Hossein

Ziai

Illumination
1944-2011

Biography

Hossein Ziai’s life and works, from his childhood in Khorasan to his education at Yale and Harvard and his rise as a leading scholar of Sohravardi’s Illuminationist Philosophy and professor of Islamic philosophy and Persian language and literature at UCLA are outlined in Profile, Genealogy, Education, and Academic Career, with added information on his worldview, creativity, and the company he kept.

Publications

Hossein Ziai’s books included critical editions with notes and commentary, as well as translations and bilingual editions of primary sources in Persian and Arabic on Illuminationist Philosophy. His Knowledge and Illumination (1990) is the only analysis of Illuminationist logic in a foreign language, and The Philosophy of Illumination, co-published with John Walbridge (1999), is considered the standard translation of ikmat al-Ishrāq.

Publications

Hossein Ziai’s books included critical editions with notes and commentary, as well as translations and bilingual editions of primary sources in Persian and Arabic on Illuminationist Philosophy. His Knowledge and Illumination (1990) is the only analysis of Illuminationist logic in a foreign language, and The Philosophy of Illumination, co-published with John Walbridge (1999), is considered the standard translation of ikmat al-Ishrāq.

Memorabilia

Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi

Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi Other remembrances Rationalism in Iranian Philosophy (7 June 2009 UCLA) Tributes Memories of Abdullahabad The Heavenly Court Persian Poetry and Painting Yale Literary Magazine

Rationalism in Iranian Philosophy (7 June 2009 UCLA)

Rationalism in Iranian Philosophy (7 June 2009 UCLA) Other remembrances Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi Tributes Memories of Abdullahabad The Heavenly Court Persian Poetry and Painting Yale Literary Magazine

Tributes

The impassioned eulogies that Hossein Ziai’s friends, colleagues, and graduate students delivered at his memorial service echoed the sentiments of the nearly seven-hundred people in attendance at Forest Lawn on 3 September 2011.

© Copyright Mahasti Afshar Ziai 2024. All rights reserved.