This chapter discusses the major themes and ideas that emerged from Henry Corbin’s earliest studies on Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi (549–587/1154–1191). I argue that the four articles he published during this period mark a distinctive phase in his understanding of Suhrawardi’s thought, one that is characterized by the attempt at reconstructing the theoretical foundations of the metaphysics of light and placing them within the context of post-Ghazalian Sufism, especially as it engages with Avicenna’s metaphysics. The focus of this chapter, however, is on Corbin’s understanding of ishraq (illumination) and nur (light). I show how these terms refer to the special mode of being that characterizes the cosmic principles, one that is predicated on the ontological priority of self-awareness over intellectual perception. It is based on the philosophical import of ishraq that Corbin argues for the necessity of visionary experience and the primacy of mythopoesis over theoretical doctrine in Suhrawardi’s thought.