Thank you so much for this, Dr. Ahmad! Corbin was undoubtedly one of the greatest minds of the 20th century and his studies of Shi'ism are of the greatest worth in understanding Shi'i spirituality. Regarding his own religion, S.H. Nasr, who knew Corbin personally and was close to him, says in his autobiographical book In Search of the Sacred that Corbin did indeed consider himself a Shi'ite. According to Dr. Nasr, when Corbin wanted to refer to the Shi'ites he would say "we Shi'ites." Dr. Nasr says that he is not aware of Corbin performing formal prayers (salah/namaz), but he had a very deep, personal attachment to the Shia Imams and in particular the Twelfth Imam. Dr. Nasr considers him to be "inwardly converted" to Shi'ism. Perhaps that would make more sense given that he was attracted to the more batini orientations of Shi'ism. These discussions of Dr. Nasr can be found on the page 98 of the said work. Also the rest of the volumes of En Islam iranien have been translated into Persian by the same academic you mentioned, Dr. Insha'Allah Rahmati, and are currently available in Iran!
Thank you for sharing all your knowledge. I am very grateful to have found your work on RUclips recently. It's done a lot to confirm the intuitions and lines of inquiry that have guided my faith since I was a kid. The last part about Corbin's own faith eased something in my heart. His worldview has been very significant in my life. Thank you for sharing. May Allah continue to bless you, Saiyad.
John Vervaeke a renowned Neoplatonic cognitive scientist repeatedly quotes corbyn and his explanation of imaginal shows up in Vervaekes conception of cognition. He is most most interested in transformation and how insight work, which attracted me to him. He identify as Neoplatonic Buddhist. I would highly recommend his 30+ parts series called "awakening from the meaning crises".
Thank you professor! I wonder if you would do any sessions on the works of Corbin in the future, especially that his works became an initiatory gateway of Shi'i Esotericism and Sufi metaphysics to the western world..
Amazing video Saiyad, truly splendid. Adding on the info conveyed in 16:54; I believe I heard that Stella Corbin also stated that he became a Kirmānī Shaykhi. How true is this?
@@SaiyadNizamuddinAhmad what are your views on the Shaykhī school?, Is it possible to do a video on this school/subject? Are you familiar with the works of Idris Samawi Hamid who is heavily influenced by Shaykh Ahmad Ahsai?
@@saleemandrewmcgroarty I prefer Mullā Ṣadrā, but I have nothing against the Shaykhīs. Howver, I have not studied the works of Shaykh Aḥmad al-Aḥsāʾī. I did read the PhD dissertation of Dr Idris Samawi Hamid. I know him but I have not been in contact with him for many years. he is a good scholar.
@@SaiyadNizamuddinAhmad Thank you for your reply. I thought you might have read the works of Shaykh Aḥmad given his endeavours in trying to free Shi'i Spirituality and Philosophy from the influence of Sunni Sufism and Greek Philosophy to create a system based on the teachings of the Imam's (as).
Beautiful; absolutely beautiful and most-necessary video. Jazā-kumᵘʾL·ʟᴀʜ khayrᵃⁿ for all your efforts, dearest Say·yid! ☙ ❦ تقبّل الله جهدكم سيّدنا مولانا ❦
Peter Kingsley, in his book on Jung, Catafalque, claims that S H Nasr offered to initiate Corbin into his own y Sufi order, if he would only, right then and there, recite the shahadah and convert to Islam. But Corbin refused. I don't know what year this was supposed to have taken place.
Having read almost all of Corbins work ,after the initial bedazzlement im not quite sure if his vision is a very authentic representation of Sufism. It seems more like a projection of Nordic/Germanic Arianism onto Indo/Iranian culture , one which had already been heavily Arabicized. Somehow i don't think the Iranian sages viewed the world in the way Corbin seems to make us want to believe they did .Allahualim. Also what do you make of his initiation in to the highest order of freemasonry...there is alot of weirdness around Jung and his ilk that suggest counter initiatory subversion of religious esoterics.? Associating yourself with azizi will not do a lot for your credibility.,
@@SaiyadNizamuddinAhmad is not Martin Lings' biography good? I've heard many people say that it is the definitive biography of the Prophet SAW in English.
