Biography Childhood
Ferdinand Massignon, sculptor, is a native of Vexin Hovyn wife Marie, of Flemish origin . Her mother is a practicing Christian, . Massignon is the result of a couple, but also a century, and more specifically of a Republic, the third, which compete at the same time they try to reconcile the clerical mind and spirit layman. His work is totally turned towards the two postulations.
He followed his studies at the Lyce Montaigne in Paris . In 1896, aged 13, he returned to Lycee Louis-le-Grand and became friends with Henri Maspero, son of the Egyptologist Gaston Maspero . Louis Massignon became progressively an atheist and, encouraged by his father, traveling, visiting only in 1898, Austria and Germany and the Italy with his parents in 1899 .
On 27 October 1900, Louis Massignon meeting Joris-Karl Huysmans in an interview six hours later mark his thought. The following year he visited Algeria and after passing his degree in letters in 1902 , doing his thesis on the geographical Table of Morocco in the first fifteen years of the sixteenth century by Leo Africanus. He completed his military service in 1902 .
Discovery of Morocco and Islam
His readings push him to specialize in the study of Morocco, and especially research on Leo Africanus , Moroccan explorer of the fifteenth century . Louis Massignon is so deeply agnostic .
He studied in Morocco, and wrote to Charles de Foucauld to send him his work, having helped a lot of structure recognition in Morocco. Charles de Foucauld meet him while he prays for him, although Massignon is agnostic. Arrested during this work, he tries to commit suicide but was radically converted. It then converts to the faith of his childhood. He personally met Charles de Foucauld in February 1909 and from there follow a correspondence until his death.
Author of a thesis on the life of a Sufi Mansur al-Hallaj was crucified in Baghdad in 922, it is not only one of the greatest Islamic scholars of the twentieth century but also one of the masters of French. His tongue is a rare beauty. He held, tentatively, June 15, 1919 Professor of Sociology and Muslim sociography the College de France. A chair that will occupy permanently from January 1926 until 1954 after the retirement of his predecessor Alfred Le Chatelier , the creator of this chair. He was also director of studies at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE).
Massignon has spent many years writing his thesis that demonstrates rigor and attention to scientific objectivity to copy a matter as delicate and sensitive as the mystical broadly, Islamic mysticism in particular.
He was also one of the major players in the establishment of a dialogue between Islam and the Catholic Church whose positive impact is in the council of Vatican II, Nostra Aetate year of his death in 1962. If he remained committed throughout his life to Catholicism , he was sometimes criticized for a certain syncretism did qualify by Pope Pius XI "Catholic Muslim .
Key dates in his life
- 1901: Her meeting with Joris-Karl Huysmans , a friend of his father, the sculptor Pierre Roche profoundly influence the course of his life. It is also the date of his first trip to Algiers.
- 1902: He received his BA. Preparing his graduate degree by choosing a subject of research: Geographical Table of Morocco in the first fifteen years of the sixteenth century by Leo Africanus.
- 1904: Journey to Morocco for its research work. Massignon said he made a horseback ride to Fez in Morocco.
- 1906: He obtained his degree in classical Arabic and colloquial Arabic. Beginning of his stay in Cairo where he was appointed a temporary member of the Institute of Oriental Archaeology in the great Egyptologist Gaston Maspero. This date was also the first discovery of the great Sufi Al-Hallaj through the Memorial of the Saints of Farid al-Din Attar.
- 1907: From March 24, 1907, he decided to do his doctoral thesis es letters on Al-Hallaj.
- 1907-1908: Lecturer of General Leon de Beyli to make an expedition in Mesopotamia. Upon his arrival in Baghdad , he moved January 7, 1908 in an old Muslim quarter of the city. During a period of one month and a half, he will immerse themselves hard in this new culture and enjoy their customs with ardor and specificities. He knew already that this step is crucial for his thesis on al-Hallaj. He had among others the opportunity to learn Turkish.
