Publisher's Synopsis
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 Sulṭan 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-Raḥman 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.