@@gianlucaadamo3900 No. It is actually a very poor job indeed and is in no way a work of proper scholarship. My thoughts on this are set out in this video (a recorded lecture for a class I am teaching): ruclips.net/video/8zgx6ANz6vQ/видео.html You may also find this to be of interest: ruclips.net/video/8HlozcWpO50/видео.html
Leo Strauss was not well acquainted with Islamic philosophy at all, not even that of al-Fārābī. The thesis of his work "Persecution and the Art of Writing" does not apply to Muslim philosophers who wrote quite clearly and did not camouflage their ideas in the manner suggested by Strauss. Oliver Leaman wrote an important paper in this regard: "Does the Interpretation of Islamic Law Rest on a Mistake?", International Journal of Middle East Studies, Dec. 1980, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 525-538. Strauss' knowledge of al-Fārābī was more than likely due to the work of his sister the orientalist Bettina Strauss and her husband the orientalist Paul Krauss who, along with Julius Ruska supervised her dissertation in Berlin. The couple resided in Cairo and the work on Farabi was conducted by Leo Strausss via correspondence with Paul Kraus which was upset during WWII. Also, Bettina died in childbirth on January 23, 1942. Paul Krauss killed himself in Cairo on October 12, 1944. For these details see Joel L. Kramer, "The Death of an Orientalist: Paul Krauss from Prague to Cairo,"in the book of Martin Kramer (ed.), The Jewish Discovery of Islam, (Tel Aviv: The Moshe Dayan Institute for Middle East and African Studies, Tel Aviv University, 1999)pp. 181-223.
@@SaiyadNizamuddinAhmad thank you, Prof. This is quite detailed and helpful. Thanks for all the pointers to relevant articles. Btw, have you read Rasul Namazi's Leo Strauss and Islamic Political Philosophy? He extends Strauss's ideas and tries to defend his position.
@@SaiyadNizamuddinAhmad ustaz, I must thank you for your reading lists, especially for languages. The Turkish one was a life saver for me. After Geoffrey Lewis's primer on Turkish and the book on language reform, I moved to his brick of a grammar book. Nowadays, I'm leafing through the mammoth Turkish verbs in context and trying to learn Osmanlica with the literary companion to Ottoman by Buğday. I wonder if I'll ever get to use this for research. But the journey is fun. Thank you!
The reading list series is really helpful. Can’t wait to get his books. I have a question about something you said here. You said you would rank Corbin’s study on Ibn Arabi high. From this video I understand Corbin was a scholar so his writings must be scholarly. Now my question is would you say this scholarly study is still high in rank even when compared with traditional philosophical studies done by Islamic ulama like the traditional commentaries that are common in Islamic societies? Like is there a difference between this academic/scholarly study and the traditional one’s done by the ulama? And when you said it’s a valuable work did you mean it’s a valuable book in the scholarly genre or is it a valuable work in general? Thanks for the video.
I think that the work of Corbin is in a class all its own. However, almost as soon as I encountered his writings decades I became convinced he must have been a Shīʿī Muslim. I learned many years later that this was indeed the case and at some point he entered the world of Shīʿī spirituality as a practicing Shīʿī Muslim. And Allah knows best.
Thank you for your question. I have heard of Mr Cheetham's writings, however I have not read any of his works and thus I am not in a position to offer an opinion.
I thought Cheetams green man earth angel was better than Corbins own work.in fact it was more clear and honest in the sense that he did not pretend to speak for the Iranian Mystics but only about them in the context of his own spirituality
Thank you so much for this, Dr. Ahmad! Corbin was undoubtedly one of the greatest minds of the 20th century and his studies of Shi'ism are of the greatest worth in understanding Shi'i spirituality.
Regarding his own religion, S.H. Nasr, who knew Corbin personally and was close to him, says in his autobiographical book In Search of the Sacred that Corbin did indeed consider himself a Shi'ite. According to Dr. Nasr, when Corbin wanted to refer to the Shi'ites he would say "we Shi'ites." Dr. Nasr says that he is not aware of Corbin performing formal prayers (salah/namaz), but he had a very deep, personal attachment to the Shia Imams and in particular the Twelfth Imam. Dr. Nasr considers him to be "inwardly converted" to Shi'ism. Perhaps that would make more sense given that he was attracted to the more batini orientations of Shi'ism. These discussions of Dr. Nasr can be found on the page 98 of the said work.
Also the rest of the volumes of En Islam iranien have been translated into Persian by the same academic you mentioned, Dr. Insha'Allah Rahmati, and are currently available in Iran!
Thank you for your sharing this information. I really appreciate it as do, I am sure, everyone who follows my channel.
Was looking forward to this,
thank you Saiyad
You are most welcome.
Thank you for sharing all your knowledge. I am very grateful to have found your work on RUclips recently. It's done a lot to confirm the intuitions and lines of inquiry that have guided my faith since I was a kid.
The last part about Corbin's own faith eased something in my heart. His worldview has been very significant in my life. Thank you for sharing.
May Allah continue to bless you, Saiyad.
You are most welcome.
this channel is truly a blessing. thank you for continuing this series, it is very helpful for newcomers
I am so glad it has been beneficial for you. Thank you for watching.
i’m just reading ‘Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi’. Good to hear this broad overview of Corbin’s opus. Thanks!
Most welcome.
