Politics, Poetry, and Sufism in Medieval Iran

In Politics, Poetry, and Sufism in Medieval Iran Chad Lingwood offers new insights into the political significance of poetry and Sufism at the court of Sultan Ya‘qub (d. 896/1490), leader of the Aq Qoyunlu. The basis of the study is Salaman va Absal, a Persian allegorical romance ‘Abd al-Rahman Jami (d. 898/1492), the great Timurid belletrist and Naqshbandi Sufi, dedicated to Ya‘qub. Lingwood demonstrates that Salaman va Absal, which modern critics have dismissed as ‘crude’ and ‘grotesque,’ is a sophisticated work of political and mystical advice for a Muslim ruler. In the process, he challenges received wisdom concerning Jami, the Aq Qoyunlu, and Perso-Islamic advice literature. Significantly, the study illustrates the extent to which Jami’s compositions integrated the Timurid and Aq Qoyunlu realms.