The Perfect Human in Modern Iranian Shī‘ism: Murtaḍá Muṭahharī’s ‘irfān-oriented Conception of the Ideal Human Being

Introduction – ‘irfān in 20th century Iran The importance of ‘irfān for certain key members of the clerical establishment of 20th century Iran, among them Āyatullāh Khumaynī (d. 1989) himself, has been well established in recent decades.[1] Variously translated as “Islamic theosophy”,[2] “gnosis”,[3] “a kind of mystical philosophy”,[4] speculative mysticism”,[5] and “knowledge of the true