John Vervaeke a renowned Neoplatonic cognitive scientist repeatedly quotes corbyn and his explanation of imaginal shows up in Vervaekes conception of cognition. He is most most interested in transformation and how insight work, which attracted me to him. He identify as Neoplatonic Buddhist. I would highly recommend his 30+ parts series called "awakening from the meaning crises".
Thank you for bringing this to my attention.
The 4th volume of the Persian translation is also available, in two parts ,in case you are interested.And thank you for these videos.
I did not know that. Thank you.
Thank you professor! I wonder if you would do any sessions on the works of Corbin in the future, especially that his works became an initiatory gateway of Shi'i Esotericism and Sufi metaphysics to the western world..
Muchas gracias por esta excelente clase sobre Henry Corbin
De nada. Fue un placer para mí.
As an aspiring Traditionalist and Perennialist, i am truly thankful for all the work you do
Thank you.
Amazing video Saiyad, truly splendid.
Adding on the info conveyed in 16:54; I believe I heard that Stella Corbin also stated that he became a Kirmānī Shaykhi. How true is this?
I have no idea about any Shaykhī affiliation, Kirmānī or otherwise.
@@SaiyadNizamuddinAhmad what are your views on the Shaykhī school?, Is it possible to do a video on this school/subject? Are you familiar with the works of Idris Samawi Hamid who is heavily influenced by Shaykh Ahmad Ahsai?
@@saleemandrewmcgroarty I prefer Mullā Ṣadrā, but I have nothing against the Shaykhīs. Howver, I have not studied the works of Shaykh Aḥmad al-Aḥsāʾī. I did read the PhD dissertation of Dr Idris Samawi Hamid. I know him but I have not been in contact with him for many years. he is a good scholar.
@@SaiyadNizamuddinAhmad Thank you for your reply. I thought you might have read the works of Shaykh Aḥmad given his endeavours in trying to free Shi'i Spirituality and Philosophy from the influence of Sunni Sufism and Greek Philosophy to create a system based on the teachings of the Imam's (as).
Thanks for the great video. I came to find it after learning about Corbin from Peter Kingsley's book Catafalque.
Thank you. I am glad you found this video to be useful.
Beautiful; absolutely beautiful and most-necessary video. Jazā-kumᵘʾL·ʟᴀʜ khayrᵃⁿ for all your efforts, dearest Say·yid! ☙
❦ تقبّل الله جهدكم سيّدنا مولانا ❦
Peter Kingsley, in his book on Jung, Catafalque, claims that S H Nasr offered to initiate Corbin into his own y Sufi order, if he would only, right then and there, recite the shahadah and convert to Islam. But Corbin refused. I don't know what year this was supposed to have taken place.
Thank you!
You are most welcome.
Votre accent français est très bon
C'est très gentil de votre part. Merci d'avoir regardé.
Having read almost all of Corbins work ,after the initial bedazzlement im not quite sure if his vision is a very authentic representation of Sufism. It seems more like a projection of Nordic/Germanic Arianism onto Indo/Iranian culture , one which had already been heavily Arabicized. Somehow i don't think the Iranian sages viewed the world in the way Corbin seems to make us want to believe they did .Allahualim. Also what do you make of his initiation in to the highest order of freemasonry...there is alot of weirdness around Jung and his ilk that suggest counter initiatory subversion of religious esoterics.? Associating yourself with azizi will not do a lot for your credibility.,
Assalamu alaykum waRahmatu Llahi waBarakatuh. Akhi, have you ever thought on making a "Biographies of Prophet Muhammad SAWS" reading list?
Wa ʿalaykum as-salām. No, I have not. There is nothing in English worth reading on the subject.
Thank you. Could you recommend something in arabic?
@@SaiyadNizamuddinAhmad is not Martin Lings' biography good? I've heard many people say that it is the definitive biography of the Prophet SAW in English.
@@gianlucaadamo3900 No. It is actually a very poor job indeed and is in no way a work of proper scholarship. My thoughts on this are set out in this video (a recorded lecture for a class I am teaching):
ruclips.net/video/8zgx6ANz6vQ/видео.html
You may also find this to be of interest:
ruclips.net/video/8HlozcWpO50/видео.html
@@edgarlm2400 The Sīra of Ibn Isḥāq.
Excellent, Prof. What do you think Leo Strauss's studies of Islamic philosophy, especially Farabi?
