Name

Husayn Vaʻiz-i Kashifi

Original name

Ḥusayn Vāʿiẓ Kāshifī

Main activity

Preacher

Secondary activity

Polymath

Title

šayḫ

Name variations

Kamāl al-Dīn Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī Vāʿiz Kāšifī Sabzavārī , كمال الدين حسين بن علي واعظ كاشفي سبزواري"

Education place

Education institution

Activity place

Herat

Activity institution

Activity start date

Activity end date

Place of birth

Sabzavār

Date of birth

1426

Place of death

Herat

Date of death

1505

Bibliographical references

https://www.zotero.org/groups/2447618/euqu_european_quran/collections/559HTU6W/tags/%E1%B8%A4usayn%20V%C4%81%CA%BFi%E1%BA%93%20K%C4%81shif%C4%AB/collection

Descriptive card

Prolific and influential Persian author and poet, religious scholar, preacher, Ṣūfī, and occultist of the Tīmūrid-era. He spent most of his life in Herat, where he was associated with the court of Sulṭān Ḥusayn b. Manṣūr b. Bayqara (r. 1469-1506). Kāšifīʼs confessional orientation is controversial: some scholars (especially Šīʻī) supported the idea that he was Šīʻī on the base of his hometown (Sabzavār, a well known šīʻī center), and of some of his compositions particularly devoted to the Ahl al-Bayt, for example Rawḍat al-šuhadāʼ, an ʻAlid martyrology that focuses largely on Imām Ḥusayn. He was also a transmitter of šīʻī works. But despite his evident sympathies for the Ahl al-Bayt, and the imāms, in his works he drew frequently on Šīʻī as well as Sunnī traditions. Moreover, he was affiliated to the Ṣūfī order of the Naqšbandiyya, famous for its adherence to Sunnism, especially of the Ḥanafī variety. His affinity for the imāms descended from Ḥusayn b. ʻAlī can be easily explained by his adherence to occultism, as they were regarded as repositories of esoteric knowledge and occult texts. Part of his works are adaptations or translations from Arabic, that he wanted to make accessible to a wider Persian audience; they became very popular especially for his rhetorical flair, and esoteric and mystical inclinations. His approach to the Qurʼanic text shows nuances of occultism and mysticism: before 1483 he embarked on the project of composing a Lettrist commentary (based on the symbolism of letters and numbers) on the Qurʼan (Ǧavāhir al-tafsīr li-tuḥfat al-Amīr). He completed only the first chapters, then, in 1491, he abandoned the project in favor of the shorter commentary Mavāhib-i ʻaliyya (or Tafsīr-i Ḥusaynī). He also wrote on prophetic traditions, and attributes, on ṣufism, astrology, rhetoric, occult sciences, alchemy among other subjects.

Entry author

Sara Fani