KASRAVI, AḤMAD vii. A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SURVEY

 

KASRAVI, AḤMAD

vii. A Bibliographical Survey

Aḥmad Kasravi was a prolific writer. From the age of 25, when he began to write in Tabriz in 1915, until his assassination 30 years later in 1946, he wrote numerous articles and published some 70 books and pamphlets on a wide range of subjects from history and linguistics to social issues and religious reformism. Kasravi’s writings may be treated in four phases. First, in the period from the mid-1910s to the mid-1920s, he published textbooks for teaching Arabic in elementary and high schools in Tabriz, as well as articles on current issues in al-ʿErfān, a literary journal published in Sidon (Ṣaidā), Lebanon, where he also published a few pamphlets. The second phase is marked by the publication in the mid-1920s of his well-received, scholarly study on the ancient language of Azerbaijan, which he called Āẕari (Āḏari). This work established Kasravi as a prominent scholar and competent linguist in the scholarly circles of both Iran and Europe. The third phase extends from the mid-1920s to the end of the 1930s, when Kasravi published some 18 books and pamphlets on the history of Iran, including a number of valuable contributions such as his classical book on the history of the Constitutional Revolution (q.v.). Finally, in the period 1941-45, he entered into a new phase of prophetic mission, leading his sect of “pure faith” (pākdini), which was organized around his association, Bāhamād-e āzādagān. In this period, he rushed to publish about 40 pamphlets and short books on social and religious reformism, accounting for more than one-half of his publications (for a comprehensive annotated bibliography of Kasravi’s works, see Katirāʾi, 1972, pp. 365-98).

Following a treatment of the main categories of Kasravi’s works, this survey will deal with critiques of Kasravi’s works by scholars as well as his followers and adversaries, and finally an account of the works related to Kasravi in English.

KASRAVI’S WORKS

Early works. Kasravi’s early writings were in Arabic. al-Najma al-dorriya (a textbook for teaching Arabic to his students, based on a teaching method used at the American Memorial School, where he was learning English), Tabriz, 1915. Ḵolāṣat al-naḥw (a textbook on Arabic grammar), Tabriz, 1919. al-Dorrat al-ṯamina (a textbook in Arabic etymology), Tabriz, 1919. “al-Loḡat al-torkiya fi Irān” (Turkish words in Iran), al-ʿErfān 8/2-5, November 1922. “Maqtal al-safir Āmrikā fi Tehrān” (The murder of the American envoy in Tehran), al-ʿErfān 9/1, September 1923. “ʿArabestān wa’l-Šayḵ Ḵazʿal Ḵān” (Khuzestan Province and Shaikh Khazal Khan), al-ʿErfān 9/6, March 1924. “Āẕarbāyjān fi ṯamāniya ʿašar āman” (Azerbaijan in 18 years), al-ʿErfān 9/10, July 1924. Qahva-ye Surāt (tr. of a work by Bernardin de Saint Pierre), Sidon, Lebanon, 1924 (for a detailed description of this work, see Katirāʾi, pp. 365-66). Ḥaqāʾeq ʿan Esperānto, published in al-Awqāt, April, 1925 in Sidon, Lebanon (see Kasravi, 1990, pp. 122-23, 240; apparently it was first published in the above journal and later in a pamphlet form).

Works on linguistics. Kasravi’s first major work was a concise book, Āẕari, yā zabān-e bāstān-e Āẕarbāygān (Āzari, or the ancient language of Azerbaijan), Tehran, 1925 (3rd repr., 1946; repr., Bethesda, Md., 1993, pp. 31-112). This survey of 73 pages, initiated an inundation of research and publications on a language named by Kasravi as Āzari. E. Denison Ross in a long review, “Āzarī or the Old Language of Āzarbāījān by Agha Sayyid Aḥmad Kasrawi,” published in The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1, 1927, pp. 148-57), considered it as “representative of that new spirit of literary and historical research which has only recently begun to manifest itself among the Persians, and which is deserving of all possible encouragement” (p. 148). According to Kasravi (1946, p. 2), it was also translated into Russian at the same time. The prominent Iranian scholar, Moḥammad Qazvini (q.v.), praised Kasravi’s scholarship and his finding in a review article published in Irānšahr 4/10, 1926, pp. 586- 94 (for a collection of Kasravi’s works on the Persian language, see Ḥosayn Yazdāniān, ed., Neveštahā-ye Kasravi dar zamina-ye zabān-e fārsi, Tehran, 1978). Kasravi next published Nāmhā-ye šahrhā va dihhā-ye Irān, (Names of cities and villages of Iran), in two parts, Tehran, 1929 and 1930. Zabān-e pāk (Purified language), Tehran, 1943.

