Shah Ismaʿil and the Qizilbash: Cannibalism in the Religious History of Early Safavid Iran

Bashir, Shahzad

doi:10.1086/503715

Cited by 12 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 4 publications

(1 reference statement)

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“…until the siege and economic decline of Isfahan in 1722. Apart from Mazzoui and Szuppe, other scholars have also closely studied aspects of the Qizilbash etymology and transformation in Safavid Persia and Anatolia (Allouche 1983;Arjomand 1981;Babayan 2004;Bashir 2006Imber 1979, Karakaya-Stump 2004Kondo 1999;Roemer 1990;Matthee 1988, Minorsky 1982, Savory 1964, 1965, 1995, Tapper 1974, and Zarinebaf-Shahr 1997.…”

Section: A C K Umentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethnohistory of the Qizilbash in Kabul : migration, state, and a Shi’a minority / Solaiman M. Fazel.

Fazel¹

2017

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My daughter Tamanah and my son Sohrab still wonder why their father spends countless hours at the library or days away to attend academic symposiums. Nonetheless, both are brilliant readers and master storytellers with a keen sense of curiosity who now find my bookstands and filing cabinets as sources of excitement. I hope that one day they will read their father's dissertation. My greatest thanks goes to my lovely wife, Megan. I deeply thank my parents, Hafiz and Najla Fazel, for raising me with the gift of reading and a curious mind. My in-laws, Mr. and Mrs. Sarwary, are the kindest people anyone could ask for. My entire family encouraged me during the stressful years of dissertation writing to ensure I still had my sanity. Megan often reminds me that anthropology and history is so captivating, but it is also important to live in the present. To which I always reply, there is no present without the genealogies of the past. On the other hand, living in the present with Megan, Tamanah, and Sohrab is a pure joy that I always treasure. So I dedicate this study to my family and mentors, because this dissertation would not have been possible without them.

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Section: A C K Umentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethnohistory of the Qizilbash in Kabul : migration, state, and a Shi’a minority / Solaiman M. Fazel.

Fazel¹

2017

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“…The Qizilbash reportedly devoured his flesh on the battlefield, and the Safavid Sufi king ordered a drinking cup made from his skull. 105 But the physical and ritual elimination of Shaybani Khan had little relevance for the people of Herat, who had no loyalty to the Uzbek sovereign. So how were they to be reminded that they had been conquered?…”

Section: T H E D E S E C R At I O N O F E N S H R I N E D R I Va L Smentioning

confidence: 99%

Sovereign Violence: Temple Destruction in India and Shrine Desecration in Iran and Central Asia

Moin

2015

Comp Stud Soc Hist

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Was the destruction of Sufi and ‘Alid saint shrines as a rite of conquest in Iran and Central Asia a phenomenon comparable to the desecration of temples in war in India? With this question in mind, this essay examines the changing nature of Islamic kingship in premodern Iran and Central Asia and compares it to developments in Indic kingship. It begins with the thesis that the decline of the caliphate and the rise of Muslim saints and shrines in thirteenth-century Iran and Central Asia led to a new form of “shrine-centered” sovereignty practiced by the rulers of these regions. This development, in turn, gave rise to a notable pattern in which Muslim kings threatened or attacked the shrines of their enemies’ patron saints in times of war. A focus on this ritual violence, which remains neglected in the studies of Islamic iconoclasm and jihad, reveals how the protocols of violence and accommodation that governed these Muslim milieus became analogous to those enacted by Indic kings who also sacked temples of rival sovereigns in times of war. With the spread of Muslim shrines and the related belief that the “real” sovereign was not the caliph but the enshrined saint, Islam and Hinduism developed comparable grammars of “gifting” and “looting.” This argument allows for a new, transcultural perspective to examine the premodern history of India, Iran, and Central Asia, connected by the rise of Muslim saints and their shrines.

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“…For a study of the chub-i tariq ritual, see Morton (1993). For a study which draws a parallel between the chub-i tariq ritual and historical instances of cannibalism among the Kizilbash in terms of a common corporeal imaginary, see Bashir (2006). The use of a stick for administering blows was later replaced by patting initiates’ backs with the palm of the hand, whose five fingers represent the Ahl al-Bayt ( pençe-i âl-i abâ ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Wearing fire and chewing iron: Oaths of peace and the suspension of monotheism in contemporary Alevism

Kreger¹

2022

Mod. Asian Stud.

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This article examines the practices and discourses surrounding the ikrar oaths by which some Alevis in Turkey and the Turkish diaspora are initiated into their spiritual path. I examine a contemporary revival of this Alevi oath complex, which is a historical product of the same messianic trends in post-Mongol Sufism that shaped the Mughal imperial idea of sulh-i kull, or ‘Peace with All’ religions. I argue that the ikrar oaths are paradigmatic examples of ‘post-Islam’ or Islam after the messianic suspension of its scriptural law. I show how Alevis seek to maintain their suspension of monotheism through ritual practices of animal sacrifice and music as well as the replacement of standard monotheistic oaths with post-Islamic oaths. Focusing on a recent liturgical reform movement led by the shrine of Hacı Bektaş in central Turkey, I demonstrate how the shrine works to maintain Alevis’ suspension of monotheism within the constraints of modern secularism, in part by reinterpreting secular constraints in terms of post-Islamic Alevi values, thereby highlighting elective affinities between post-Islam and secularism.

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Shah Ismaʿil and the Qizilbash: Cannibalism in the Religious History of Early Safavid Iran

Cited by 12 publications

References 4 publications

Ethnohistory of the Qizilbash in Kabul : migration, state, and a Shi’a minority / Solaiman M. Fazel.

Ethnohistory of the Qizilbash in Kabul : migration, state, and a Shi’a minority / Solaiman M. Fazel.

Sovereign Violence: Temple Destruction in India and Shrine Desecration in Iran and Central Asia

Wearing fire and chewing iron: Oaths of peace and the suspension of monotheism in contemporary Alevism

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