I've really been reading deeply into Henry Corbin's works now for a number of years. I find his views of mystical Islam as found in Shi'ite/Isma'ili "gnosis" very curious and very spiritually enlightening.
I've read the works of many other scholars who fall under the Traditionalist/Perennilaist banner, the majority of whom are of European descent. Some became Muslims, usually in an attenuated version, others did not but found their work to enrich their own spiritual life (usually, in some fashion or other, Christian).
I recently stumbled across a recent book called Pathways to an Inner Islam by Patrick Laude which focuses on Massignon, Corbin, Guenon and Schuon, names which should all be familiar to anyone dealing with a more "mystical" Islam.
While the book is dense and difficult in places, especially if unfamiliar with the works of the authors, it draws out some essentials necessary to putting the authors' understanding of Islam in proper perspective. Of all the authors focused on it is Corbin with whom I am most familiar. I've read some Schuon and Guenon but very little Massignon, though he's on the list.
There was a little nugget, however, that gave me that 'aha!' moment about Corbin's works. Lately I've been feeling that, in many ways, the Christianity in much of the modern church often falls in line with the alternate Christianity he points out ultimately manifested in the particular form of Shi'ite mysticism found in Isma'ilism.
In the modern church (i.e. in charismatic/Pentecostal circles) the "Trinity" is paid lip service but the deeper theological underpinnings are often missing and "Jesus is God" is all that is taken from it. You may find various books on spelling out the Trinity but usually it comes down to quotes from the Bible and maybe even the Church Fathers (often out of context) as if proof texts mean something in and of themselves. Such is the nature of the worship of the book post scientific revolution.
But this has led to a distorted or disregarded view of what Jesus means in light of the Trinity. The Incarnation is watered down and the "God Man" starts to sound like some kind of superhero. In this, I understand Corbin's desire though, I admit, most of my nourishment on the Trinity came through reading Orthodox theology.
According to Laude, Corbin considered himself a "Protestant" or "Evangelical" Christian. I'm not quite sure what this means exactly but if you read Corbin's works you realize that he is not your traditional Christian. He gravitates to a more "personalized" Christianity which he, in this case, found in his studies of Islam. His view tends to be that the trajectory from the Christian gnosis that was shunned by the institutional church did not disappear but ultimately manifested in Shi'ite/Isma'ili mysticism.
The "True Prophet" is not the human prophet, as such, but is that particular essence that seeks his "place of repose". It is this essence that is understood in the saying attributed to Muhammad: "I was a Prophet while Adam was between water and clay." In many ways, this bears a striking parallel to Jesus' statement that "Before Abraham was, I am." While traditionally understood to refer to his pre-existence, it can also be understand that the "I" is paralle to the idea of the "True Prophet" which found his place of repose in the person of Jesus.
Laude contrasts view of Massignon that Islam is lacking and incomplete to that of Corbin who shares a different view:
"While the incompleteness of the Prophet is reflected, according to Massignon, in the incompleteness of Islam, this incompleteness - or rather the incompleteness of prophethood as such, does not result, for Corbin, in any sense of lack in the spiritual economy of Islam taken as a whole. For Henry Corbin, the incompleteness of prophethood is confined to the domain of Sunni Islam, but brought to a resolution in the context of Shi'ism." (p. 76)
While Massignon certainly respects Islam and owes a great deal of his spiritual certitude to the study of it, ultimately he finds it lacking in light of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and Christianity's essence of love. For Corbin, however, there is no such judgment of Islam as a whole.
Much like Corbin takes issue with the institutional Christian church, so too does he take issue with the Sunni "institutional" encapsulation of Islam. Corbin sought spiritual freedom and could not find it within traditional Christianity and, through his study of an Islam outside of the "institution" he sought to free up the spirituality found in Islam and, by so doing, freeing himself from the fetters of a "confined" Christianity.
Another quote from the book explains this in some detail:
"What had to be 'imported' by Massignon into Islam through the mediation, or rather the substitution, of a Christic, if not Christian, apotropaism, beside the Prophetic mission...was to be found by Corbin in a Shi'ite imamology that completes the prophetology...without...implying...a...deficiency of the Islamic tradition itself...nor narrowing the scope of the Prophet himself..." (p. 86)
The apotropaism (I had to look it up...) is a sort of ritual or magical charm to ward of evil. Interesting choice of words.
The point of this, and the reason for my continued interested, is that Christians (and, perhaps, Muslims) today are seeking similar things. Tired of the confines of dogma and the drudgery of theological minutiae, people want something personal, unmediated, unfiltered and untainted. God, no chaser.
While there is certainly no substitute for reading the actual works of the authors, Laude has shown himself to be an excellent guide to their backgrounds. I look forwad to digging further into the book. May be one for the shelves.
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