History. The second major contribution of Kasravi was his works on history and historiography of Iran, including Qiām-e Šayḵ Moḥammad Ḵiābāni, written at the request of Kāẓemzāda Irānšahr (q.v.), in Ahvaz, 1923, and published in Berlin in 1925; new ed., H. Katouzian, Tehran, 1998. Šayḵ Ṣafi va tabāraš (Shaikh Ṣafi[-al-Din Ardabili] and his lineage), first published in the periodical Āyanda 2/5, 1927, pp. 357-65; 2/7, pp. 489-97, and then as a book in Tehran, 1944. Šahriārān-e gomnām (The unknown rulers), first published in three pamphlets, Tehran, 1928-30, and then as a book in 1943; repr., Tehran, 1978. Kār-nāma-ye Ardašir-e Bābakān (text in Pahlavi with Pers. tr.), Tehran, 1929 (first published as a series of articles in Armaḡān 8/2-3, 9/8-9, and subsequently published as a book; for details, see Katirāʾi, pp. 367-68). Tāriḵča-ye šir o ḵoršid (History of the lion and the sun [the national symbol of Iran]), Tehran, 1930 (for detail, see Katirāʾi, pp. 369-70). Tāriḵ-e pānṣad sāla-ye Ḵuzestān (Five-hundred-year history of Khuzestan, Tehran, 1933; repr., Tehran, 1994. Later Kasravi published a revised version of parts of this book as Mošaʿšaʿiān, Tehran, 1945. Tāriḵ-e hejdah sāla-ye Āḏarbāyjān (Eighteen-year history of Azerbaijan), in 6 parts, Tehran, 1934-40; later to be identified as volume 2 of the history of the Constitution, 5th ed., Tehran, 1971. Golčin-i az ketāb-e Plotārk (A selection from Plutarch’s book), Tehran, 1936. Tāriḵ-e mašruṭa-ye Irān (History of the Constitution[al Revolution] of Iran), in 3 parts, Tehran, 1940-42. This is the most famous work of Kasravi as a historian. It was reprinted several times in a single large volume; the 16th reprint appeared in 1983 with a long introduction criticizing Kasravi’s non-conspiratorial account of the Constitutional Revolution (see Ashraf, pp. 201-16). A translation of this work by Evan Siegel was published in 2006 (see below). Tāriḵ-e moḵtaṣar-e čopoq o ḡalyān, Tehran, 1944. Mardom-e yahud (Jewish people), of which only 17 pages had been written before his assassination in 1946. Peydāyeš-e Āmrikā (Discovery of America), Tehran, 1945.

Social and religious reformism. His works on social and religious reformism first appeared in the 1930s: Āyin (creed), in two parts, Tehran, 1932 and 1933 (for detail, see Katirāʾi, pp. 370-72); Qānun-e dādgari (The law of justice), Tehran, 1933; Rāh-e rastgāri (The road to salvation), Tehran, 1937. Kasravi’s preoccupation turned almost exclusively to the dissemination of his calling for Pure Faith after the abdication of Reza Shah in 1941 and ended with his assassination in 1946.

This period begins with publication of a meaningful manifesto titled Emruz če bāyad kard (What must be done today?), Tehran, 1941; followed by Ḵodā bā māst (God is with us), Tehran, 1942. Other relevant works include Payām be dānešmandān-e Orupā va Āmricā (A message to the scholars of Europe and America), Tehran 1942; Ḥāfeẓ če miguyad (What does Hafez say? [a critical assessment of his Gnostic poetry]), Tehran, 1942; Dar pirāmun-e Eslām (About Islam), Tehran, 1943; Dar pirāmun-e ḵerad (On wisdom) Tehran, 1943; Varjāvand bonyād, Tehran, 1943 (for details, see Katirāʾi, pp. 373- 74); Farhang čist (What is culture?), Tehran, 1943. Kasravi’s most critical works in this period are three books on Shiʿism, Bahaism, and Sufism: Šiʿigari (Shiʿism), became the most famous and controversial book on the dominant religion of the Iranian people, first published in 1943 and revised as Beḵᵛānid o dāvari konid (Read and judge), also as Beḵᵛānand o dāvari konand, 1944 (with commentary, ed M. Amini, Los Angeles, Calif., 2011); Ṣufigari (Sufism), Tehran, 1943; Bahāʾigari (Bahism), Tehran, 1943; repr. as Bahāyigari, Šiʿigari, Ṣufigari, Köln, 1996. Pendārhā (Thoughts), Tehran, 1943. His defense of Brigadier General Rokn-al-Din Moḵtāri, the police chief of Reza Shah, was also published in this period as “Defāʿiyāt-e Aḥmad Kasravi az Sarpās Moḵtāri va Pezešk Aḥmadi,” Parčam-e ruzāne va haftegi, 1942-43; repr., Paris, 2004.

