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Converting Persia: Religion and Power in the Safavid Empire


Publishing Details

Full Title:

Converting Persia: Religion and Power in the Safavid Empire

Contributors:

By (Author) Rula Abisaab

ISBN:

9781780767789

Publisher:

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Imprint:

I.B. Tauris

Publication Date:

1st August 2015

Country:

United Kingdom

Classifications

Readership:

General

Fiction/Non-fiction:

Non Fiction

Main Subject:
Other Subjects:

Middle Eastern history
Social groups: religious groups and communities
Cultural studies

Dewey:

297.820955

Physical Properties

Number of Pages:

262

Dimensions:

Width 138mm, Height 216mm

Weight:

296g

Description

'Converting Persia' explains how Iran was to acquire one of its defining characteristics: its Shi'ism. Under the Safavids (1501-1736 CE), Persia adopted Shi'ism as its official religion. Rula Abisaab explains how and why this specific brand of Shi'ism - urban and legally-based - was brought to the region by leading Arab 'Ulama from Ottoman Syria, and changed the face of the region till this day. These emigre scholars furnished distinct sources of legitimacy for the Safavid monarchs, and an ideological defense against the Ottomans. Just as important at the time was a conscious and vivid process of Persianization both at the state level and in society. Converting Persia is vital reading for anthropologists, historians and scholars of religion, and any interested in Safavid Persia, in Shi'ism, and in the wider history of the Middle East.

Reviews

"Rula Abisaab has provided us with a remarkable study of Safavid Iran. Her work throws new light on the interplay of religion and society and will be a crucial work for all interested in the making of modern Iran." (Abbas Amanat, Professor of History, Yale University)"

Author Bio

Rula Jurdi Abisaab is a professor of Islamic/Middle Eastern History at the University of Akron, Ohio.

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