The critical account of nine narratives from Iranians’ uprisings during Imam Ali’s caliphate taken from the religious epic of Dalil Al-Jinan

The book of poetry Dalil Al – Jinan wa Rukn Al – Iman Fi Waqayi Al - Jamal wa Al - saffayn wa Al – Nahrawan is composed by Abbas Nasekh Turk in the eleventh century Hijri.  This collection as its name suggests concerns Imam Ali and his battles Jamal, Saffayn, and Nahrawan.  Amid this religious epic there are nine stories regarding uprisings occurred in various cities and regions in Iran.  These areas are as follows:  Ghore, Mazandaran, Sistan, Ghaen, Marv, Fars, Isfahan, Amol, and Ahwaz.  In historical sources also there are certain references to Iranians’ revolts in the reign of Imam Ali the most of important of which occurred in Ahwaz, Fars, Khorasan, Rey, Daylam, and Sajestan areas.  Using descriptive analytic method this research discusses the narratives in this religious epic and compares them with the historical ones.  The results reveal that some of these narratives such as the revolt of  Khorriat in Ahwaz or people’s revolt in Fars are to a certain extent correspond with historical sources, however other revolts such as that of Kavus Ibn Gobd in Isfahan or Faramarz Ibn Hoshang in Mazandaran are not referred to in historical texts.  It is assumed that these accounts come from sources no longer available today or that they are stories shifted form one historical period to another. There is also this possibility that these popular tales are narratives finding their ways in this book of poetry.  In other words they are myths and popular tales which have transformed into history.