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Zayn Al-Din-i Taybadi and the Construction of Sacred Space in Khurasan
Abstract by Dr. John Dechant On Session 052  (Sufis and Their Worlds)

On Sunday, November 18 at 11:00 am

2012 Annual Meeting

Abstract
For a hagiography, constructing sacred space can be a way to establish and celebrate the cult of the writer’s particular saint. Such is the case for the anonymously written, untitled hagiography of the Sufi Zayn al-Din-i Taybadi (d. 1389), who is usually best known as one of Timur’s shaykhs. This work, which exists in a unique and unexamined manuscript, depicts the region of Khurasan as a sacred space defined by its deceased saints and their shrines. Real power in Khurasan is held by the region’s saints, such as ‘Ali b. Musa al-Rida (d. 818), Abu Dharr-i Buzjani (d. 977), and Ahmad-i Jam (d. 1141), all of whose spirits take an active interest in the welfare of the people of the region. Taybadi starts out as a reclusive Sufi unconcerned with worldly affairs who makes frequent pilgrimages to the shrines of the region. He comes to receive spiritual training from Ahmad-i Jam, who directs him to “the Sultan of Khurasan” in Mashhad, ‘Ali b. Musa, who makes Taybadi his intercessor in Khurasan. The hagiography from there on out portrays Taybadi as the custodian of ethical rule in the region and the guardian of it’s saints’ families, in particular the descendants of Ahmad-i Jam. In introducing this manuscript to scholarly attention, I intend to both further explore how else the anonymous author constructed the region of Khurasan as a sacred space through the the historical memory of Taybadi. Secondly, by comparing it to other, more well-known contemporary sources, I will investigate to what extent the hagiographer’s arguments fit into the prevalent understanding of Khurasan in the Late Middle Period.
Discipline
Religious Studies/Theology
Geographic Area
Central Asia
Iran
Islamic World
Sub Area
None