Shi'ism in Iran before the Safavids: Shi'i Sabzawari and the Sarbadars
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Department Name: Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies
Abstract
Twelver Shi'ism is a major component of Iranian national identity today. Thus far, most studies of Iran's association with the faith begin in 1501, when the newly-established Safavid dynasty adopted it as their imperial creed and set about promoting it with the assistance of Twelver clerics imported from Lebanon. However, little research has been carried out on the state of Twelver Shi'ism in Iran in the two centuries prior to this, marginalising the significance of its pre-existing forms and emphasising the importance of the Safavids for its future trajectory.
My research addresses this gap in our knowledge by examining the intellectual output of Shihab al-Din Shi'i Sabzawari (fl. 1318-1372), a Twelver scholar who lived and preached in 14th century Sabzawar, which was an outpost of Shi'ism in the then-predominantly Sunni region of Khurasan in North-Eastern Iran, some two centuries before the Safavids. Sabzawar was ruled by the Sarbadars, an alliance of local landowners, Sufis and guildsmen with Shi'i leanings that arose in response to the collapse of central authority at the end of Ilkhanid rule, and with whom Shi'i Sabzawari was personally associated.
Current scholarship emphasises that Shi'ism in Iran underwent an 'existential crisis' in the 13th-15th centuries as it was slowly absorbed into a plethora of heterodox movements that dominated Iran's religious landscape at this time. The Sarbadars of Sabzawar are one such movement and are characterised as holding messianic beliefs. They also invited the Lebanese scholar Ibn al-Makki (d. 1384) to their domains, and this is taken as evidence that there was a shortage of Twelver clerics in Sabzawar at this time and that, therefore, the people of Sabzawar were ill-informed about their faith. This is also seen as foreshadowing the Safavids own invitation of Lebanese Twelver clerics to Iran approximately two centuries later. However, these studies are limited by their reliance on later chronicles, which are usually unsympathetic, and numismatics, which have proven open to interpretation. As such, the works of Shi'i Sabzawari represent a valuable new source on both the Sarbadars and Twelver Shi'ism during this period.
By carrying out a close reading of Shi'i Sabzawari's major works, in particular a collection of his sermons and a biography of the Twelve Imams, I will simultaneously interrogate his religious views and those of his audience and shed light on intellectual networks of Twelvers in Khurasan at this time. My hypothesis is that Twelver Shi'ism, while a minority faith, was present and powerful in Iran before the rise of the Safavids. To use Shi'i Sabzawari's religious writings as sources for cultural and intellectual history, I will adopt Quentin Skinner's approach to textual interpretation: Situating the texts in their conversational context to understand what their author intended to accomplish. The fact that these texts were composed in Persian for a local audience is helpful in this regard, as is that they contain much material translated from Arabic which, by comparing it to the original, will allow me to uncover the author's strategies as a translator and the works he had access to.
Through exploring the under-researched topic of Twelver Shi'ism in pre-Safavid Iran using original source materials, I expect this research to reveal previously hidden influences on the faith's development under the Safavids, enhance our understanding of Mongol-Timurid Iran's turbulent social and religious atmosphere, and to open new avenues for research through the identification of previously unknown sources and figures within Twelver networks in Khurasan from this period.
My research addresses this gap in our knowledge by examining the intellectual output of Shihab al-Din Shi'i Sabzawari (fl. 1318-1372), a Twelver scholar who lived and preached in 14th century Sabzawar, which was an outpost of Shi'ism in the then-predominantly Sunni region of Khurasan in North-Eastern Iran, some two centuries before the Safavids. Sabzawar was ruled by the Sarbadars, an alliance of local landowners, Sufis and guildsmen with Shi'i leanings that arose in response to the collapse of central authority at the end of Ilkhanid rule, and with whom Shi'i Sabzawari was personally associated.
Current scholarship emphasises that Shi'ism in Iran underwent an 'existential crisis' in the 13th-15th centuries as it was slowly absorbed into a plethora of heterodox movements that dominated Iran's religious landscape at this time. The Sarbadars of Sabzawar are one such movement and are characterised as holding messianic beliefs. They also invited the Lebanese scholar Ibn al-Makki (d. 1384) to their domains, and this is taken as evidence that there was a shortage of Twelver clerics in Sabzawar at this time and that, therefore, the people of Sabzawar were ill-informed about their faith. This is also seen as foreshadowing the Safavids own invitation of Lebanese Twelver clerics to Iran approximately two centuries later. However, these studies are limited by their reliance on later chronicles, which are usually unsympathetic, and numismatics, which have proven open to interpretation. As such, the works of Shi'i Sabzawari represent a valuable new source on both the Sarbadars and Twelver Shi'ism during this period.
By carrying out a close reading of Shi'i Sabzawari's major works, in particular a collection of his sermons and a biography of the Twelve Imams, I will simultaneously interrogate his religious views and those of his audience and shed light on intellectual networks of Twelvers in Khurasan at this time. My hypothesis is that Twelver Shi'ism, while a minority faith, was present and powerful in Iran before the rise of the Safavids. To use Shi'i Sabzawari's religious writings as sources for cultural and intellectual history, I will adopt Quentin Skinner's approach to textual interpretation: Situating the texts in their conversational context to understand what their author intended to accomplish. The fact that these texts were composed in Persian for a local audience is helpful in this regard, as is that they contain much material translated from Arabic which, by comparing it to the original, will allow me to uncover the author's strategies as a translator and the works he had access to.
Through exploring the under-researched topic of Twelver Shi'ism in pre-Safavid Iran using original source materials, I expect this research to reveal previously hidden influences on the faith's development under the Safavids, enhance our understanding of Mongol-Timurid Iran's turbulent social and religious atmosphere, and to open new avenues for research through the identification of previously unknown sources and figures within Twelver networks in Khurasan from this period.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Robert Gleave (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Alexander Hainy-Khaleeli (Student) |