Böcker av Said Amir Arjomand

Saïd Amir Arjomand's Kings and Dervishes is a pioneering study of the emergence and development of Sufism during the formation of the Persianate world. Whereas Sufi doctrine was expressed in the New Persian language, its social organization was detached from the civic movement among the urban craftsmen and artisans known as the fotovva(t) and was politically shaped by multiple forces-first by the revival of Persian kingship, and then by the emergence of the Turko-Mongolian empires. The intermingling of Sufism's developmental path with the transformation of the Persianate political regimes resulted in the progressive appropriation of royal symbols by the Sufi shaykhs. The original Sufi world renunciation gave way first to world accommodation and the medieval love mysticism of Jalal al-Din Rumi and Hafez of Shiraz, and then to world domination. This comprehensive work of historical sociology traces these spiritual and political evolutions over the course of some six centuries, showing how the Sufi saints' symbolic sovereignty was eventually made real in the imperial kingship of the Persianate world's early modern empires.

"This is a fascinating account of a far too little known revolutionary tradition, essential reading for all those interested in the comparative study of revolutionary phenomena. The book is a major addition to Arjomand¿s work on the historical sociology of Islam."--Johann P. Arnason, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, La Trobe University, Melbourne "Saïd Arjomand has elaborated a concept of revolution that articulates the transformative force of apocalyptic messianism and explains the unique expansion of Islam during its first half millennium through a series of upheavals at its peripheries. He has also written a deeper conceptual history across Afro-Eurasia of revolutions than anything that exists so far."--Björn Wittrock, Professor Emeritus, Uppsala University "In terms of its point of departure and its scope, this is probably Said Arjomand's most ambitious engagement with the roots and earlier social history of Islamic messianism. He has moved far beyond his previous areas of scholarship to provide us with valuable new insights and tools for understanding developments ranging in space and time from pre-Islamic Western Asia to North Africa of the Middle Periods--we eagerly await his next contribution."--John E. Woods, Professor Emeritus of History, the University of Chicago "Messianism and Sociopolitical Revolution in Medieval Islam is a remarkable work in terms of its scope and scholarship. It could have only been conceived and written by someone with a strong command over many fields of scholarship that are rarely studied together. In this new volume, Saïd Amir Arjomand's expertise in historical sociology is put to creative and imaginative use."--Bryan S. Turner, Presidential Professor of Sociology at the Graduate Center CUNY

Arjomand categorizes revolutions in two groups: ones that expand the existing body politic and power structure, and ones that aim to erode-but paradoxically augment-their authority.

Dismissing oversimplified and politically-charged views of the politics of Shi'ite Islam, Said Amir Arjomand offers a richly researched sociological and historical study of Shi'ism and the political order of premodern Iran that exposes the roots of what became Khomeini's theocracy.