Translating Intersectarian Polemics in Safavid and Qajar Iran: The Persian Translations of Qāżī Nūrullāh Shūshtarī’s (d. 1019/1610) Iḥqāq al-ḥaqq

• Applicant: Alberto Tiburcio Urquiola, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Islamic Studies, Arabian Studies, Semitic Studies
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 544146661

The objective of this project is to study the links between vernacularization of religious knowledge and the dissemination of sectarian discourse in Iran through four translations of the Ihqāq al-haqq, a Shīʿī polemic written by the Iranian émigré scholar Qāżī Nūrullāh Shūshtarī (d. 1019/1610), who was martyred in Mughal India for producing sectarian polemics. Originally written in Arabic, this work was first translated into Persian under the auspices of the late shahs of the Safavid Dynasty (907-1135/1501-1722), roughly seventy-seven years after the author’s death. Three others translations have also been identified: one from the eighteenth century and two from the late Qajar period (1193-1342/1779-1924). My goal is to trace the reception and translation of this work, identify the rhetorical strategies of each translation, and to make sense of them within the wider context of translation projects of Shīʿī knowledge in Iran since the early modern period. This will shed light into the links between sectarian discourse, knowledge production (and patronage), and the evolution of Shīʿī intellectual history and the development of a Shīʿī "canon" through a longue durée perspective.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: United Kingdom, USA
• Co-Investigators: Professor Dr. Philip Bockholt; Professorin Heidrun Eichner, Ph.D.; Professorin Dr. Johanna Pink; Privatdozent Dr. Reza Pourjavady
• Cooperation Partners: Professor Asad Ahmed, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Ata Anzali; Professor Dr. Sajjad Rizvi; Professor Dr. William Sherman