The Man of Light in Iranian Sufism

Classic work on Suhrawardi’s Illuminationist school of Persian Sufism by renowned philosopher and Iranologist Henry Corbin.

In the Sufism of ancient Iran, the quest for the dawning of light in the cosmic North symbolizes the mystic’s search for realization. In this spiritual journey, the light arising in man’s inner darkness—the Northern Light or Midnight Sun—represents the impartial but brilliant light of Truth, that which sets us free from egotism and from slavery to material existence.

In a penetrating analysis of the writings of the great Iranian masters—including Suhrawardi, Semnani, and Najm al-Din Kubra—Corbin sees an unfolding and continuity of the idea of color and light as symbols of spiritual development. In the course of this study, Corbin constantly relates the ideas of Persian Sufism to the spiritual knowledge of other Middle and Far Eastern religions.

Pir Zia Inayat Khan, PhD, is a scholar of religion and teacher of Sufism in the universalist Sufi lineage of his grandfather, Hazrat Inayat Khan. Pir Zia is president of the Inayatiyya and founder of Sulūk Academy, a school of Sufi contemplative study and practice with offerings in North America and Europe, as well as online. He is editor of A Pearl in Wine: Essays in the Life, Music and Sufism of Hazrat Inayat Khan and Caravan of Souls: An Introduction to the Sufi Path of Hazrat Inayat Khan, and author of Saracen Chivalry: Counsels on Valor, Generosity and the Mystical Quest; Mingled Waters: Sufism and the Mystical Unity of Religions; and Dream Flowers: The Collected Works of Noor Inayat Khan with a Critical Commentary by Pir Zia Inayat Khan. Pir Zia divides his time between Richmond, Virginia and Suresnes, France.