This panel takes as its subject the multi-faceted genre of Perso-Islamic avice literature. This literary genre constituted a cornerstone of literary creativity and socio-political philosophy in the medieval and early modern Muslim world. Attention will be paid to the continuities and diversity of advice literature across the medieval and early modern periods—its reliance on tradition and self-renewal—as well as to questions of authority, social control, and the socially and religiously constructed nature of advice. The presenters are particularly interested in the literature’s articulations of the ideal ruler and the refinement of character. The panel offers a comprehensive overview of this pervasive and influential genre by dealing with a range of texts. Amīr Khusrow’s The Alexandrine Mirror, wherein Khusrow (d.1325) depicts Alexander as a philosopher-saint-king engineer and patron of engineers, is a prefiguration of post-Mongol occultist kingship that later became the dominant model of Persianate kingship after Khusrow. Bāgh-i iram, an allegorical romance by Kamāl al-Dīn Shīr ‘Alī Banā’ī Haravī (d. 1512), which involves twin-brothers—one evil, the other virtuous—articulates idealized Perso-Islamic rulership through exemplary (or refined) character. Akhlāq-i ʻAlā’ī, usually referred to as Adāb-i saltanat (The Rules of Kingship), by Hibatullāh Ḥusaynī Shīrāzī, or Shāh Mīr (d. 1493), is one of the last examples of a pre-Safavid “mirror for princes.” Throughout it, Shāh Mīr, in addition to summarizing earlier examples of this genre, conceptualizes the foremost qualities of an ideal ruler—wisdom (hikmat), modesty (‘effat), bravery (shujā’at), and justice (‘adālat)—within the context of Islamic teachings. Finally, Himam al-thawāqib is a significant text in which ‘Alī Naqī Kamarehī (d. 1650), the leading Safavid scholar of his time, presents unique political ideas. Kamarehī simultaneously appropriates some ideas from pre-Safavid mirrors for princes, but breaks away from typical Perso-Islamic advice literature by trying to develop a new, exemplary model of governance that is Shi‘i.
As religious life in Safavid Iran took its Shi‘i form, the question of exemplary governance became one of the main concerns of Shi‘i scholars -- particularly in the second half of the Safavids reign. Hence, a number of prominent Safavid scholars produced important works in the genre of advice literature. For example, ‘Alī Naqī Ṭughā’i Kamarahī (d. 1650) and Muhammad Bāqir Khurāsānī, more commonly known as Muhaqqiq Sabzavārī (d. 1679) -- both of whom served as the shaykh al-Islam of Isfahan during the reign of Abbās II (d. 1666) -- each wrote such treatises. During the same era, Muhammad ‘Abd al-Hassīb b. Sayyid Ahmad ‘Alawī ‘Amilī dedicated his Qawā’id al-salātīn to Shah Sulayman (d. 1694). Kamarehī’s Himam al-thawaqib, Sabzavārī’s Rowzat al-anwār and ‘Amilī’s Qawā‘id al-salātīn -- which were influenced to varying degrees by the earlier examples of advice literature -- help us to define the ideal kingship as it relates to Shi‘i Islam specifically.
My paper examines ‘Alī Naqī Kamarehī’s Himam al-thawāqib, a significant text that he dedicated to Shah Safī (d.1642) and which still remains in manuscript format. Himam al-thawāqib, in particular, presents the important link between the changing appropriations of ancient ideals of governance -- such as monarchial authority as the protector of the right religion -- and justice, with an intense emphasis on Shi‘i dogmas. The text gives us the opportunity to study a leading Shi‘i religious scholar’s attempts to appropriate models from ancient cultures for the purposes of influencing the young Safavid shah to maintain the supremacy of Shi‘ism and the Shi‘a. Furthermore, because of its emphasis on religious and political issues, it permits us to explore the relationship between historical Shi‘i exemplars, i.e. the imams, and practical advice. Lastly, the text reveals how Kamarehī’s discourse breaks away from the Perso-Islamic advice literature and begins to develop a new model of exemplary Shi’i governance.