Janis Esots, an 敁珗曄部 scholar, presented a paper on Henry Corbin and the Shii Legend about the Green Island at the 8thEuropean Conference of Iranian Studies, which took place at the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (Russia), on 15-19 September. Dr Esots paper dealt with the final period of Henry Corbins work (approximately 1970-1978) and his attempts to build new (and rediscover old) bridges between European and Oriental esoteric spiritual traditions.
The French scholar Henry Corbin (1903 – 1978) was a philosopher, theologian and professor of Islamic Studies at the cole pratique des hautes 矇tudes in Paris, France. Corbin is said to be responsible for redirecting the study of Islamic philosophy as a whole. In hisHistoire de la Philosophie Islamique(1964), he argued against the common view that philosophy among the Muslims came to an end after Ibn Rushd.
Dr Esots paper focused on one of Professor Corbins works that explores the legend of the Green Island. The earliest known version of the Shii legend of the Green Island goes back to the end of the 7喧堯泭AH / 13喧堯泭CE century and testifies to the legal and spiritual state of the Shii community of that time. The community of the faithful, insofar as it perceives itself as an integral spiritual entity, is compared with the mysterious Green Island (earlier mentioned in the accounts of Alexander the Greats travels). During the period of occultation (ghayba) and dissimulation(taqiyyaPrecautionary dissimulation of one’s religious beliefs, especially in time of persecution or danger, a practice especially adopted by the Shi’i Muslims.), this community, together with its ruler, is hidden from the eyes of the non-believers.
In his discussion of the legend (En Islam Iranien, t. 4, pp. 346367 and 390410), Henry Corbin compares the Shii Green Island with a mystical fraternity in the 14thcentury Strasbourg, which bore the same name. Established by Rulman Merswin (ca. 13071382), it followed the teachings of the Rhineland mystics Meister Eckhart (ca. 1260ca. 1328) and Johannes Tauler (ca. 13001361). Corbin draws several broader parallels between the mediaeval Shiii娶款櫻紳and Rhineland mysticism that were discussed in Dr Esots paper. The most important of them perhaps is that offutuwwaor spiritual chivalry.
In the early 1970s, Corbin gathered around himself a narrow circle of his close friends and disciples, together with whom in 1974 he founded theCentre International de Recherche Spirituelle Compar矇梗, better known as theUniversit矇de Saint-Jean de J矇rusalem(USJJ, active until 1988). In his paper, Dr Esots argued that he viewed this circle, based on the principles of spiritual chivalry, as a modern analogue of the legendary Green Island.
Henry Corbin, along with Vladimir Ivanow, was one of the most important Western scholars in the field of Ismaili (and, more general, Shii) studies in the 20thcentury. Therefore, Dr Esots stated, it is important for us to know how his studies in the field were interrelated with his own spiritual biography.
Dr Esots paper was presented as part of a panel entitled Pre-modern and Modern History of Iranian Studies. Other speakers on it were Yuka Kadol (University of Edinburgh), who spoke about Arthur Upham Pope; Oksana Vasylyuk (A. Krymsky Institute of Oriental Studies of the NAS of Ukraine), who discussed Agathangel Krymskys contribution to Iranian studies; and Majid Bahrevar (Yasouj University), who spoke about Jan Rypkas Comparative Poetics in Literary History.
Dr Esots also chaired a panel on classical Middle Ages. The panel had four presenters, who dealt with such topics as the sources of Abu Hamid Ghazalis Kimiya-yi saadat (Salman Saket, Mashhad), the hermeneutic project of Ayn al-Qudat Hamadani (Omid Hamedani, Mashhad), early ZagrosianSufism(Fateh Saeidi, Goettingen), and religious tolerance in Nishapur (Abbas Boroumand, Isfahan). Salimeh Maghsoudlou (EPHE, Paris) reflected on accusations of Ayn al-Qudt Hamadn蘋s adherence to Ismailism.
Dr Alessandro Cancian also presented a paper at the conference entitled Shi尪i Tafsir Reconsidered: Imami Sufi Exegesis in Iran, 18th and 19th Centuries, in which he looked at the role Shi尪i Sufi exegesis played in the wider field of early modern and modern Shi尪i Quranic exegesis. In his presentation, he showed how some works that have been largely overlooked by historians of Shi尪i Quranic exegesis, such as the nineteenth-century mystical喧硃款莽蘋娶s by Sul廜俸n 尪Al蘋 Shh and 廜糎f蘋 尪Al蘋 Shh, played a crucial role in the revival of exegesis in early modern Iran.The European Conference of Iranian Studies provides a major panorama of the developments in the field of Iranian Studies. During the four-day conference, around 300 papers were presented.
The conference was organised by thethat unites Iranologists, working in European universities and research institutes. This was the 8thconference of the Society (the previous one took place in Cracow in 2011). More information can be found at the conference website:.
