Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Editor’s Note xi
4. Editor’s Acknowledgments xiii
5. Introduction 1
6. Part I. The Religious Landscape
7. 1. Converts, Apostates, And Polytheists
8. Introduction 8
9. I. Confessions Of An Armenian Convert: The I‘Tirafnama Of Abkar (ʿali Akbar) Armani 11
10. II. Conversion, Apostasy, And Relations Between Muslims And Non-Muslims: Fatwas Of The Ottoman Shaykh Al-Islams 32
11. III. The Night Debates At Jahangir’s Court: ʿabd Al-Sattar’s Majalis-I Jahangiri 55
12. 2. Heretics, Polytheists, And The Path Of The Righteous
13. Introduction 77
14. I. The Shiʿa Path Of The Righteous: The Strength Of Akhbarism In Safavid Iran 79
15. II. Ottoman Religious Rulings Concerning The Safavids: Ebussuud Efendi’s Fatwas 97
16. III. A Mughal Debate About Jain Asceticism 107
17. 3. The Zealot, The Sufi, And The Quest For Spiritual Transcendence
18. Introduction 125
19. I. Opposition To Sufism In Safavid Iran: A Debate Between Mulla Muhammad-Tahir Qummi And Mulla Muhammad-Taqi Majlisi 128
20. II. The Worldview Of A Sufi In The Ottoman Realm: Hakiki And His Book Of Guidance 150
21. III. Sufism And The Divine Law: Ahmad Sirhindi’s Ruminations 160
22. Part II. Political Culture
23. 4. Conceptions of Sovereignty: The Poet, the Scholar, and the Court Sufi
24. Introduction 176
25. I. The Safavid Claim to Sovereignty According to a Court Bureaucrat 179
26. II. Kingship and Legitimacy in the Sixteenth- Century Ottoman Empire 193
27. III. The Millennial and Saintly Sovereignty of Emperor Shah Jahan According to a Court Sufi 205
28. 5. The King’s Deathbed: Coronation, Execution, and Fratricide
29. Introduction 219
30. I. In the Shadow of Shah ʿAbbas: The Succession of Shah Safi (r. 1629–1642) 221
31. II. The Ottoman Conception of Sovereignty and Succession: Mustafa Ali’s Essence of History (Kunh al-Akhbar) 228
32. III. The Way of Tradition and the Path of Innovation: Aurangzeb and Dara Shukuh’s Struggle for the Mughal Throne 240
33. 6. A Tale of Three Cities: Diplomacy and Conquest
34. Introduction 263
35. I. Imperial Geopolitics and the Otiose Quest for Qandahar 265
36. II. The Ottoman Conquest of Buda(pest): Sultan Suleiman’s Imperial Letter of Victory 280
37. III. The Mughal Conquest of Chittor: Study of Akbar’s Letter of Victory 287
38. Part III. Philosophical Inquiries
39. 7. Philosophy as a Way of Life
40. Introduction 302
41. I. The Many Faces of Philosophy in the Safavid Age 305
42. II. Philosophia Ottomanica: Jalal al-Din Davani on Establishing the Existence of the Necessary Being 319
43. III. Philosophy and Legal Theory: The Musallam al-thubut of Muhibballah al-Bihari and Its Commentary by ʿAbd al-ʿAli Bahr al-ʿUlum 336
44. 8. Lettrists, Alchemists, and Astrologers: The Occult Sciences
45. Introduction 345
46. I. The Occult Sciences in Safavid Iran 348
47. II. A Commentary on The Secret of Ta-Ha by the Pseudo-Eşrefoǧlu Rumi 366
48. III. The Occult Sciences at the Mughal Court During the Sixteenth Century 384
49. Part IV. Literature and the Arts
50. 9. Three Poets and the Three Literary Climes
51. Introduction 402
52. I. Selections from the Poetry of Muhtasham Kashani 406
53. II. The Poet ʿAzmizade Haleti and the Transformation of Ottoman Literature in the Seventeenth Century 428
54. III. Mughal Sanskrit Literature: The Book of War and the Treasury of Compassion 450
55. 10. Royal Patronage: A College, Poets, and the Making of an Imperial Secretary
56. Introduction 479
57. I. The Leading Religious College in Early Modern Iran: Madrasa-yi Sultani and Its Endowment 481
58. II. Imperial Patronage of Literature in the Ottoman World, 1400–1600 493
59. III. A Letter of Advice from a Mughal Gentleman to His Son 505
60. 11. Painters, Calligraphers, and Collectors
61. Introduction 523
62. I. Reading a Painting: Sultan-Muhammad’s The Court of Gayumars 525
63. II. The Making of a Legendary Calligrapher: Textual Portraits of Sheikh Hamdullah 539
64. III. Deccani Seals and Scribal Notations: Sources for the Study of Indo-Persian Book Arts and Collecting (c. 1400–1680) 554
65. Bibliography 597
66. Contributors 643
67. Index 647