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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Theoretical Gnosis and Doctrinal Sufism and Their Significance Today Persia Persia was destined to become one of the main centers, if not the central arena, for the later development of theoretical gnosis. The circle of Qūnawī was already closely connected to the Persian cultural world and many of its members, including Qūnawī himself, wrote in Persian. Qūnawī’s student, Fakhr al-Dīn ‘Irāqī is considered one of the greatest poets of the Persian language.

Among other early members of the School one can mention Sa‘d al-Dīn Hamūyah, his disciple ‘Azīz al-Dīn Nasafī, who wrote on gnosis in readily accessible Persian, Awhad al-Dīn Balyānī (d. 686/1288) from Shiraz, whose famous Risālat al-ahadiyyah was for a long time attributed to Ibn ‘Arabī,36 and ‘Abd al-Razzāq Kāshānī who, as already mentioned, is a major figure of the School of theoretical gnosis and a prominent commentator upon the Fusūs.

From the 8th/14th century onward in Persia we see on the one hand the continuation of the School of theoretical gnosis through the appearance of prose works in both Arabic and Persian either in the form of commentary upon the Fusūs and other seminal texts of this School or as independent treatises. On the other hand we observe the deep influence of this School in Sufi literature, especially poetry.

A supreme example is the Gulshan-i rāz of Mahmūd Shabistarī, one of the greatest masterpieces of Persian Sufi poetry which summarizes the principles of Ibn ‘Arabian gnosis in verses of celestial beauty. That is why its commentary by Muhammad Lāhījī in the 9th/15th century is such a major text of theoretical gnosis.

Here, however, we are only concerned with the prose and systematic works of theoretical gnosis and not the poetical tradition but the nexus between the two should not be forgotten as we see in the works of ‘Irāqī, Shāh Ni‘mat Allāh Walī, Jāmī and many others.

Another important event that took place in the 8th/14th century and left its deep influence upon the history of the School during the Safavid, Qajar and Pahlavi periods was the integration of Ibn ‘Arabian gnosis into Shi‘ism which possesses its own gnostic teachings to which scholars refer as ‘irfān-i shī‘ī. These two outwardly distinct schools are inwardly connected and go back to the original esoteric and gnostic dimension of the Islamic revelation. It was most of all Sayyid Haydar Āmulī (d.