An Iranian Historiographer in the Ottoman Court and the Approach to Shia based on Jannabi's History

Abstract: Al-elam o-zakher fi ahval el-avayel va al-avakher known as Jannabi’s History is a book written in Arabic language on the general history of the universe, from the beginning to the tenth century, dedicated by Mustafa Jannabi to the Ottoman Empire - Sultan Murad III (982-1003AH/1561-1579AD). According to some authors, the ancestry of this historian backs to Jannabeh (Genaveh) in Fars Province and therefore he is known as Jannabi. The importance of this issue is related to the presence of an Iranian historian at the court of Ottomans in the tenth century AH. This author has some other works, while Al-elam o-zakher fi ahval el-avayel va al-avakher is considered as the most important work of him and has led to his reputation. The importance of the historiography of Jannabi is due to the fact that he is the first Ottoman historian who has written a comprehensive general history of Islam. Furthermore, Fazalkah is one of the famous historical books of Ottoman dynasty written by Chalabi, and is an abstract of “Jannabi’s History”. Also, Al-elam o-zakher fi ahval el-avayel va al-avakher is considered as a source for other important Ottoman historical books by historians of this era. This may reflect the influence the Ottoman historiography and its historians have incurred from an Iranian historian. There are two manuscripts of the same book in Malek Library, Tehran with access codes of 4351 and 4370. The purpose of this study is show such an influence and its features in terms of method of historiography based on the author's attitude towards the challenging issue of Shiism between the Ottoman and Safavid, using his reports about the character of Shiite Imams (PBUH) and Shiite ruling dynasties.