Louis Massignon interprete della cultura arabo-islamica

Louis Massignon endeavoured to know Islamic culture from within, through a form of "sacred hospitality" which transcends the narrow limits of positivistic rationality to which he had been educated. Thanks to his spiritual experience, marked indelibly by the visit of the Foreigner in 1908, Massignon became interested in the figures of saints and apotropaic mystics, but he did not disdain poets and writers, such as al-Mutanabbi or al-Ma'arri, thereby overcoming the distinction between sacred and profane literature. This cultural interest was supported by an authentic passion for Arabic, understood as the archetype of Semitic languages.