scholar, philosopher and theologian. He was a champion of the transformative power of the Imagination and of the transcendent reality of the individual in a world threatened by totalitarianisms of all kinds. One of the 20th century’s most prolific scholars of Islamic mysticism, Corbin was Professor of Islam & Islamic Philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris and at the University of Teheran. He was a major figure at the Eranos Conferences in Switzerland. He introduced the concept of the mundus imaginalis into contemporary thought. His work has provided a foundation for archetypal psychology as developed by James Hillman and influenced countless poets and artists worldwide. But Corbin’s central project was to provide a framework for understanding the unity of the religions of the Book: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. His great work Alone with the Alone: Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn ‘Arabi is a classic initiatory text of visionary spirituality that transcends the tragic divisions among the three great monotheisms. Corbin’s life was devoted to the struggle to free the religious imagination from fundamentalisms of every kind. His work marks a watershed in our understanding of the religions of the West and makes a profound contribution to the study of the place of the imagination in human life.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Majnoun et Layla - 16 November, Paris

Conférence de Jad Hatem : "Majnoun Layla dans la mystique musulmane"

Le poète arabe Qays ibn al Mulawwah, surnommé Majnoun car devenu fou par amour de Layla, est progressivement devenu, dans le soufisme, le modèle de l’amant de Dieu, Layla, dans ce cas, symbolisant Dieu même. Le conférencier se propose d’expliquer les raisons de cet usage et d’exposer les étapes d’une mystique d’une union à Dieu en dépit de l’absence.

Jad Hatem est Professeur de philosophie, de littérature et de sciences religieuses l'Université Saint-Joseph à Beyrouth.

16 novembre 2010 à 19h
Institut des Cultures de l’Islam, 19-23 rue Léon, 75018 Paris