Islam, Literature and Society in Mongol Anatolia

A new understanding of the transformation of Anatolia to a Muslim society in the thirteenth-fourteenth centuries based on previously unpublished sources.

A. C. S. Peacock (Author)

9781108713481, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 12 November 2020

323 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.436 kg

'This fascinating story of ordinary people fighting back successfully against Stalinist officialdom is an example of how scholars can draw larger implications from local studies. Filip Slaveski's important book offers a fresh approach to Stalinist economy and society. It changes our understanding of Soviet history after World War II by restoring agency to the lowly villagers and revealing the social tensions missed by previous historians.' Serhy Yekelchyk, University of Victoria

From a Christian, Greek- and Armenian-speaking land to a predominantly Muslim and Turkish speaking one, the Islamisation of medieval Anatolia would lay the groundwork for the emergence of the Ottoman Empire as a world power and ultimately the modern Republic of Turkey. Bringing together previously unpublished sources in Arabic, Persian and Turkish, Peacock offers a new understanding of the crucial but neglected period in Anatolian history, that of Mongol domination, between c. 1240 and 1380. This represents a decisive phase in the process of Islamisation, with the popularisation of Sufism and the development of new forms of literature to spread Islam. This book integrates the study of Anatolia with that of the broader Islamic world, shedding new light on this crucial turning point in the history of the Middle East.

Introduction
Part I. Religion, Politics and Society: 1. The formation of Islamic Anatolia: crises of legitimacy and the struggle against unbelief
2. Sufism and political power
3. Sufism in society: Futuwwa in Seljuq and Mongol Anatolia
Part II. Literature and Religious Change: 4. The emergence of literary Turkish
5. Vernacular religious literature: tales of conversion, eschatology and unbelief
6. Apocalyptic thought and the political elite
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Middle Eastern history [HBJF1], Asian history [HBJF], Regional & national history [HBJ], History [HB], Humanities [H]