Kings and Dervishes: Sufi World Renunciation and the Symbolism of Kingship in the Persianate WorldSaïd Amir Arjomand's Kings and Dervishes is a pioneering study of the emergence and development of Sufism during the formation of the Persianate world. Whereas Sufi doctrine was expressed in the New Persian language, its social organization was detached from the civic movement among the urban craftsmen and artisans known as the fotovva(t) and was politically shaped by multiple forces—first by the revival of Persian kingship, and then by the emergence of the Turko-Mongolian empires. The intermingling of Sufism's developmental path with the transformation of the Persianate political regimes resulted in the progressive appropriation of royal symbols by the Sufi shaykhs. The original Sufi world renunciation gave way first to world accommodation and the medieval love mysticism of Jalāl al-Din Rumi and Hāfez of Shiraz, and then to world domination. This comprehensive work of historical sociology traces these spiritual and political evolutions over the course of some six centuries, showing how the Sufi saints' symbolic sovereignty was eventually made real in the imperial kingship of the Persianate world's early modern empires. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Sufism and Kingship in an Analytical Frame | 11 |
The Emergence and the Development of Persianate Sufism | 17 |
The Social Base and Organization of Early Sufism in Khorasan | 26 |
Divergence of the Developmental Path of Sufism from that of the Fotovvat Movement | 32 |
Persianate Sufismfrom Ascetic World Renunciation to Divine Love | 39 |
The Development of Persianate Sufism in Iran the Seljuq | 59 |
The Mongol Invasion and the Dispersal of the Sufi Masters of Khorasan | 69 |
Persianate Kingship in the TurkoMongolian Empires | 159 |
The Fotovvat Movement and the Symbolic Popular Contestation | 177 |
Urban Confraternities and Antinomian Democratization | 201 |
Khāju | 211 |
Sufi Sainthood and World Accommodation in the Timurid Age | 220 |
The Origins and Development of Countermillennial Sovereignty | 246 |
The Mahdist Revolution and the Absorption of Sufi Sainthood into | 254 |
Conclusion | 265 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Abbasid caliphate Ahmad Akhi Amir Anatolia Ansāri antinomian Arabic Arjomand Atabeg Attār ayyār ayyārān Bābā Baghdad called chapter Chinggis Khan cited conception culture Davvāni dervishes developmental path disciples divine love dynasty Erāqi eshq ethics Eyn al-Qozāt fotovvat confraternities Ghazāli gnostic God's Greater Khorasan hadith Hafez Hojviri Ibid Ibn al-'Arabi idea Il-Khan Il-Khanid Il-Khanid Empire imam imperial Iran Iranian Islam Jalāl al-Din Jāmi Kerman kherqa Khorasanian king kingdom Kobrāvi Konya light love mysticism lover Manichaean Mawlānā Mohammad Mongol Mozaffarid Muslim Nishapur nomadic Ormavi Pahlavān Persianate kingship Persianate Sufism Persianate world political pre-eternity prince Prophet Qalandar Qur'an reason religion religious royal symbolism rulers Ruzbehān Sa'di Sadr Safavid Safi al-Din sainthood saints Samak Samanid Seljuq sultan Seljuqs of Rum Semnāni Shah Shi'ite Shiraz Shojā Sohravardi soul sovereignty spiritual Sufi Sufi masters Sufi orders Sufism tenth century theory Timur Timurid tion Turko-Mongolian velāyat verse vizier wayfarer wisdom world renunciation Zarrinkub