Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
In my article on “The Persian Manuscripts of the late Sir Albert Houtum-Schindler, K.C.I.E.”, published in the JRAS. of October, 1917, pp. 657–94, brief mention was made (on p. 672) of a book entitled Silsilatu'n-Nasdb-i-Ṣafawiyya, on the genealogy and history of the Ṣafawís. I can find no notice of another copy, and as the work is of considerable interest and importance, I think that a somewhat fuller account of its scope and contents may be acceptable to students of Persian history.
page 395 note 1 In the Ta'rikh-i-'Alam-árá-yi-'Abbási (composed in 1025/1616) this Shaykh's personal name is given as Ibráhím. Jámi (Nafaḥát, pp. 242–3) briefly mentions a saint called Ibráhím of Gílán (al-Jílí), but gives no particulars by which he can be identified. Shaykh Záhid, according to our author (f. 68b), died in Rajab, a.h. 700 (March–April, 1301), being then over eighty years of age.
page 397 note 1 This pedigree, not worth much so far as the middle links are concerned, occurs in much the same form in most histories which I have consulted. In the useful Turkish version of Munajjim-báshi's Jámi'u'd-Duwal (extending to 1083/1672) made by Ahmad ibn Muḥammad Nadím for the Grand Wazír Dámád Ibráhím Páshá in 1132/1720, entitled Ṣaḥá'ifu'l Akhbár, and printed at Constantinople in three volumes in 1285/1868–9, the only variants are the transposition of Ṣáliḥ and Quṭbu'd-Dín and the insertion between the latter and Muḥammad al-Ḥáfiẓ of Ṣaláḥu'd-Dín Rashíd, who, however, on a subsequent page (f. 6b) of our MS. is simply substituted for Ṣáliḥ, so that the same person apparently enters the pedigree in some of its forms under two different names.
page 397 note 2 This kunya is added by Munajjim-báshí.
page 398 note 1 Compare n. 1 at the foot of p. 397 supra.
page 399 note 1 According to Jámí, (Nafaḥát, pp. 546–8)Google Scholar he died in Sha'bán 678 (Dec., 1279).
page 400 note 3 Since, as we have seen (p. 399, n. 1, supra), he died in 678/1279, Shaykh Ṣafi, who was born in 650/1252–3, must at this time have been at least 27 years of age, though our MS. (f. 11a, 1. 11) describes him as only 20.
page 402 note 1 This would place the meeting in 675/1276–7, when Ramaḍán fell in February, a fact which affords some corroboration of the account of severe cold.
page 402 note 2 They have been already given on p. 399 supra.
page 402 note 3 The use of az for man in certain Persian dialects is very interesting, for it appears to be derived from the Avestan azem, “I”, not from the Old Persian adam, manâ.
page 404 note 1 Abraham's hospitality to strangers is celebrated in a well-known anecdote in the Bústán of Sa'dí, quoted in Forbes' Persian Grammar
page 405 note 1 Jámí, who devotes along notice to him in the Nafaḥát (pp. 689–93)Google Scholar, casts some doubt on his orthodoxy, and asserts that most of his disciples had discarded the restraints of Islam and entered the circle of communism and contempt for the Holy Law and Tradition. His death is placed in 837/1433–4.
page 405 note 2 See d'Ohsson, 's Hist, des Mongols, vol. iv, pp. 740–1.Google Scholar
page 406 note 1 His name, according to d'Ohsson, (op. cit., p. 741)Google Scholar, was the Qáḍí Muḥyi'd-Dín of Barda'a. See also Sir Howorth, Henry's History of the Mongols, part ii, division i, pp. 178–9.Google Scholar
page 406 note 2 He was the son of Uzbek Khán, a descendant of Bátú, and reigned from a.d. 1340 to 1357. See Lane-Poole, S.'s Mohammadau Dynasties, p. 230Google Scholar, and d'Ohsson, and Howorth, , loc. cit.Google Scholar
page 407 note 1 This is perhaps the earliest sign of strong and decided Shi'a propagandism on the part of the Ṣafawís.
page 409 note 1 I cannot understand the last word.
page 411 note 1 The latter form occurs in our MS., the former in the Turkish history of Munajjim-báshi (vol. iii, p. 181), which adds that he was fighting with Sulṭán Khalíl.
page 411 note 2 Munajjim-báshi calls her 'Álam-sháh Begum.
page 412 note 1 In 735/1334. See p. 403 supra.
page 412 note 2 Cf. Gibb, 's Hist, of Ottoman Poetry, vol. iii, p. 106Google Scholar; and Minorsky, V. in the Revue du Monde Musulman for 09–12 1920, p. 70, and n. 2, ad calc.Google Scholar
page 413 note 1 See p. 403 supra.
page 414 note 1 He was put to death on Aug. 25, 1327, by Abú Sa'id the Mongol.
page 416 note 1 Schejch Bedr-ed-Dīn der Sohn des Richters von Simāw: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Sekten Wesensim altosmanischen Reich (Berlin arid Leipzig, 1921), especially pp. 78et seqq.Google Scholar
page 416 note 2 Note sur la Secte des Ahle-Haqq, in the Revue du Monde Musulman for 09–12 1920, pp. 19–97.Google Scholar
page 417 note 1 There is another MS. in the Library of King's College, Cambridge, No. 87 of the Pote Collection.
page 417 note 2 See the JRAS. for 10 1917, pp. 693–4Google Scholar, and my Persian Literature under Tartar Dominion, pp. 80–6.Google Scholar