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Zayn Al-Dīn Maḥmūd Vāṣifī and the Transformation of Early Sixteenth Century Islamic Central Asia

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Zayn Al-Dīn Maḥmūd Vāṣifī and the Transformation of Early Sixteenth Century Islamic Central Asia ZAYN AL-DĪN MAḤMŪD VĀṢIFĪ AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF EARLY SIXTEENTH CENTURY ISLAMIC CENTRAL ASIA Robert W. Dunbar Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Central Eurasian Studies Indiana University April 2015 Accepted by the Graduate Faculty, Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Doctoral Committee ______________________________ Ron Sela, Ph.D. ______________________________ Devin A. DeWeese, Ph.D. ______________________________ Paul E. Losensky, Ph.D. ______________________________ Christopher P. Atwood, Ph.D. Date of Dissertation Defense: October 14, 2014 ii Copyright © 2015 Robert W. Dunbar iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is with the utmost gratitude and respect that I humbly acknowledge the members of my dissertation committee – Ron Sela, Devin DeWeese, Paul Losensky, and Christopher Atwood – for their continued guidance and support over the years. I owe a debt of gratitude to all of my professors in the Department of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University for their willingness to share their knowledge of the history, cultures, and languages of Inner and Central Asia, as well as to the department staff, especially April Younger, who have always been ready and able to assist me whenever an issue has arisen and to answer my many questions. I would also like to acknowledge Fr. William Graf of St. John Fisher College who has believed in my ability to complete this task and to contribute in a positive and meaningful way to the betterment of this world. Finally, I must acknowledge my family – especially my wife Laura, whose unflagging support in this endeavor proved essential, and my children, Livia and Alexander, whose undeniable love and very existence has provided me with purpose. iv Robert W. Dunbar ZAYN AL-DĪN MAḤMŪD VĀṢIFĪ AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF EARLY SIXTEENTH CENTURY ISLAMIC CENTRAL ASIA The Badāyi‘ al-vaqāyi‘ of Zayn al-Dīn Maḥmūd b. ‘Abd al-Jalīl Vāṣifī is an early sixteenth century memoir and historical work written from a unique perspective, that of a non-elite, well-educated member of what we might refer to as “the middle class”. This dissertation will argue that if the Badāyi‘ al-vaqāyi‘ is to be properly read and understood by Western scholars, then we cannot fail to acknowledge what is an essential aspect of Vāṣifī’s identity – that being his identity as a devout Muslim. The present study will show that if we are to understand the author and historian Vāṣifī and his work the Badāyi‘ al-vaqāyi‘ then we must not overlook or ignore this central component of his identity. Being Muslim was fundamental to Vāṣifī’s worldview, his interpretation of the events, and consequently the historical narrative he produced; Vāṣifī saw the Divine as active in the unfolding of history and events, both great and small, and this is made quite apparent throughout his memoir. Bearing in mind this key aspect of Vāṣifī’s identity one is then able to appreciate how he experienced, interpreted, and wrote about such politically, socially, and religiously transformative events as the Abu’l-Khayrid Uzbek conquest of Herat in 1507, the Ṣafavid-Qizilbāsh seizure of the same city in 1510, and the subsequent Ṣafavid-Qizilbāsh invasion of Mavarannahr in 1512, all of which are considered herein. This dissertation also considers the Badāyi‘ al-vaqāyi‘ Vāṣifī a unique and invaluable work that sheds light on processes of social, political, and religious transformation that redefined Islamic Central Asia in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. This claim will be supported via a close reading and analysis of chapters of the v Badāyi‘ al-vaqāyi‘ that narrate events in Vāṣifī’s life that took place around the aforementioned significant historical events. It will be shown that, due to Vāṣifī’s unique perspective and the unofficial capacity in which he wrote, the Badāyi‘ al-vaqāyi‘ contains information regarding the history of Islamic Central Asia found in no other source, and must be reconsidered as a work of immense importance by scholars endeavoring to reconstruct the history of the period. ______________________________ Ron Sela, Ph.D. ______________________________ Devin A. DeWeese, Ph.D. ______________________________ Paul E. Losensky, Ph.D. ______________________________ Christopher P. Atwood, Ph.D. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………iii ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………….……v INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………...