Intellectual Traditions in Islam - 9th Essay

The ninth essay is about "Some observations on the Religious Intellectual Milieu of Safawid Persia" by John Cooper.

Safawid dynasty was founded by Safi al-Din who was also the founder of Sufi order called Safawiyya. Works written during Safawids trace his linkage back to the seventh twelver Imam Musa Al-Kazim, but biographical literature before Safawid period does not mention any such linkage of Safi Al-Din with Twelver Shia Imam Musa Al-Kazim. Safawid cosolidated themselves with the Twelver Shias to retain the power and to avoid the pluralistic tendencies of Sufism of that time. Shia ulema came to take up the religious posts and madrasas became Shii Learning Centers. Many Shia Ulema were showing their attraction towards Sufism to please their Safawid masters. Some strongly independent Shia Ulema, such as Muqaddas Ardabili, opposed the Sufi notion of Wahdat al Wujud (unity of being) and condemned the Sufis as kafirs and zindiqs.

The Sufism of the 14th and 15th centuries had been thoroughly penetrated by the teaching of the Shaykh al Akbar Ibn al Arabi. Peripatetic Aristotelian philosophy was also widely studied. In short philosophical environment of Safawid of Persia was the mixture of Peripatetic (pertaining to the the Aristotelian Philosophy); Akbarian (after the tradition of Ibn Al Arabi) and Illuminations (After Al Suhrawardy).

John Cooper gave a very detailed account of history of Safawid and moving their identity from Sufis to Shia (Twelvers).

It was a difficult essay for me to read as John Cooper was presenting too many names at at time which was distracting the flow of thoughts required to fully comprehend the concept and understand the concepts he was trying to explain.