The empires of the Near East and India : source studies of the Safavid, Ottoman, and Mughal literate communities

In the early modern world, the Safavid, Ottoman, and Mughal empires sprawled across a vast swath of the earth, stretching from the Himalayas to the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. The diverse and overlapping literate communities that flourished in these three empires left a lasting legacy on the political, religious, and cultural landscape of the Near East and India. This volume is a comprehensive sourcebook of newly translated texts that shed light on the intertwined histories and cultures of these communities, presenting a wide range of source material spanning literature, philosophy, religion, politics, mysticism, and visual art in thematically organized chapters. Scholarly essays by leading researchers provide historical context for closer analyses of a lesser-known era and a framework for further research and debate. The volume aims to provide a new model for the study and teaching of the region's early modern history that stands in contrast to the prevailing trend of examining this interconnected past in isolation. Table of Contents 8 Editor’s Note 12 Editor’s Acknowledgments 14 Introduction, by Hani Khafipour 18 Part I. The Religious Landscape 24 1. Converts, Apostates, and Polytheists 26 I. Confessions of an Armenian Convert: The I‘tirafnama of Abkar (‘Ali Akbar) Armani, by Rudi Matthee 28 II. Conversion, Apostasy, and Relations Between Muslims and Non-Muslims: Fatwas of the Ottoman Shaykh al-Islams, by Nikolay Antov 49 III. The Night Debates at Jahangir’s Court’Abd al-Sattar’s Majalis-i Jahangiri, by Corinne Lefèvre 72 2. Heretics, Polytheists, and the Path of the Righteous 94 I. The Shi’a Path of the Righteous: The Strength of Akhbarism in Safavid Iran, by Maryam Moazzen 96 II. Ottoman Religious Rulings Concerning The Safavids: Ebussuud Efendi’s Fatwas, by Abdurrahman Atçıl 114 III. A Mughal Debate About Jain Asceticism, by Audrey Truschke 124 3. The Zealot, the Sufi, and the Quest for Spiritual Transcendence 142 I. Opposition to Sufism in Safavid Iran: A Debate Between Mulla Muhammad-Tahir Qummi and Mulla Muhammad-Taqi Majlisi, by Ata Anzali 145 II. The Worldview of a Sufi in the Ottoman Realm: Hakiki and His Book of Guidance, by F. Betul Yavuz 167 III. Sufism and the Divine Law: Ahmad Sirhindi’s Ruminations, by Arthur F. Buehler 222 Part II. Political Culture 192 4. Conceptions of Sovereignty: The Poet, the Scholar, and the Court Sufi 194 I. The Safavid Claim to Sovereignty According to a Court Bureaucrat, by Hani Khafipour 196 II. Kingship and Legitimacy in the Sixteenth-Century Ottoman Empire, by Huseyin Yılmaz 210 III. The Millennial and Saintly Sovereignty of Emperor Shah Jahan According to a Court Sufi, by A. Azfar Moin 222 5. The King’s Deathbed: Coronation, Execution, and Fratricide 236 I. In the Shadow of Shah ‘Abbas: The Succession of Shah Safi (r. 1629–1642), by Sholeh A. Quinn 238 II. The Ottoman Conception of Sovereignty and Succession: Mustafa Ali’s Essence of History (Kunh al-Akhbar), by Zahit Atçıl 245 III. The Way of Tradition and the Path of Innovation: Aurangzeb and Dara Shukuh’s Struggle for the Mughal Throne, by Jane Mikkelson 257 6. A Tale of Three Cities: Diplomacy and Conquest 280 I. Imperial Geopolitics and the Otiose Quest for Qandahar, by Hani Khafipour 282 II. The Ottoman Conquest of Buda(pest): Sultan Suleiman’s Imperial Letter of Victory, by Zahit Atçıl 297 III. The Mughal Conquest of Chittor: Study of Akbar’s Letter of Victory, Taymiya R. Zaman 304 Part III. Philosophical Inquiries 318 7. Philosophy as a Way of Life 320 I. The Many Faces of Philosophy in the Safavid Age, by Sajjad Rizvi 322 II. Philosophia Ottomanica: Jalal al-Din Davani on Establishing the Existence of the Necessary Being, by Ahab Bdaiwi 336 III. Philosophy and Legal Theory: The Musallam al-thubut of Muhibballah al-Bihari and Its Commentary by ‘Abd al-’Ali Bahr al-’Ulum, by Asad Q. Ahmad 353 8. Lettrists, Alchemists, and Astrologers: The Occult Sciences 362 I. The Occult Sciences in Safavid Iran, by Matthew Melvin-Koushki 365 II. A Commentary on The Secret of Ta-Ha by the Pseudo-Eşrefoǧlu Rumi, by Tuna Artun 383 III. The Occult Sciences at the Mughal Court During the Sixteenth Century, by Eva Orthmann 401 Part IV. Literature and the Arts 418 9. Three Poets and the Three Literary Climes 420 I. Selections from the Poetry of Muhtasham Kashani, by Paul Losensky 423 II. The Poet ‘Azmizade Haleti and the Transformation of Ottoman Literature in the Seventeenth Century, by Berat Acil 445 III. Mughal Sanskrit Literature: The Book of War and the Treasury of Compassion, by Audrey Truschke 467 10. Royal Patronage: A College, Poets, and the Making of an Imperial Secretary 496 I. The Leading Religious College in Early Modern Iran: Madrasa-yi Sultani and Its Endowment, by Maryam Moazzen 498 II. Imperial Patronage of Literature in the Ottoman World, 1400–1600, by Murat Umut Inan 510 III. A Letter of Advice from a Mughal Gentleman to His Son, by Rajeev Kinra 522 11. Painters, Calligraphers, and Collectors 540 I. Reading a Painting: Sultan-Muhammad’s The Court of Gayumars, by Sheila Blair 542 II. The Making of a Legendary Calligrapher: Textual Portraits of Sheikh Hamdullah, by Esra Akın-Kıvanç 556 III. Deccani Seals and Scribal Notations: Sources for the Study of Indo-Persian Book Arts and Collecting (c. 1400–1680), by Keelan Overton and Jake Benson 571 Bibliography 614 List of Contributors 660 Index 664 In the early modern world, the Safavid, Ottoman, and Mughal empires sprawled across a vast swath of the earth, from the Himalayas to the Mediterranean. These three polities each encompassed a wide range of cultural and religious diversity, and interactions among the varied communities both within and across the empires contributed greatly to their flourishing. Yet present-day Anglophone scholarship and teaching with emphasis on the earlier periods of Islamic civilization tends to examine the empires in isolation and overlook their connected histories. This volume is a comprehensive sourcebook of newly translated texts from the Safavid, Ottoman, and Mughal empires of the fifteenth through eighteenth centuries, accompanied by scholarly essays, that aims to provide a new model for the study and teaching of the early modern history of the Near East and India. In thematically organized sections, it presents texts that represent particular voices and experiences from each of the three empires. With a wide range of source material spanning literature, philosophy, religion, politics, and visual art, the volume sheds light on the many dimensions of the intertwined histories of these interconnected literate communities engaged in the religious, political, and cultural debates of their time. Texts investigate such varied topics as conversion in Safavid Iran; the politics of Ottoman imperial conquests; mystical piety at the Mughal court of India; occult sciences such as letter divination and astrology; and struggles for succession to the imperial throne. The readings include translator's notes, and each translation is preceded by a short essay providing the historiographical context for the source