- 1913-1918: October 15, 1913 he asked the priest in charge of its spiritual direction to relieve him of his vow of celibacy and married Jan. 27, 1914 his cousin Marcelle Dansaert-Testelin. Mobilized early in the First World War as an officer in the army of the East. He learned in January 1917 death of his friend Charles de Foucauld. It will come alongside Lawrence of Arabia in Jerusalem liberated from the Ottoman occupation.
- 1919: Named after the end of the war as a substitute teacher at the College de France to provide courses in sociology and sociography Muslim.
- 1922: Defended his thesis on the great Muslim mystic Al-Hallaj.
- 1926: It is May 30, 1926 Chair of Sociology at the Muslim College de France.
- 1932: He became a tertiary Franciscan by the name of Abraham.
- 1933-1934: Return to Cairo where he has been named as one of the five European members of the Arabic language. He was appointed director of studies at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in 1933.
- 1934: He founded with Mary Kahil at Damietta, the Brotherhood's spiritual Badaliya.
- 1941: He founded the Institute Dar Es Salam in Cairo.
- 1947: He became president of the "Iranian Studies".
- 1954: It creates the pilgrimage of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus in the Old Market in Ctes-d'Armor.
- 1956: He became president of Friends of Gandhi.
- 1962: On October 31, 1962, heart attack outweighs the first Vespers of All Saints. He was buried in the town of Pordic (Ctes-d'Armor)
Students
Among his students include:
- Henry Corbin , a philosopher and leading scholar of great mystical Shiite Sohrawardi (Shaykh Al-Ishraq)
- Eva-Vitray Meyerovitch , converted to Islam and a specialist Jalal ud Din Rumi ,
- Abdurrahman Badawi , Egyptian Islamic thinker and philosopher,
- Abd al-Halim Mahmud , the great Sheikh of the University of Al-Azhar , and the United States, George Makdisi , Herbert Mason and James Kritzeck ;
- Ali Shariati , sociologist, philosopher and political activist of Iran;
- John Mohamed Ben Abdejlil , his godson, a Catholic priest, born in a Muslim family in Morocco.
The work
At his death, October 31, 1962, Louis Aragon wrote: "One of the men who mean France has just disappear" . Indeed, it is in the very work of this man that we can understand the depth of the tribute he pays Aragon.
Reflection of Massignon on the life course exceptional Mansur Al-Hallaj led him to reflect on common archetypes between Islam and Christianity , including:
He also attached himself to two key concepts that appear implicitly in all his work: the "sacred hospitality" and "intercession" (or mystical substitution, inspired by Huysmans).
Massignon's work is not without its critics, sometimes bitter. And Edward Said sees the figure of Al-Hallaj as "irrelevant", marginal, unrepresentative of Islam. The same Edward Said notes that the close proximity of Massignon with the "spirit" of Islam has been distorted in him a serene vision of Catholicism Works by Massignon - For a comprehensive bibliography: Louis Massignon, memorable writings, Robert Laffont, coll. "Mouthpieces", Volume II, 2009, pp. 941-997.
Main works of LM:
- The Passion of Hallaj, Paris, Gallimard, 1975, 4 vols. (Translated by Herbert English Masson, The Passion of Hallaj, Princeton, 1982).
- Memorable writings, 178 texts (some unpublished) prepared, presented and annotated under the direction of Christian Jambet by Franois Angelier , Franois L'Yvonnet and Soud Ayada , Robert Laffont, coll. "Mouthpieces", 2 volumes, 2009.
- Essay on the origins of technical terms in Islamic mysticism, Vrin, 1968 (reprint, Cerf, 1999).
- The Three Prayers of Abraham, Cerf, 1997.
- Word, Paris, Julliard, 1962 (reprint, Seuil, 1983).
- Akhbar Al-Hallaj, Collection of prayers and exhortations of the martyr of mystical Islam, Paris, J. Vrin Collection "Muslim Studies", 1975. Bilingual edition.
