A New Journal

Renovatio is a Muslim journal about the ideas that have shaped our past and present world. We ask scholars, theologians, and writers to examine timeless questions and today’s moral challenges by drawing from the enduring texts of revelatory faith traditions and current thinking from philosophy, theology, and ethics to history, politics, the social sciences, and beyond.

We publish essays that are both rigorous and readable so that anyone, no matter his or her intellectual interests, can weigh and consider the ideas we present. With its focus on writers, readers, and ideas, we see Renovatio as a bridge between religious traditions and the study of the world, believing that each can renew the other—and between scholars and the public.

Explore the new issue here

Some Citations of Interest

[HTML] Commentary and Commentary Tradition. The Basic Terms for Understanding Islamic Intellectual HistoryLWC Lit - MIDÉO. Mélanges de l'Institut dominicain d'études …, 2017
... Henry Corbin thinks that commentators are advocates for the line of thinking of the
original text and hence a commentary is the best way to express this appreciation.
Whenever Henry Corbin encounters a commentary, he praises ...

[PDF] ALSO BY GARY LACHMAN
ASG VALENTINE
... establish a cognitive and visionary relationship with an intermediary world,” what Faivre's fellow
esoteric scholar Henry Corbin called the “Mundus Imaginalis,” the “Imaginal World,” an inner
yet nonetheless objective symbolic territory, having its own rules and inhabitants. ...


[PDF] The Positioning Of Iran And Iranians In The Origins Of Western Civilization
S Vasseghi - 2017
... nations, but it was the cradle of Persians and Hindus as well. (p. 114) French philosopher and
scholar Henry Corbin (1978) remarked, “For Persia, the old Iran, is not only a nation or an empire,
it is an entire spiritual universe, a hearth and meeting place in the ...


[PDF] Reason, Deliberation, and Democracy in Divided Societies: Perspectives from the Jafari School of Thought
N Pirsoul - Reason
... Orientalist Henry Corbin analyzed the mystical dimension of the “occultation” and argued that
Shia Islam was a deeply mystical religion as it obliged the believers to constantly seek to establish
a spiritual relation with their hidden Imam in order to become one of his close ...

Gershom Scholem & Friends

This from Steven Aftergood:

"I have been reading a 2015 book about Gershom Scholem called "From Berlin to Jerusalem and Back" by Noam Zadoff. The book includes the attached photograph taken at Eranos/Ascona in 1952, which made me think of you. It features Scholem on the far right, seated next to Corbin and Stella Corbin. Mircea Eliade is in the center. A Dutch theologian named Gilles Quispel is on the far left. (The man next to him is not identified.)"



If anyone knows who the unknown fellow is please let us know.

Here's a good review of the book in Haaretz:

Finally, This Author Puts the Great Gershom Scholem in Context

A new Hebrew biography is the first to place the philosopher-historian’s remarkable breadth in a historical light, while offering a coherent understanding of his professional and political development.

Nitzan Lebovic May 02, 2015 3:00 AM

Wherever the spirit guides

Wherever the Spirit Guides

Henry Corbin, theologian and professor in Islamic Studies at the Sorbonne, is widely regarded as the West′s authority on Persian philosophy. Despite having died in 1978, he is not only revered in modern-day Iran, he has also been appropriated. By Marian Brehmer

An unremarkable street in the southern part of Tehran′s city centre, not far from the Armenian Embassy, bears the name of a French academic - ″Henry Corbin Street″. If you walk a few blocks further down Enghelab Street and visit one of the numerous bookshops opposite the University of Tehran, the same name will leap out at you from the philosophy shelves, printed on the spines of books placed prominently beside the works of Iranian academics.

No other European Iran specialist and scholar of Shia is as respected in modern-day Iran as the French philosopher and mystic Henry Corbin (1904-1978). There is no study of ancient Iran in which his name does not appear; no research on Iranian philosophy that does not build on his work. Corbin had a traditional Catholic education, before studying philosophy at the Sorbonne. At the age of 22, his intellectual journey eastwards began with the study of Arabic and Sanskrit.

