Millennial Sovereign

Erscheinungsjahr 2012
ISBN: 978-0-231-16036-0
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 368 Seiten, Format (B × H): 165 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 645 g

Reihe: South Asia Across the Disciplines

At the end of the sixteenth century and the turn of the first Islamic millennium, the powerful Mughal emperor Akbar declared himself the most sacred being on earth. The holiest of all saints and above the distinctions of religion, he styled himself as the messiah reborn. Yet the Mughal emperor was not alone in doing so. In this field-changing study, A. Azfar Moin explores why Muslim sovereigns in this period began to imitate the exalted nature of Sufi saints. Uncovering a startling yet widespread phenomenon, he shows how the charismatic pull of sainthood (wilayat) rather than the draw of religious law (sharia) or holy war (jihad) inspired a new style of sovereignty in Islam.

A work of history richly informed by the anthropology of religion and art, The Millennial Sovereign traces how royal dynastic cults and shrine-centered Sufism came together in the imperial cultures of Timurid Central Asia, Safavid Iran, and Mughal India. By juxtaposing imperial chronicles, paintings, and architecture with theories of sainthood, apocalyptic treatises, and manuals on astrology and magic, Moin uncovers a pattern of Islamic politics shaped by Sufi and millennial motifs. He shows how alchemical symbols and astrological rituals enveloped the body of the monarch, casting him as both spiritual guide and material lord. Ultimately, Moin offers a striking new perspective on the history of Islam and the religious and political developments linking South Asia and Iran in early-modern times.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Moin, A. Azfar

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Islam & Islamische Studien Islam: Spiritualität & Mystik
• Geisteswissenschaften Islam & Islamische Studien Geschichte des Islam Geschichte des Islam: Neuzeit
• Geisteswissenschaften Islam & Islamische Studien Islamische Gruppen: Sufis

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of IllustrationsList of TablesAcknowledgmentsNote on Transliteration1. Introduction: Islam and the Millennium2. The Lord of Conjunction: Sacrality and Sovereignty in the Age of Timur3. The Crown of Dreams: Sufis and Princes in Sixteenth-Century Iran4. The Alchemical Court: The Beginnings of the Mughal Imperial Cult5. The Millennial Sovereign: The Troubled Unveiling of the Savior Monarch6. The Throne of Time: The Painted Miracles of the Saint Emperor7. Conclusion: The Graffiti Under the ThroneNotesBibliographyIndex

Leseproben

Read an excerpt from the introduction to The Millennial Sovereign (to view in full screen, click on icon in bottom right-hand corner):

Über Autor(innen)

Moin, A. Azfar
A. Azfar Moin is assistant professor in the Clements Department of History at Southern Methodist University, Dallas. His research and writing focuses on early-modern South Asia and the Islamic world.

A. Azfar Moin is assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Texas at Austin.