…1 The Plan of This Study……………………………………………………………4 Zayn al-Dīn Maḥmūd ‘Abd al-Jalīl Vāṣifī………………………………………..6 The Badāyi‘ al-vaqāyi‘…………………………………………………………..10 Origins of the Abu’l-Khayrid Shībānids…………………………………………13 The Ṣafavid Dynasty……………………………………………………………..29 The Encounter of the Abu’l-Khayrid Shībānids and the Ṣafavid-Qizilbāsh……..32 CHAPTER I: THE HISTORY OF THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE BADĀYI‘ AL- VAQĀYI‘ OF ZAYN AL-DĪN MAḤMŪD VĀṢIFĪ.............…………….………………41 I.1. Aleksandr Boldyrev and Sadriddin Aynī…………..……………………...…42 I.2. Vāṣifī in Soviet and Tajik Historiography..………………………………….53 I.3. Western Scholarship…..……………………………………………………..74 CHAPTER II: THE NARRATIVE OF ZAYN AL-DĪN MAḤMŪD VĀṢIFĪ ON THE ABU’L-KHAYRID CONQUEST OF KHURASAN………….…………...……….….105 II.1. The Narrative of Vāṣifī Regarding the Abu’l-Khayrid Seizure of Herat….108 CHAPTER III: THERE AROSE THE DAY OF JUDGMENT: THE NARRATIVE OF ZAYN AL-DĪN MAḤMŪD VĀṢIFĪ ON THE ṢAFAVID OCCUPATION OF HERAT…………………………………………………………………………………134 III.1. The Narrative of Vāṣifī Regarding the Ṣafavid Seizure of Herat………...135 CHAPTER IV: THE NARRATIVE OF AMĪR NAJM-I SĀNĪ AND THE ROLE OF MĪR-I ‘ARAB……...…..……………………………………………………...….…….157 IV.1. The Ṣafavid-Qizilbāsh Campaigns in Mavarannahr……………………...159 vii IV.2. The Narrative of Vāṣifī Regarding Najm-i Sānī and the Ṣafavid Campaign of 1512……………...…………………………………………167 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………....183 APPENDICES.………………………………………………………………………....191 Appendix I………………………………………………………………...……193 Appendix II…………………………………………………………………..…208 Appendix III………………………………………………………………….…219 Appendix IV………………………………………………………………….…230 Appendix V………………………………………………………………......…242 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………......….265 CURRICULUM VITA viii INTRODUCTION The Badāyi‘ al-vaqāyi‘ of Zayn al-Dīn Maḥmūd b. ‘Abd al-Jalīl Vāṣifī is an early sixteenth century memoir and historical work written from a unique perspective, that of a non-elite though well-educated member of what we might today refer to as “the middle class”. It contains the author’s reminiscences of the days of his youth in Herat and the surrounding region of Khurasan in the twilight of the Tīmūrid era and a number of events, both great and small, that affected his life and the lives of many others of similar status and background. Delving into the Badāyi‘ al-vaqāyi‘, the character of Vāṣifī himself began to take shape in my mind. Very often in works of history the people being written about, their actions recorded and affairs counted, are transformed into mere abstractions. Such is not the case with the Badāyi‘ al-vaqāyi‘. As a historical memoir, the Badāyi‘ al-vaqāyi‘ presents the reader with an intensely personal narrative, a first- person account of life in Islamic Central Asia in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. This dissertation will argue that if the Badāyi‘ al-vaqāyi‘ is to be properly read and understood by Western scholars, then we cannot fail to acknowledge what is arguably one of the most important aspect of Vāṣifī’s identity – that being his identity as a devout Muslim. Taking their cue from Soviet era scholars, Western scholars, while duly noting the unique perspective offered by Vāṣifī’s middling origins, have failed to take this aspect of Vāṣifī’s character into consideration. The present study will show that if we are to understand the author and historian Zayn al-Dīn Maḥmūd Vāṣifī and his work the Badāyi‘ al-vaqāyi‘, then we must not overlook or ignore this essential component of Vāṣifī’s identity. Being Muslim was fundamental to his worldview, his interpretation of 1 the events in which he took part and by which he was affected, and consequently the historical narrative he produced; Vāṣifī certainly saw the Divine as active in the unfolding of history and events, both great and small, and this is made quite apparent throughout his narrative. Bearing in mind this key aspect of Vāṣifī’s identity, we will then be able to appreciate more fully how he experienced, interpreted, and wrote about such politically, socially, and religiously transformative events as the Abu’l-Khayrid Uzbek conquest of Herat and Khurasan in 1507, the Ṣafavid-Qizilbāsh seizure of the same city and province in 1510, and the subsequent Ṣafavid-Qizilbāsh invasion of Mavarannahr in 1512, all of which are considered herein. Scholars who have worked with the Badāyi‘ al-vaqāyi‘ in the West have made limited use of Vāṣifī’s oeuvre. Rather than endeavoring to undertake a thorough examination of the Badāyi‘ al-vaqāyi‘ on its own merits and engaging with it as a valid source for the history of Islamic Central Asia at the close of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century Western scholars, with few exceptions, have cast the Badāyi‘ al- vaqāyi‘ in a supporting role, using it to buttress what is stated in more widely known, commissioned historical works from the period. There is yet much that the Badāyi‘ al- vaqāyi‘ can tell us with regard to such phenomena as the collapse
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