Iranian Studies

Discourse of Shariat and Sufism in Safavid Iran With a look at cat and mouse writing

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

sima rahmanifar 1
hossein ghasemi 2

1 PhD in Persian Language and Literature, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 PhD in Iranian History of the Islamic Period, Department of History, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Shahid Beheshti university, Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22059/jis.2022.348896.1152
Abstract
Examining ancient fiction texts as a source for reflecting the political, social and cultural conditions of the past ages can, in addition to being a confirmation of other historiography sources, also reveal the thoughts of their creators, as the people of the pen and knowledge of those times. The tale of the mouse and the cat by Sheikh Bahae is one of these fictional texts that includes elements, components, and thoughts that can be directly related to the social and cultural conditions of the time of its creation, that is, the period The reign of Shah-Abbas I, and especially the opinions of its founder, Sheikh Baha'i, were examined. Based on this, the main questions of the upcoming research are what conclusions can be reached from the historical analysis of the above-mentioned story about the place of Sufism in this period, especially in contrast with Sharia, and how the literary text can be used to reflect a specific ideology and discourse. In a period, slow down? Also, what was Sheikh Baha'i's approach regarding the two intellectual spectrums of Sharia and Sufism with regard to his political-religious position? It seems that according to the situation in Iran during the Safavid era and especially during the reign of Shah Abbas I, it is possible to find the definite dominance of the jurisprudence system (symbolized by the cat in the story) over the elements of Sufism (symbolized by the mouse in the story) in this story. He proved the claim with the conversations and evidence provided by the mouse and the cat and also the end of the story. In fact, the early period of Safavid rule can be considered as the dominance of the Sufi system, the period of its continuation, the weakening of this system and the period of its fall with the definitive and final victory of the jurisprudence system and the expulsion of Sufis and Sufis from the sphere of power.

Keywords

mouse and cat
Bahae sheikh
Safavid government
Sharia
legalists
Sufism
Sufi
Subjects
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Iranian Studies
Volume 14, Issue 4
Winter 2025
Pages 65-82

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