Making the acquaintance of the “Imam of the Platonists”

In 1929, when Corbin was 25, the young Orientalist met the Islamic studies scholar Louis Massignon in Paris – an encounter which was to change his life. Massignon, a Catholic priest particularly famed for his research on the Islamic mystic Mansur al-Hallaj, introduced Corbin to the Iranian Sufi philosopher Shahab al-Din al-Suhrawardi. Massignon had just returned from Iran and handed over to Corbin a manuscript of Suhrawardi′s major work, the Hikmat-ul Ishraq, that he had brought back with him.

It was an act of providence that Corbin would later describe as ″inspiration from heaven″. He devoted most of the rest of his life to studying the works of Suhrawardi, whom he called the ″Imam of the Persian Platonists″. Suhrawardi, born in 12th-century Persia, is also known as Shaykh al-Ishraq, or Master of Illumination. Suhrawardi developed a complex philosophical system, in which the whole of creation is an emanation of the highest divine light.

Inspired by Suhrawardi, master of the philosophy of illumination: Corbin saw his work on Suhrawardi as more than just an academic undertaking. ″Through my meeting with Suhrawardi my spiritual destiny for the passage through this world was sealed,″ the French scholar later revealed

Corbin saw his work on Suhrawardi as more than just an academic undertaking. ″Through my meeting with Suhrawardi my spiritual destiny for the passage through this world was sealed,″ the French scholar later revealed. Alongside the study of Platonism, Zoroastrianism and Islamic mysticism, Corbin delved into the German theological tradition, in particular the legacy of Martin Luther. In the 1930s, Henry Corbin published several translations of Suhrawardi′s works. At the same time, he was completing the first translation of Joseph Heidegger′s major work ″Being and Time″ into French. The two philosophers had met in Freiburg in 1931.

Making Eastern intellectual worlds comprehensible

Thanks to his far-sightedness, Corbin was able to look beyond the traditional boundaries of academic subject areas. Furthermore, he was just as much at home in Western as he was in Eastern schools of thought. He probably has no equal in the history of Oriental studies when it comes to making Eastern intellectual worlds comprehensible to the West. He was aided in this by a deep linguistic knowledge of Greek, Latin, German, Persian and Arabic. Corbin′s multilingualism enabled him to navigate between cultures, religions and philosophical traditions – and he did so at an intellectual level rarely found today.

Following a post at the French Archaeological Institute in Istanbul during the war years, Corbin travelled to Iran for the first time in 1945. Here he found not only a second homeland, but a wealth of research material: nothing substantial was known about Iranian philosophers in Europe. Corbin regarded ancient Persia as the point of intersection between the Eastern religions and the West.

Corbin′s explanation of Persia′s philosophical tradition and Shia philosophy to the West is regarded by Iranians today as a service to their country. After decades of imperialist intervention in Iran by Europe, which brought with it the production of a reductionist view of Iran, Corbin was a welcome cultural ambassador.

Conversion to Shia?

An article published in 2012 on the Iranian state news portal ″Farhang News″ even describes Corbin with certainty as a Shia. The text, under the headline ″How did a French Catholic become a Shia?″ outlines Corbin′s life story and describes his meeting with the Shia polymath Allamah Tabatabayi, who over the years in Tehran became Corbin′s most important teacher and mentor. Tabatabayi, himself the author of a 20-volume Koran exegesis, travelled from Qom to Tehran once a week to instruct his French pupil in Shia philosophy.

Tabatabayi saw Corbin as a gift from God, a man who, with the aid of his sharp intellect, might be able to clear up the dominant misunderstandings about Shia Islam in Europe. Prior to this, the European image of Shia had been formed almost exclusively from Sunni sources, as Tabtabayi once explained.

The ″Farhang News″ article claims that under the influence of Tabatabayi′s incredible mind, Corbin converted to Shia. Further, it says that in Corbin′s eyes, Shia was the only religion that had retained its original character – and that he even advocated on behalf of Shia at conferences in France.