Kasravi’s publications in 1944 (all in Tehran), include Dawlat be mā pāsoḵ dahad (Let the government answer us), a protest against the government’s religious policies and its lax treatment of the ulama (this letter was reprinted in Iran Nameh 20/2-3, 2001, pp. 327-40); Sarnevešt-e Irān če ḵᵛāhad bud? (What will be the destiny of Iran?), repr., Saarbrücken, n.d.; and Din o jahān, 3rd repr., Tehran, 1959, and Köln, 1998; Dar pirāmun-e adabiyāt (About literature [a critique of Sufi literature]); Kār o piša o pul (Work, occupation, and money [a critique of leftist ideas on the subject]); Dādgāh (Court of justice); Nahżat-e afsarān-e mā (The rise of our officers); Ḵᵛāharān va doḵtarān-e mā (Our sisters and daughters); Dar rāh-e siāsat (On the road to politics); Dar pirāmun-e jānavarān (About animals); Janāb-e āqā az meydān dar raft (His Excellency flew from the political scene); Dar pāsoḵ be badḵᵛāhān (Response to enemies).

Also related to his socio-religious reformism are three works of autobiography prepared in the midst of his leadership of a group of loyal followers in Bāhamād-e Āzādagān and his life and death struggle with the fundamentalist enemies of his religious reform movement in 1944 to bolster the morale of his followers against negative propaganda campaign: Zendagāni-e man (My life), Tehran 1944; Dah sāl dar ʿadliya (Ten years in the judiciary), Tehran, 1944; Čerā az ʿadliya birun āmadam (Why did I leave the judiciary?), Tehran, 1944. These works were reprinted in one volume as Zendagāni-e-man, Piedmont, Calif., 1990.

Kasravi’s works on socio-religious reformism in 1945 (all published in Tehran), include: ʿAṭsa be ṣabr če rabṭ dārad? (What is the relevance of sneezing to suspending action?); Badr-al-šariʿa šeʿr soruda (Badr-al-Šariʿa has composed poetry); Dar pirāmun-e ravān (About spirit); Dar pāsoḵ-e ḥaqiqatgu (In response to a so-called Truthteller); Ḥājihā-ye anbārdār če miguyand? (What do the Ḥāji warehousemen [i.e., hoarding bazaaris] have to say?); Ostād Rajab-ʿAli din yād migirad (Master [artisan] Rajabali learns religion); Šayḵ Qorbān az Najaf miāyad (Shaikh Qorban is coming from Najaf ); Angizāsion dar Irān (Inquisition in Iran); Emruz čāra čist? (What is the remedy today?); Az sāzmān-e melal-e mottafeq če natija tavānad bud (What can be expected of the United Nations?); Farhang ast yā neyrang (Is it culture or deceit?).

Magazines and journals. Kasravi published and served as the editor-in-chief of two papers from 1932 until his death in 1945. Peymān (first issue published on 22 November 1933) was a biweekly for the first month and became a monthly magazine thereafter. Ninety-six issues were published until early 1942, when it was replaced by Parčam in January 1942, initially as a daily (254 issues before all papers in the capital were shut down by Prime Minister Aḥmad Qawām [q.v.] for several months). Parčam resumed publication as a biweekly paper from March 1943, and 12 issues were published before it was shut down again by the order of the military governor of Tehran; it returned as a weekly for seven weeks from February to March 1944.

Kasravi’s works were also published in monthly-like compendiums, including Yakom-e Āḏar, Tehran, 1943; Yakom-e Dey-māh, Tehran, 1943; Bahm-māh, Tehran, 1944.

Posthumous publications. Following Kasravi’s assassination in 1946, a group of his dedicated followers published a number of his works and collections of his pamphlets and articles, mostly on socio-political or religious reformism, including: Bāhamād-e Āzādagān, Nik o bad (Good and evil), Tehran, 1947; Mašruṭa behtarin šakl-e ḥokumat va āḵerin natija-ye andiša-ye nežād-e ādami ast (Democracy is the best form of government and the final product of human intellect), Tehran, 1956; Enqelāb čist (What is revolution?), Tehran, 1957; Soḵanrāni-e Kasravi dar anjoman-e adabi (Kasravi’s lecture at the Literary Society), Tehran, 1964; Din va siāsat (Religion and politics), Tehran, 1969.

