Bringing Shah Ismāʿīl Down to Earth: Mapping Ismāʿīl’s Religiosity through Dīvān-ı Khatāʾī

Arslan, Hüseyin Ongan (2026) Bringing Shah Ismāʿīl Down to Earth: Mapping Ismāʿīl’s Religiosity through Dīvān-ı Khatāʾī. ACTA ORIENTALIA ACADEMIAE SCIENTIARUM HUNGARICAE, 79 (2). pp. 307-327. ISSN 0001-6446

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Abstract

This article explores the religiosity of Shah Ismāʿīl Khatāʾī (1487–1524), founder of the Qizilbash Safavid Empire and Shaykh of the Safavid Sufi order, as expressed in his dīvān (collection of poems). By situating his poetry within established Sufi literary genres and examining his religious thought through Sufi concepts, particularly the Light of Muhammad ( Nūr-ı Muhammadī ), the study challenges claims of extremism, self-deification, and his alleged view of ʿAli b. Abi Tāleb as God. It argues that understanding Shah Ismāʿīl’s mysticism in its proper literary and intellectual context reveals a nuanced Qizilbash religiosity that countered Ottoman notions of ‘true Islam’ in the sixteenth century.

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