بررسی تطبیقی تأثیر هانری کربن در اسلام ایرانی بر محمدعلی امیرمعزی در راهنمای ربانی در تشیع نخستین

The present study undertakes a comparative analysis of the approaches of two of the most prominent figures in French-language Shīʿa scholarship, namely Henry Corbin (1903–1978) and Moḥammad-ʿAlī Āmir-Moezzi (born 1955/1956 CE). The central problem of this research concerns the extent to which Corbin's philosophical-phenomenological approach to the study of Shīʿism has influenced Āmir-Moezzi's perspective and methodology in reassessing the nature of proto-Shīʿism, and to what extent the traces of Corbin's thought can be identified in Āmir-Moezzi's works. The research hypothesis proposes that, while Āmir-Moezzi has consciously drawn upon Corbin's intellectual and methodological foundations—particularly with regard to the significance attributed to esoteric texts and the hermeneutical layers of Shīʿa knowledge—he ultimately transcends Corbin's transhistorical framework by employing the tools of critical historiography and comparative textual study, thereby offering a distinct portrayal of the intellectual and doctrinal developments of Shīʿism during the first three centuries of the Islamic era. The necessity of this study is twofold: to date, only a limited number of studies have systematically and comprehensively compared the shared and divergent elements of these two thinkers; most prior research has either focused separately on the exposition and critique of one of their respective corpora or, when comparative in scope, has concentrated on a narrow range of aspects. Furthermore, Āmir-Moezzi's self-directed "transition" from Corbin's purely philosophical and phenomenological approach toward historical-critical methods constitutes a pivotal turning point in the evolution of the Parisian academic tradition—a dimension that has received insufficient analytical scrutiny in prior scholarship.
The methodological framework of the present research is descriptive-analytical and grounded in comparative analysis. Within this framework, Corbin's key doctrines—particularly as articulated in his seminal work _Islam Iranien: Aspects spirituels et philosophiques_ (Islamic Iran: Spiritual and Philosophical Aspects)—have been extracted and systematized, and subsequently evaluated through a comparative lens against Āmir-Moezzi's viewpoints as expounded in such landmark studies as _Le Shiisme: Racines et Visions spirituelles_ (Shīʿism: Roots and Mystical Beliefs) and _Guide divin dans le Shiisme originel_ (The Divine Guide in Proto-Shīʿism). The convergences and divergences emerging from this comparison have been classified and analyzed under five thematic axes: the deployment of shared terminology and their semantic; Christological and Imāmological commonalities; examination of the historical origins of Shīʿism; the avoidance of reducing Shīʿism to a political phenomenon; and the attention devoted to the esoteric and suprarational dimensions of Shīʿa beliefs. The primary sources for this research comprise the published writings of both scholars in French, as well as the available Persian translations of Āmir-Moezzi's works.
The structure of the article proceeds, following an introduction and delineation of the research context, to present concise intellectual biographies of Henry Corbin and Moḥammad-ʿAlī Āmir-Moezzi in order to illuminate the intellectual and scholarly backgrounds of both figures. Subsequently, the five comparative axes outlined above are examined in detail, and the findings of the study are ultimately presented in a concluding section. Among the principal contributions of this research is the provision of a more nuanced understanding of the methodological transformation within French-language Shīʿa studies. The findings indicate that, despite Āmir-Moezzi's emphasis on the use of historical methods in the study of proto-Shīʿism—a distinguishing feature of his approach in contrast to Corbin—the resonance of Corbin's doctrines is unmistakably audible throughout his work. This is evidenced by, inter alia, the shared use of terminology such as "inner guide" (_guide intérieur_) and "the religion of ʿAlī" (_religion d'Alī_); the emphasis on the commonalities between Christianity and Shīʿa Islam from the standpoint of the interconnection between Christology and Imāmology; the recourse to early texts in reconstructing the nascent phases of Shīʿism; the deliberate avoidance of politicizing Shīʿa beliefs; and the persistent attention to the esoteric and suprarational dimensions of Shīʿa knowledge.
In sum, this study demonstrates that Āmir-Moezzi, while preserving the phenomenological spirit in apprehending "meaning," has enlisted the instrument of "history" to arrive at a more rigorously documented and problematized narrative of the identity of proto-Shīʿism. In so doing, he stands as a representative figure of a methodological shift—from pure phenomenology to critical historiography—within the French-language tradition of Shīʿa scholarship.