The Dreams of Shaykh Safi al-Din and Safavid Historical Writing

Abstract

In their narratives of the rise of the Safavid dynasty, many Safavid chroniclers include accounts of either one or two dreams of Shaykh Safi al-Din (1253-1334), founder of the Safavid order. A historiographical reading of the various renditions of the dreams serves several important purposes: it gives insight into the historical methodology of the Safavid chroniclers, it indicates changing religious perspectives in Safavid Iran, and it demonstrates the patterns of political legitimacy that evolved from the reign of Shah Isma'il (1501-1524) to the reign of Shah ‘Abbas I (1587-1629). This paper will thus examine six versions of Shaykh Safi's dreams and show how interpretations of the dreams changed over time, based on evolving religious and political attitudes.Scholars have long been aware of the importance of dreams in Islamic history, and have outlined the many religious and political functions of dream episodes in historical and philosophical texts.

The Dream Will Tell: Militant Muslim Dreaming in the Context of Traditional and Contemporary Islamic Dream Theory and Practice.

“…So, Mullah Omar possibly claimed political and spiritual continuity as a contemporary savior of Afghanistan by asserting a continuity of anointing dream with Abdul Rahman. Such an assertion fits well into the Islamic theme of the “dream as political prophecy” (Quinn, 1996). There are also other stories of Mullah Omar's prophetic dreams: Mollah Omar's dreams are interpreted by his disciples as signs of God's will.…”