Question 549: Salam. My teacher. last time I listened a clip very informative in which, the scholar told us a French christian researcher doing PhD, his topic on “shiat”

So he done his research on shiat, then he wrote a book on shiat. He said in universe shiat a greatest and brilliant religion.

I want to know the name of this researcher and plus name of book.

And send me another non-Muslim researchers good views on shiat with evidence.

Please send me these materials soon

Please.?

Answer 549: His name is Henry Corbin (14 April 1903 – 7 October 1978). He was a philosopher, theologian, Iranologist and professor of Islamic Studies at the École pratique des hautes études in Paris, France. He resided in Iran for about 20 years. Corbin was also the professor at Tehran University. He discussed with Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Hussain Tabatabaee and other Iranian Muslim scholars. Henry Corbin was interested in Imam and Wilayat positions and specially about Imam of the Time (ajtf) in Shia teachings. According to Allamah Tabatabaee and Sayyid Hussain Nasr, he was spiritually a Shia Muslim. Corbin published some books (A Collection of Iranian Books) related to Hikmat (wisdom) and Islamic philosophy.

He believed that Madism (belief in the reappearance of Imam Mahdi (may God hasten his glad advent) and his establishment of a just government throughout the world is the basis of the dynamism in Shia societies. [1]

Corbin is among the most prominent orientalists and intellectuals of the 2th century who opened a new horizon for the West by introducing the profound thoughts of great Shia Sufis to the western world. Corbin studies Sufism and Shia and Islamic Philosophy with Louis Massignon, director of Islamic studies at Sorbonne University. It was Massignon who introduced Corbin to the writings of Sohrevardi, the 12th century Persian mystic and philosopher, including his Hikmat-ul-Ishraq. Sohrevardi’s work profoundly affected the course of Corbin’s scientific life and he decided to travel to the East.

He settled in Istanbul and for six years studied other works by Sohrevardi as well as works of other Muslim philosophers and mystics. In 1945 he published a collection of Sohrevardi’s works.
In 1946 he replaced Louis Massignon as the Islamic Studies Chair at the Sorbonne.
He also spent a number of years in Middle Eastern countries and served as head of the Franco-Iranian Institute’s Iranian studies department and published a number of works under the title of “A Collection of Iranian Books”.
He was fluent in German, Arabic and Sanskrit and was the first French translator of both Martin Heidegger and Karl Barth.
For 25 years, Corbin would travel back and forth to Iran and meet with prominent Iranian figures like Allameh Tabatabaee, Morteza Motahari, Seyyed Kazem Assar, and Mehdi Elahi Qomshe’i.

Henry Corbin died on October 7, 1978, in Paris.
His scholarly works include: Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn ‘Arabi, Avicenna and the Visionary Recital. Princeton University Press, 1960, The Man of Light in Iranian Sufism, En Islam Iranien: Aspects spirituels et philosophiques.[2]

[1] . Asghar Vaezi, Nim Qarn Pedhoohesh, Scientific life of Henry Corbin;  Maaref Magazine, Month of Aban and Azar , N. 88, Goftegoye Sharq and Gharb; Discussing with Sayyid Hussain Nasr, Itilaat hikmat wa Marefat, N. 2.

[2] . Adopted from Iqna (with a few changes has been made on).