ʿAli al-Aʿlā and the Early History of Horufism

Bibliographic Data

ID12957646
AuthorsHüseyin Ongan Arslan (0000-0001-5442-5301, Çankırı Karatekin University, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume15
Issue1
Pages43-69
Publication date2022-09-22
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Persianate Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1874-7094 • E-ISSN: 1874-7167
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/18747167-bja10015
OpenAlexW4306156637
LanguageEN
References cited6

This article examines the life and activities of ʿAli al-Aʿlā (d. 1419/822), the principal successor of the founder of Horufism, Fazlollāh Astarābādi (d. 1394/796), and early Horufi history. Widely known as “Khalifatollāh (Vice-gerent of God)” in Horufi literature, the prolific ʿAli al-Aʿlā compiled five Persian books in the first two decades of the fifteenth century, namely the Korsi-nāma , Towhid-nāma , Qeyāmat-nāma , Ferāq-nāma , and Mahshar-nāma . By principally working on ʿAli al-Aʿlā’s corpus, I construct his biography, as well as explore Fazlollāh’s life and his Horufi doctrine. By critically engaging with the modern scholarship on Horufism, I discuss the crisis among Horufis following the execution of Fazlollāh, their political positioning among different political entities in western Asia, e.g. , the Timurids and Qara Qoyunlus, and Horufi missionary activities in Syria, Anatolia, and the Ottoman Balkans in the first decades of the fifteenth century. By doing so, I attempt to add another dimension to the existing Horufi literature

Ancient history · Art history · Biography · Doctrine · Fifteenth · Political science · Politics · Scholarship · Successor cardinal · Theology · Byzantine Studies and History · Classics · Eurasian Exchange Networks · History · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Philosophy

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