Ashk Dahlén

Bio: Ashk Dahlén is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Iranian languages & Islam. The author has an hindex of 2, co-authored 7 publications receiving 42 citations.

Islamic Law, Epistemology and Modernity: Legal Philosophy in Contemporary Iran

Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. The Nature of Islamic Law 3. Categories of Traditional Islamic Epistemology 4. Shi'i Legal Dogmatics 5. Islamic Traditionalism and Islamic Modernism 6. Surush on the Nature of Islamic Law 7. Surush's Theory of Contraction and Expansion of Religious Knowledge Conclusions

Thematic Features in Iranian National History Writings: The Case of the Dāstān-e Goshtāsp (Tale of Goshtāsp)

Abstract: This paper aims to examine the image of the ancient Iranian prophet Zoroaster in the Shāhnāme based on a closed reading of the story about the Kayānian king Goshtāsp written by Daqiqi (and continued by Ferdowsi). For this purpose it will discuss the thematic properties of the Dāstān-e Goshtāsp (Tale of Goshtāsp) in the light of Iranian historical and epic traditions. Given the religious subject matter of the advent of Zoroaster, my aim is also to explore whether Daqiqi’s account primarily has a religious orientation or is the manifestation of a more secular orientation which represents the taste of kings and nobles with an emphasis on heroic events. The question of the Zoroastrian orientation of Daqiqi’s narrative is especially interesting given that the Shāhnāme was commissioned by an Iranian Muslim monarch and primarily addressed an audience of Persian-speaking Muslims albeit conscious of their national heritage. Of specific interest in my presentation is Daqiqi’s handling of the Sistānian heroic tradition and its hostility to Zoroaster’s patron, and whether there are any important ideological differences between Daqiqi and Ferdowsi in this respect.

Kingship and Religion in a Mediaeval Fürstenspiegel : The Case of the Chahār Maqāla of Niżāmī' Arūzī

Abstract: Kingship and Religion in a Mediaeval Furstenspiegel : The Case of the Chahār Maqāla of Nizāmī' Arūzī

The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane

Abstract: List of maps Acknowledgements A note on usage and transcription 1. Introduction 2. The Ulus Chaghatay in the mid-fourteenth century 3. Temur's rise to power: the politics of the Ulus Chaghatay 4. Temur's army of conquest: the Ulus Chaghatay 5. Temur's army of conquest: outsiders and conquered peoples 6. Structure and function in Temur's administration 7. The struggle for succession 8. Conclusion Appendices Notes Bibliography Index.

Poetics of the Sufi Carnival: The ‘Rogue Lyrics’ (Qalandariyât) of Sanâ’i, ‘Attâr, and ‘Erâqi

Abstract: OF THE DISSERTATION Poetics of the Sufi Carnival: The ‘Rogue Lyrics’ (Qalandariyât) of Sanâ’i, ‘Attâr, and ‘Erâqi by Matthew Thomas Miller Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature Washington University in St. Louis, 2016 Professor Fatemeh Keshavarz, Chair Professor Lynne Tatlock, Co-Chair The Poetics of the Sufi Carnival: The ‘Rogue Lyrics’ (Qalandariyât) of Sanâ’i, ‘Attâr, and ‘Erâqi is the first detailed study of the poetics and cultural politics of the “rogue lyrics” (qalandariyât) of medieval Persian Sufi literature. Countering approaches that either reduce this carnivalesque poetry to an abstract symbolist poetics or sublimated aesthetic expression of Sufi antinomianism, the present study analyzes (1) the historical development of this countergenre, (2) the myriad ways in which its heterotopic poetics creates—indeed, performs— meaning, and (3) the cultural politics of its (typically) same-sex beloved. Chapter one and two position the qalandariyât within the broader historical development of the Persian genre system. These chapters combine close readings of a wide variety of early poetry, manuscripts, and poetic treatises with a computational form of textual analysis called topic modeling to argue that not only was qalandari poetry considered a coherent thematic genre, but it functioned as a heterotopic countergenre to religious-homiletic (zohdiyât/ mow’ezeh) and royal panegyric (madhiyât) poetry in the early Persian poetic system. Chapter three then examines the poetics of the qalandariyât, focusing in particular on the ways in which the force dynamics embedded in its “shocking” and transgressive imagery both per-

A Free Will: Origins of the Notion in Ancient Thought

Abstract: This short but wide-ranging book has an ambitious project: it offers a radically new answer to the much discussed question of the origin of the idea of free will in Western thought. The book is bas...

Revolution and Its Discontents : Political Thought and Reform in Iran

Abstract: The death of the Islamic Republic's revolutionary patriarch, Ayatollah Khomeini, the bitter denouement of the Iran-Iraq War, and the marginalisation of leading factions within the political elite, in tandem with the end of the Cold War, harboured immense intellectual and political repercussions for the Iranian state and society. It was these events which created the conditions for the emergence of Iran's post-revolutionary reform movement, as its intellectuals and political leaders sought to re-evaluate the foundations of the Islamic state's political legitimacy and religious authority. In this monograph, Sadeghi-Boroujerdi, examines the rise and evolution of reformist political thought in Iran and analyses the complex network of publications, study circles, and think-tanks that encompassed a range of prominent politicians and intellectuals in the 1990s. In his meticulous account of the relationships between the post-revolutionary political class and intelligentsia, he explores a panoply of political and ideological issues still vital to understanding Iran's revolutionary state, such as the ruling political theology of the 'Guardianship of the Jurist', the political elite's engagement with questions of Islamic statehood, democracy and constitutionalism, and their critiques of revolutionary agency and social transformation.

Muslims and modernity : culture and society since 1800

Abstract: 1. Introduction: Muslims and modernity: culture and society in an age of contest and plurality Robert W. Hefner Part I. Social Transformations: 2. New networks and new knowledge: migrations, communications and the refiguration of the Muslim community in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries R. Michael Feener 3. Population, urbanisation and the dialectics of globalisation Clement M. Henry 4. The origins and early development of Islamic reform Ahmad S. Dallal 5. Reform and modernism in the middle twentieth century John O. Voll 6. Islamic resurgence and its aftermath Said Amir Arjomand 7. The new transnationalism: globalising Islamic movements Peter Mandaville 8. Muslims in the West: Europe John Bowen 9. Muslims in the West: North America Karen Isaksen Leonard 10. New frontiers and conversion Robert Launay Part II. Religion and Law: 11. Contemporary trends in Muslim legal thought and ideology Sami Zubaida 12. A case comparison: Islamic law and the Saudi and Iranian legal systems Frank E. Vogel 13. Beyond Dhimmihood: citizenship and human rights Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im 14. The : scholarly tradition and new public commentary Muhammad Qasim Zaman 15. Sufism and neo-Sufism Bruce B. Lawrence Part III. Political and Economic Thought: 16. Islamic political thought L. Carl Brown 17. Women, family and the law: the Muslim personal status law debate in Arab states Lynn Welchman 18. Culture and politics in Iran since the 1979 revolution Nikki R. Keddie 19. Modern Islam and the economy Timur Kuran Part IV. Cultures, Arts and Learning: 20. Islamic knowledge and education in the modern age Robert W. Hefner 21. History, heritage and modernity: cities in the Muslim world between destruction and reconstruction Jens Hanssen 22. Islamic philosophy and science S. Nomanul Haq 23. The press and publishing Ami Ayalon 24. The modern art of the Middle East Venetia Porter 25. Cinema and television in the Arab world Walter Armbrust 26. Electronic media and new Muslim publics Jon W. Anderson Glossary Bibliography.