Mantle of the Sufi Kings

Political Sufism and the Rise of Early Modern Iran

Hani Khafipour (State University of New York at Buffalo)

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English

Cambridge University Press
06 November 2025

Middle Eastern history; Early history: c 500 to c 1450&1500; Early modern history: c 1450 to c 1700; Sufism & Islamic mysticism; Religious & theocratic ideologies

Series: Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization

The rise and establishment of Safavid rule in Iran is a clear and momentous event in the wider history of the Middle East and Islamic world. In this study, Hani Khafipour explores how loyalty, social cohesion, and power dynamics found in Sufi thought underpinned the Safavid community's sources of social power and determination. Once in power, the Safavid state's patronage of art, literature, and architecture, turned Iran into a flourishing empire of culture, influencing neighboring empires including the Ottomans and Mughals. Examining the origin and evolution of the Safavid order, Mantle of the Sufi Kings offers fresh insights into how religious and sociopolitical forces merged to create a powerful Shi'i empire, with Iran remaining the only Shi'i nation in the world today. This study provides a bold new interpretation of Iran's early modern history, with important implications for the contemporary religio-political discourse in the Middle East.

By: Hani Khafipour (State University of New York at Buffalo)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Weight: 495g
ISBN: 9781009663526
ISBN 10: 1009663526
Series: Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization
Pages: 234
Publication Date: 06 November 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction; 1. The founders; 2. The corpse and the mortician; 3. The shadow of the perfected being; 4. Loyalty and patronage; 5. The divine patron; 6. Devotional loyalty at the epicenter of power; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Hani Khafipour is a faculty member in the Department of History at the State University of New York at Buffalo, focusing on medieval and early modern Iran, Islamic political thought, and Sufism. His edited volume, Empires of the Near East and India: Source Studies of the Safavid, Ottoman, and Mughal Literate Communities (2019), won the American Historical Association's J. Franklin Jameson Award in 2021.