Overview

In this collection, Fatemeh Keshavarz and Ahmet T. Karamustafa bring together leading researchers from comparative literature, history, literary criticism and religious studies to explore the major authors and genres of medieval Persian mystical literature. Breaking out of the all-inclusive literary history framework, the contributors write on topics that have energised their scholarship over time and address areas where the literary and the mystical have mingled and led to paradigmatic creations. How can you interpret the climactic conclusion to the framing narrative of The Speech of the Birds of 'Attar of Nishapur? How did 'Aziz Nasafi understand the concept of religion? What do Rumi's conversations with the Divine tell us about his teachings and his poetry? How do medieval Persian Sufi commentators add to our understanding the Qur'an? How can we utilise Sufi manuals, life stories and utterances? All of these explorations and more bring the depth and eloquence of Persian mystical literature to life in this volume.

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9781399533201

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Mystical Landscapes in Medieval Persian Literature is a remarkable example of how outstanding academic research can highlight the dazzling beauty of Persian religious literature. This splendid volume covers a rich array of subjects that have received little attention in recent years. The editors have gathered an outstanding group of scholars to write on topics ranging from translations and commentaries on the Qur'an to Persian Sufi manuals, hagiographies, collections of precepts, wisdom literature and Sufi antinomianism. The collection is greatly enriched by powerful chapters devoted to iconic Persian Sufi poets such as 'Attar, 'Eraqi, and Rumi, examining transcendental love, the notions of beauty, piety, suffering, salvation through love and the quest for divine union. This groundbreaking volume is essential for the study of Persian religious literature, Sufism and Islamic Studies.--Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, Utrecht University

Author Information

Fatemeh Keshavarz is the Roshan Chair in Persian Studies & Director at Roshan Institute for Persian Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. Keshavarz works on mystical Persian poetry and is author of five monographs including Reading Mystical Lyric: The Case of Jalal al-Din Rumi and Recite in the Name of the Red Rose: Poetic Sacred Making in Twentieth Century Iran (University of South Carolina Press, 1998 & 2006). Her last monograph, Lyrics of Life: Sa'di on Love, Cosmopolitanism, and Care of the Self was published by Edinburgh University Press in 2016. Ahmet T. Karamustafa is the Professor & Chair of the Department of History at the University of Maryland, College Park. Karamustafa works on the history of medieval and early modern Sufism and Islamic piety in general. He is the author of God's Unruly Friends (University of Utah Press, 1994) and Sufism: The Formative Period(Edinburgh University Press, 2007).

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