Background of the Christian and Islamic Mysticism with an Emphasis on the Context of the Pearl Hymn and Story of the Ghorbat Al-gharbiah

Composition of the Gnostic-Christian Pearl Hymn is dated by historians to the 1^st century AD. This hymn is full of mystical content. Also Sheikh Suhrawardi has shown such this mystical content in his works that probably the story of the Ghorbat al-gharbiah has a lot of similarities to the mystical content of the Pearl hymn. It is worth noting that this mystical hymn impacts on mysticism and mystics in both Christianity and Islam. In particular, Suhrawardi in the story of the Ghorbat al-gharbiah was heavily effected by both, Gnosticism and the Pearl Hymn. One might say that the story of the Ghorbat al-gharbiah with regard to Islamic evolutions and changes is similar to the Pearl Hymn, but it does not mean that the Islamic mysticism has evolved from Christian, Gnostic, and Hermetic thoughts. In addition, Iranian mysticism has precedence over and influenced by Hermetic wisdom. And, Suhrawardi also addressed these issues and the Hermetic doctrine, so established the Eshragh wisdom. Of course, it is considered that Suhrawardi has used the method of Eshragh wisdom, the Hermetic wisdom and Mash’a philosophy as well as Quranic verses in his story. Therefore, considering these two works and their mystical concept, it becomes evident that Suhrawardi’s effectiveness in the story of the Ghorbat al-gharbiah was from Gnostic notions and the Pearl Hymn, and he was one of the mystics which in his works find Gnostic reflections and thought. Hence, in this research we have collected the contents by descriptive and library-based methods in this field and tried to express the distinction and similarity of these two works by description reportedly.