Captures the achievements of this Sufi thinker and founder of the Gnostic Hurufism
Fazlallah Astarabadi was a 14th-century Islamic religious leader who believed that the world was about to come to an end. This book is the first comprehensive study of Astarabadi's life and thought and also offer a history of his movement. It emphasizes the diversity of medieval Islam by describing an apocalyptic movement founded on the idea that the cosmos contains embedded secrets that become manifest through extraordinary human beings.
"This is an excellent introduction"
* International Journal of Middle East Studies *Shahzad Bashir is Assistant Professor of Religion at Carleton College in Minnesota. His published works include Messianic Hope and Mystical Visions: The Nurbakhshiya between Medieval and Modern Islam.
Preface
1 EARLY LIFE
Birth and Childhood
Religious Wandering
Dreams in Khwarazm
Sabzavar
The Rise to Social Prominence
2 ENLIGHTENMENT
Marriage
Dream Interpretation in Tabriz
Enlightenment
Accepting the Mission
Political Ambitions
3 DEATH
Timur-i Lang
Arrest
Last Will and Testament
Execution
4 COSMOS AND HUMANITY
The Macrocosm
The Microcosm
Cosmic Time
5 APOCALYPSE, LANGUAGE, AND SALVATION
Religious Linguistics
The Science of Letters
From Arabic to Persian
Operations on Letters
Letters and Physical Reality
Abbreviations and New Characters
The Wages of Apocalypticism
6 SHRINE AND SUCCESSORS
The Shrine
A Split Community
The Second Coming
Major Disciples
Attack on Mirza Shahrukh (1427)
Uprisings in Isfahan and Tabriz
Attempt to Convert the Ottoman Mehmet the Conqueror
Summary
7 LEGACY
Iran
India
The Ottoman Empire
Modern Interpretations
Orhan Pamuks The Black Book
APPENDIX: Hurufi Literature
Further Reading
Index