- Review of "Present of the educated man" by Abdallah Ibn Al-Torjoman, PISAI, Roma, 1992.
- Opera minora, Paris, PUF, 1969, 3 vols. (Reprint of the edition of Beirut, 1963), choice of texts edited by Youakim Moubarac.
- Massignon - Abd al-Jalil. Godfather and godson. 1926-1962. Correspondence, collected and annotated by Franoise Jacquin. Preface by Maurice Borrmans. Paris, Editions du Cerf, 2007.
Some books on Massignon
- Christian Destremau , Jean Moncelon , Massignon, Paris, Plon, 1994, bibliog. ( ISBN 2-259-00400-8 ) (the biography of Louis Massignon reference) ..
- Vincent-Mansour Monteil , The Shroud of fire Vegapress, 1987 (a privileged witness).
- Guy Harpigny, Islam and Christianity by Louis Massignon, Louvain-la-Neuve, 1981 (the first doctoral dissertation on Louis Massignon)
- Collective, eds. by Jean-Franois Six, Book Massignon, L'Herne , 1970. (Available in hard copy scanned on gate Numilog )
- Jean Morillon , Massignon, Classics of the twentieth century, 1964. (First essay on the thought of Louis Massignon).
- Herbert Mason, Massignon - Chronicle of a Friendship, Descle de Brouwer, 1990.
- J.-J. Waardenburg, L'Islam in the mirror of the West, The Hague, Mouton, 1962.
- Rocalve Pierre, Louis Massignon and Islam, French Institute of Damascus, 1993.
- Camille Devret, and Gandhi Massignon, Le Cerf, 1967.
- Collective presence of Louis Massignon, Paris, Maisonneuve et Larose, 1987.
- Collective, edited by Daniel Massignon Louis Massignon and the dialogue of cultures, Cerf, 1996.
- Fighting for Rights, Birth Centenary of Louis Massignon, UNESCO, Paris, 1983.
- Memorial Louis Massignon, Dar el-Salam, Cairo, 1963 (the market). Editor Youakim Moubarac and Arabic texts of Ibrahim Madkour, Abd al-Rahman Badawi, Taha Hussein, etc..
- "Tribute to Louis Massignon," Journal of the Faculty of Arts of Tehran, X, 1962.
- "Tribute to Louis Massignon," The French Letters, November 15, 1962. (With an editorial by Louis Aragon).
- Jacques Keryell Garden gave Louis Massignon in search of the Absolute, ed. Saint-Paul, Paris, 1993.
- Louis Massignon and His Contemporaries, edited by Jacques Keryell, Paris, Karthala, 1997.
- Louis Massignon in the heart of our time, under the direction of Jacques Keryell, Paris, Karthala, 1999.
- Keryell Jacques Louis Massignon. The grace of Baghdad, Paris, Tqui, 2010.
- Yves Floucat, "Louis Massignon, Christianity and Islam," Catholic France , No. 3227, September 24, 2010, p. 24-27.
- Dominique Aubier, Al Hallaj, the great Sleeping Beauty, "followed by" Hallaj cervantien look under "tribute to Louis Massignon, in The Messianic Reaffirmation of the Koran ed. MLL 2001
Honors
- The French School in Abu Dhabi, UAE , named Louis Massignon School since 1982.
- The school group Louis Massignon, Casablanca (Morocco).
External Links
References
Main structure used
- a and b p.21
- a , b , c , d , e and f p.22
- a , b , c and d p.24
Other references
- http://www.lefigaro.fr/livres/2009/06/04/03005-20090604ARTFIG00460-louis-massignon-quand-la-mystique-inspire-la-politique-.php
- See Biographical in Louis Massignon, memorable Writings, Volume I, Robert Laffont, coll. "Mouthpieces" p. XXIX LXXX.
- Louis Massignon, Sheikh admirable biography (Lectoure, France), Christian Destremau, Jean Moncelon Library of Capuchin, 2005, ISBN 2913493629 , page 497
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