Leo Strauss was not well acquainted with Islamic philosophy at all, not even that of al-Fārābī. The thesis of his work "Persecution and the Art of Writing" does not apply to Muslim philosophers who wrote quite clearly and did not camouflage their ideas in the manner suggested by Strauss. Oliver Leaman wrote an important paper in this regard: "Does the Interpretation of Islamic Law Rest on a Mistake?", International Journal of Middle East Studies, Dec. 1980, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 525-538. Strauss' knowledge of al-Fārābī was more than likely due to the work of his sister the orientalist Bettina Strauss and her husband the orientalist Paul Krauss who, along with Julius Ruska supervised her dissertation in Berlin. The couple resided in Cairo and the work on Farabi was conducted by Leo Strausss via correspondence with Paul Kraus which was upset during WWII. Also, Bettina died in childbirth on January 23, 1942. Paul Krauss killed himself in Cairo on October 12, 1944. For these details see Joel L. Kramer, "The Death of an Orientalist: Paul Krauss from Prague to Cairo,"in the book of Martin Kramer (ed.), The Jewish Discovery of Islam, (Tel Aviv: The Moshe Dayan Institute for Middle East and African Studies, Tel Aviv University, 1999)pp. 181-223.
@@SaiyadNizamuddinAhmad thank you, Prof. This is quite detailed and helpful. Thanks for all the pointers to relevant articles. Btw, have you read Rasul Namazi's Leo Strauss and Islamic Political Philosophy? He extends Strauss's ideas and tries to defend his position.
@@notadane I was not aware of this study. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. So many things to read… it never ends.
@@SaiyadNizamuddinAhmad ustaz, I must thank you for your reading lists, especially for languages. The Turkish one was a life saver for me. After Geoffrey Lewis's primer on Turkish and the book on language reform, I moved to his brick of a grammar book. Nowadays, I'm leafing through the mammoth Turkish verbs in context and trying to learn Osmanlica with the literary companion to Ottoman by Buğday. I wonder if I'll ever get to use this for research. But the journey is fun. Thank you!
@@notadane Mā shāʾ Allāh. That is wonderful. I wish you continued success. The pursuit of knowledge never ends. It is an ocean without shore…
I find Corbin harder to read than Guenon. I tried to read his book on Ibn Arabi and my mind drifted frequently.
Really? In my experience it is the other way around.
The reading list series is really helpful. Can’t wait to get his books.
I have a question about something you said here. You said you would rank Corbin’s study on Ibn Arabi high. From this video I understand Corbin was a scholar so his writings must be scholarly. Now my question is would you say this scholarly study is still high in rank even when compared with traditional philosophical studies done by Islamic ulama like the traditional commentaries that are common in Islamic societies? Like is there a difference between this academic/scholarly study and the traditional one’s done by the ulama? And when you said it’s a valuable work did you mean it’s a valuable book in the scholarly genre or is it a valuable work in general?
Thanks for the video.
I think that the work of Corbin is in a class all its own. However, almost as soon as I encountered his writings decades I became convinced he must have been a Shīʿī Muslim. I learned many years later that this was indeed the case and at some point he entered the world of Shīʿī spirituality as a practicing Shīʿī Muslim. And Allah knows best.
How do you feel about Tom Cheetham's work on Corbin? Is he accurately communicating Corbin's ideas, in your estimation?
Thank you for your question. I have heard of Mr Cheetham's writings, however I have not read any of his works and thus I am not in a position to offer an opinion.
I thought Cheetams green man earth angel was better than Corbins own work.in fact it was more clear and honest in the sense that he did not pretend to speak for the Iranian Mystics but only about them in the context of his own spirituality
@@As-fs6qd I think highly of Cheetham. He's a pleasant guy and interesting and the most well versed Corbiniste in the public anglosphere.
How closely related was Corbin to Traditionalism?
There are deep similarities. You can see this in all his works.
Salm Alaykum,
Have you heard of Shaykh Abd al-Hakeem/Seth Carney and of his works?
Wa ʿalaykum salām. No, I have not.
Are you a descendent of the prophet? Just noticed your name is Saiyad.
Yes.
As someone who is getting initiated into Shi'ism and 'Irfan, what books would you recommend to me? Thanks in advance.
This booklist speaks for itself. Two introductory works on Shīʿism are those by ʿAllāma Ṭabāṭabāʾī and Moojan Moment.
www.amazon.com/Shiite-Sayyid-Mu%E1%B8%A5ammad-%E1%B8%A4usayn-%E1%B9%ACab%C4%81%E1%B9%ADab%C4%81%C4%AB/dp/0873953908/ref=sr_1_1?crid=PU6QVIK5P9FJ&keywords=shiite+islam&qid=1675903222&sprefix=shiite+islam%2Caps%2C119&sr=8-1
www.amazon.com/Introduction-Shi%60i-Islam-History-Doctrines/dp/0300035314/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2F31O5YMJM7R4&keywords=moojan+momen&qid=1675903255&sprefix=moojan+momen%2Caps%2C113&sr=8-3
@@SaiyadNizamuddinAhmad Thanks you akhi
In the moment Im very interrest in stoicism and Im wondering what your opinion is about this ancient philosophy.
Stoicism is one of the most esteemed schools of ancient philosophy and I consider that reputation to be well-deserved.