Alternative Orientalism
Henry Corbin’s “Iranian Islam” as European Nostalgia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26443/jcreor.v7i1.205Keywords:
Henry Corbin, Orientalism, Iranian Nationalism, Iranian IslamAbstract
Henry Corbin (1903–1978), through his extensive contributions to Islamic and Iranian studies, introduced a paradigm shift in modern Western scholarship on Iran and Islam. As a counternarrative to classical Orientalism’s relegation of Islamic societies, Corbin’s construction of “Iranian Islam” generated a comprehensive body of knowledge that valorized Iran as a model for the West. He depicted Iran as an exceptionally continuous tradition that preserved mystical and philosophical practices from pre-Islamic times, assimilated foreign influences, and resisted the nihilism of modernity. This sophisticated image of Iran as uniquely spiritual and intellectual was celebrated by makers of Iranian nationalism. Yet, I argue that Corbin’s narrative of Iranian religious history ultimately constitutes another Eurocentric account of the Orient. Instead of disparaging the “Orient” to elevate the West, Corbin recast the Orient as the repository of an alternative future – a projection of the West’s own lost past to which it might return.
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