An inquiry into the Religio-Political Place of MullaHusaynKashefisRawzah al-Shuhada

The 9th/ 15th century is an important period in Islamic-cum-Iranian historiography such that several noteworthy histories were developed in this period, and toward the end of this period, the works started to gain a religious, chiefly Shiite, coloring all due to the prevailing political and religious atmosphere. This urged the writers to turn to developing biographies of the Infallible Imams and mark their sincere devotion to them. MullaHusaynKashefi’sRawzah al-Shuhada was one typical work that displays the general atmosphere of the period in question. That the pivotal point of the book was concerned with the event of Ashura made it of particular interest and attention amongst Persian-reading nations in medieval Persia. Hence the present work attempts to come up with a content analysis of the book in question and study its impact in the Taymurid Persia and its subsequent eras, plus the currents that contributed to its wide circulation in the medieval Persian community.