This paper seeks to contribute to the field of reception and audience studies by analyzing ʿAttār’sElāhināma. Little studied, theElāhināmaoffers an opportunity to understand better ʿAttār’s attitudes towards socio-religious issues, as well as the types of audiences that the text seeks, how it addresses them, and what possible aims it has. The paper argues that theElāhināmamobilizes the formal characteristics of practical ethics and mirrors while disrupting them at the level of meaning towards its own aims, namely, a just society grounded in the tenets of Sufism, for a broad, non-specialized audience, which also includes Christians and Muslims. The paper analyzes and discusses not only the structure of the overall text, but also the first story, the “Tale of the Virtuous Woman,” which sets the tone. This story is an interesting case since it resembles the way that lives of female Byzantine Christian saints are constructed. It thus offers an opportunity to comment on the itinerant nature of narratives across Eurasia and more specifically the types of tales circulating in medieval eastern Iran.

This paper addresses Farid al-Din ʿAttār’s views on social and kingly ethics as espoused in the Elāhi-nāma. It offers a holistic reading of its stories, which are suffused with the tenets of Sufism, to illustrate the myriad ways that the Elāhi-nāma adopts and adapts the characteristics and tropes of practical ethics and Sufi hagiographies to advance its views. Indeed, the Elāhi-nāma promotes the ideal Sufi king and society by encouraging its members—saints, kings, and common folk—to be responsible, as individuals, for nurturing their souls, each other, and a love for the divine. It accomplishes this through a number of tale types, such as the saint or ruler who stumbles his or her way into self-awareness, the Sufi master or ruler who falters and is in need of guidance, or the hagiographical portraits of kings-as-Sufi lovers. In order to provide the appropriate context for the arguments herein, the paper explores several prominent themes and tropes from practical ethics and hagiographies and discusses Ebn ʿArabi’s al-Tadbirāt al-elāhiyya fi eslāh al-mamlaka al-ensāniyya for current notions on the responsibility of individuals and kings.

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The Nativist Prophets of Early Islamic Iran: Rural Revolt and Local Zoroas trianism is an ambitious and welcome project; one that addresses a vast lacuna in Iranian studies by painting a detailed portrait of the social history of early Islamic Iran and the religious beliefs in circulation. Through methodical readings of primary sources with both direct and indirect knowledge of the Iranian religious movements, attention to Zoroastrian, Manichaean, Buddhist, and Christian primary sources, and analyses of various secondary source literature, Crone has traced the development and/or appropriation of religious ideas and notions such as the transmigration of the soul, reincarnation, and polyandry. While the book focuses primarily on the Iranian areas of the Islamic empire and on Khurramism, Crone casts the net wide to compare and contrast these ideas as they appear in various communities from Greece through Central and South West Asia to China and India. The Nativist Prophets of Early Islamic Iran is divided into three parts with an introduction and a conclusion that ties the various strands of the book together and traces the religious beliefs and notions associated with Khurramism (Crone's designation of the religion of Khorram-dinān) down to the Safavid (and early modern) period. Throughout the first half of the book, Crone focuses on the socio-cultural and political nature of the revolts. For the introduction, however, she sets her sights earlier to provide the relevant background and context. She begins with a brief overview of the conquest of the Sasanian empire, with an emphasis on the importance of the fall of the capital, the early post conquest revolts, the significance of the proximity to and eventual intermingling of garrison troops with local populations, and the conversion of Iranians in rural and urban settings during the first two centuries of Islamic rule. She also offers a percipient