Ishraq, the theosophy of Suhrawardi, a an Iranian Sufi master who was martyred in 1191, "was as close to the original teachings of Zoroaster as you could get. At its core was the concept of mundus imaginalis, a kind of parallel world, the Earth of Hurqalya, the Heavenly Jerusalem, a world of light that was itself a mirror of a still higher realm. In this world of light each person had another self, a self of light that was his or her true identity or Perfected Nature - but until this was realized it appeared as a guardian angel or spiritual guide." - Paul William Roberts, Journey of the Magi (1995) p. 245

Henry Corbin (1903-1978) was a philosopher, theologian and professor of Islamic Studies at the Sorbonne in Paris.

In his studies of Sufism, Shi'ism, and the pre-Islamic religions of Persia, Corbin rediscovered a vast body of lore about a visionary landscape existing above and beyond the three-dimensional world of ordinary experience. This landscape goes by various names in his work, depending on the specific culture and philosopher in question. It is the mundus imaginalis, the barzakh, the interworld, the earth of Hurqalya.

Corbin is unique among 20th century scholars of Islam in his ability to imaginatively enter the world of the Sufi gnostics and to apply their insights to the modern

The three major works upon which his reputation largely rests in the English speaking world were first published in French in the 1950's: Avicenna and the Visionary Recital, Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn 'Arabi (see below) and Spiritual Body & Celestial Earth. His later major work on Central Asian and Iranian Sufism appears in English with an Introduction by Zia Inayat Khan as The Man of Light in Iranian Sufism. His magnum opus, as yet untranslated, is the four volume En Islam Iranien: Aspects spirituels et philosophiques, which appeared between 1971 and 1973.

Murshida Carol Weyland Conner's recent visit to India was, like always, rejuvenating. Head of Sufism Reoriented, a 50-year-old organization based in the USA that imparts Sufi education, Conner feels India is the "motherland of the earth".

Murshida (the title given to a female Sufi leader) Conner does not look like a spiritual guru - she does not wear robes, nor any holy beads around her neck or arms. In fact, she looks more like a corporate head than a spiritual leader. She is happily married and her husband always accompanies her to India.

Her 500-strong Sufi group in Walnut Creek, California, follows the teachings of Meher Baba, who lived (in India) between 1894 and 1969. Conner was in India (her third visit) to visit the Baba's grave in Meherabad, Ahmednagar, a special place for Sufi followers in the western Indian state of Maharashtra