But the article probably says more about how a personality like Corbin could be co-opted by the present-day Islamic Republic than it does about the reality of his life. The Corbin scholar Tom Cheetham, author of five books on Corbin′s life′s work, is convinced that despite his spiritual connection to Shia, he was not a Muslim. Corbin, in Cheetham′s view, was ″neither Jew nor Christian nor Muslim but rather something both very ancient and radically new.″

In 1976, when Corbin himself was asked by a journalist who he really was, in view of his multifaceted life′s work, he replied – in a language fitting for a mystic and philosopher who lived between cultures: ″I am neither a Germanist nor an Orientalist, but a Philosopher pursuing his Quest wherever the Spirit guides him.  If it has guided me towards Freiburg, towards Tehran, towards Isfahan, for me the latter remain essentially ′emblematic cities′, the symbols of a permanent voyage.″

Marian Brehmer

© Qantara.de 2017

Translated from the German by Ruth Martin

Ruzbihan Baqli Shirazi! A new book!

Here's a bit of good news

Beauty in Sufism The Teachings of Ruzbihan Baqli
Click on image to enlarge	Kazuyo Murata - Author Price: $75.00  Hardcover - 214 pages Release Date: June 2017 ISBN10: N/A ISBN13: 978-1-4384-6279-0 Quantity:   Available within 2 month(s) Billed when shipped Available as a Google eBook for other eReaders and tablet devices. Click icon below...
Summary
Analyzes the place of beauty in the Sufi understanding of God, the world, and the human being through the writings of Sufi scholar and saint Rūzbihān Baqlī. According to Muhammad, “God is beautiful and He loves beauty.” Yet, Islam is rarely associated with beauty, and today, a politicized Islam dominates many perceptions. This work tells a forgotten story of beauty in Islam through the writings of celebrated but little-studied Sufi scholar and saint Rūzbihān Baqlī (1128–1209). Rūzbihān argued that the pursuit of beauty in the world and in oneself was the goal of Muslim life. One should become beautiful in imitation of God and reclaim the innate human nature created in God’s beautiful image. Rūzbihān’s theory of beauty is little known, largely because of his convoluted style and eccentric terminology in both Persian and Arabic. In this book, Kazuyo Murata revives Rūzbihān’s ideas for modern readers. She provides an overview of Muslim discourse on beauty before Rūzbihān’s time; an analysis of key terms related to beauty in the Qur’ān, Ḥadīth, and in Rūzbihān’s writings; a reconstruction of Rūzbihān’s understanding of divine, cosmic, and human beauty; and a discussion of what he regards as the pinnacle of beauty in creation, the prophets, especially Adam, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and Muhammad. “Murata opens up a vista on Islam that nobody talks about anymore: the Sufi vision of Islam as a religion of love and adoration of beauty. This is a fascinating book and an impressive achievement. I predict that it will remain the central work on the metaphysics of beauty in Sufism for decades to come.” — Leonard Lewisohn, Senior Lecturer in Persian, University of Exeter Kazuyo Murata is Lecturer in Islamic Studies at King’s College London and coeditor (with Mohammed Rustom and Atif Khalil) of In Search of the Lost Heart: Explorations in Islamic Thought byWilliam C. Chittick, also published by SUNY Press.

Henry Corbin Apparel (& Mugs) !!

Available at TeePublic

Shipping outside the US is available.

AND MORE!!!!

All designs available as T-Shirts, Tank Tops, Long Sleeve T-Shirts, Baseball Tee, Kids T-Shirts, Crewneck Sweatshirts, Hoodies, Kids Hoodie, Kids Long Sleeve T-Shirt, Onesies PLUS Mugs and Travel Mugs. Teepublic runs sales about once a month and if you like them on Facebook they will notify you. 

My New Podcast: As Variously as Possible

Subscribe Now

on

 iTunes
Google Play Music
Stitcher

GO TO SITE