Rahmati: Corbin knew Iranian Islam apt for filling spiritual gaps

The critical session on Henry Corbin's 'Iranian Islam' was held on Tuesday (Feb 12) at the Book City Center. During this session held with the presence of experts Gholamreza A'vani, Karim Mojtahedi and Dariush Shaygan, Ensha-allah Rahmati made a speech on the goals of Corbin of compiling this book. Mojtahedi and Shaygan used to be Corbin's friends in his lifetime.

"Corbin wanted to resist the domination of secularism over men. Corbin believed that not only the western man, but the eastern man has also been trapped by secularism," he said.

"Some people regarded Corbin as a complete traditionalist whereas he was a modern thinker with a critical view of modern period. He introduced Iranian Islam as an appropriate way of filling in spiritual gaps of man today. By writing this book he took a practical step towards filling in the gap."

He added: "Corbin emphasizes on the spirituality of Iranian Islam that is both Shia and intuitive. He believes that the spiritual wisdom of Islam can be an answer to human needs."

The next speaker was Karim Mojtahedi whose acquaintance with Corbin, he remarked, began with Avicenna's Hekayat-e-Tamsil.

Emphasizing on Corbin's expertise in western philosophy, he said his mastery over both western and eastern philosophies was stunning. Before being acknowledged as an orientalist, he was the heir of western culture and an occidentalist.

Mojtahedi regarded his will to know as the most distinct characteristic of Corbin. He started studying Iranian philosophers in a period when they were totally taken for granted. We still do not know Avicenna the way we have to. His "In Iranian Islam" tries to show that Iranians have taken successful steps towards understanding Islam deeply.

According to him, Hermeneutism is a pillar of this book. "According to Hermeneutism, Corbin discusses that what great philosophers like Avicenna, Suhravardi and Mulla Sadra have achieved is still resonating in our lives.

Then Shaygan, Corbin's close friend, said Corbin had European tastes as a French scholar. He was the first translator of Heidegger to French and has an affinity with German philosophers. Therefore, he was first a Germanologist and then an Islamologist, although we tend to ignore this. It was through is writings that the west became familiar with Suhravardi.

Shaygan asserted that Shiism was promoted in Iran quickly because it shared a similar intellectual background with Zoroastrianism as they both believed in the reappearance of the Savior.

Source: IBNA News Agency