Author
Melvin-Koushki, Matthew
Publication Place
Cambridge -
Cambridge University Press
Subject
16th century, Christian union, Competition, Ecumenical movement, Historians, Islam, Islamic fundamentalism, Mysticism, Occultism, Philosophy, Popularity, Science, Sixteenth century, Specialists, Sunnites, Teachers
Type
Book
Language
eng,fas
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Royal Danish Library
Library Asset ID
ISSN: 0021-0862, EISSN: 1475-4819, DOI: 10.1017/irn.2022.62
Record ID
cdi_proquest_journals_2802236312
Library Location
Cambridge Journals: 2024 Full Collection, Social Science Database, ProQuest Central
Notes
That Safavid Iran was scene to a boom in the occult sciences ( ʿulum-i gharība ) is now beginning to be acknowledged by specialists; what has yet to be appreciated is the extent to which that boom represented a smooth and conscious continuation of Mamluk, Aqquyunlu, Ottoman and especially Timurid Sunni precedent. In particular, lettrism ( ʿilm-i ḥurūf ), developed by the Pythagoreanizing, imamophile New Brethren of Purity as universal imperial science, was embraced by leading Safavid thinkers and doers as a primary Sunni means of Shiʿizing Iran. This occult continuity is epitomized by the oeuvre of Maḥmūd Dihdār Shīrāzī “ʿIyānī” (fl. 1576), the most prolific Persian author on lettrism of the sixteenth century and teacher to Shaykh Bahāʾī (d. 1621) himself. His Unveiling Secrets ( Kashf al-asrār )—a passionate prosimetric paean to Imam ʿAlī as cosmic principle in strictly Akbarian-Būnian terms, like Rajab al-Bursī’s (d. after 1410) work before it—is contextualized and translated here as a case in point.
Telif Hakkı
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Iranian Studies
Görüntüle
Iranian studies, 2023-04, Vol.56 (2), p.277-307