 Yaḥyā Ḏokāʾ, Kasravi’s dedicated disciple, also published a number of Kasravi’s works, including: Nowruznāma, Tehran, 1947; Maqālāt-e Kasravi (Essays by Kasravi), 2 vols., Tehran, 1948-55; Kāf-nāma, Tehran, 1952; Zabān-e fārsi va rāh-e rasā va tavānā kardan-e ān (The Persian language and ways to improve it), Tehran, 1956; Čehel maqāla-ye Kasravi (Kasravi’s forty articles), Tehran, 1956; Fahang-e Kasravi (Kasravi’s dictionary), Tehran, 1957; Kārvand-e Kasravi (a collection of Kasravi’s 78 essays and speeches), Tehran, 1973. A number of Kasravi’s works were also published in collections: Pāk-ḵuʾi (Good character), Tehran, 1955, and Mā az farhang če miḵᵛāhim (What we are demanding from culture), Tehran, 1957, published by his followers, Mir Mehdi Moʾbed and Moḥammad- ʿAli Pāydār respectively.

A number of Kasravi’s followers also published anonymously a few of his works, including: Din va dāneš (Religion and knowledge), Tehran, 1960; Payām-e man be šarq, (My message to the Orient), Tehran, 1965; Pirāmun-e falsafa (About philosophy), Tehran, 1965; Tišahā-ye siāsat (Hatchets of politics), Tehran, 1965; Mā če miḵᵛāhim (What do we demand? [a collection of essays from Paymān of 1940]), Tehran, 1969; Bimārihā (Maladies), Tehran, 1969.

WORKS BY SCHOLARS, FOLLOWERS, AND ADVERSARIES

Selected books and essays by scholars and writers. There are numerous essays and a number of books and pamphlets on Kasravi by scholars and writers, including a number of articles published on Kasravi in a special issue of Iran Nameh 20/2-3, 2001, pp. 171-359. Others include: Yaḥyā Ārianpur, “Sayyed Aḥmad Kasravi,” Az Nimā tā ruzgār-e mā (Tāriḵ-e adab-e fārsi-e moʿāṣer III), Tehran, 2nd ed. 1997, pp. 90-103; and on Persian language, pp. 26-30. A. Ashraf, “Molāḥeẓāt-i dar bāra-ye enqelāb-e mašruṭa” (a critique of a long introductory essay by the publisher in the 16th reprint of Kasravi’s Tāriḵ-e mašruṭa-ye Irān, Tehran, 1983), Iran Nameh 23/3-4, 1999, pp. 201-16. Moḥammad- Taqi Bahār (q.v.), review of Tāriḵča-ye šir o ḵoršid, in Nowbahār and Ārmān, 1931; repr., Bahār va adab-e fārsi, ed. M. Golbon, 2 vols., Tehran, 1972, II, pp. 165-97 (Kasravi responded in Armān, 1931; repr., Kārvand-e Kasravi, ed. Y. Ḏokāʾ, Tehran, 1973, pp. 109-17). ʿAli-Reżā Ḏāker Eṣfahāni, “Kasravi va reformāsion-e dini” (Kasravi and religious reformation), Ketāb-e naqd 13, Winter 1999, pp. 264-85; ʿAbd-al-ʿAli Dastḡayb, Naqd-e āṯār-e Kasravi (A critique of Kasravi’s works), Tehran, 1978. ʿA. Eqbāl Āštiāni “Balā-ye taʿaṣṣob va bi ḏowqi” (The calamity of bigotry and lack of poetical taste), Yādgār 5/3, 1948, pp. 1-5. Hušang Etteḥād, “Aḥmad Kasravi,” in Pažuhešgarān-e moʿāṣer-e Irān, Tehran, 2002, pp. 1-349. Simin Faṣiḥi, Jaryānhā-ye aṣil-e tāriḵnegāri dar dowraye Pahlavi (The authentic trends in historiography of the Pahlavi era), Mashad, 1993. Rasul Jaʾfariān, Jariānhā-ye mazhabi-siāsi-e Irān, Tehran, 2008, pp. 120-29, 348-50. ʿA-R. Manafzadeh, “Panjāh sāl az qatl-e Aḥmad-e Kasravi gozašt” (Fifty years have passed since Kasravi’s murder), Ketāb-e noqṭa 3/2, Fall 1999, pp. 1-23. Idem, “Eṣlāḥgari āšti nāpazir” (Uncompromising reformer) Ketāb-e noqṭa 3/2, Fall 1997, pp. 24-73. ʿAli Moršedzād, Rošanfekrān-e Āḏari va hoviyat-e melli va qawmi (Azerbaijani intellectuals and national and ethnic identity), Tehran, 2001. Saʿid Nafisi, Ḵāṭerāt-e siāsi, adabi, javāni, ed. ʿAli-Reżā Eʿteṣām, Tehran, 2002, pp. 183-89. Nāṣeḥ Nāṭeq, “Soḵanān-i dar bāra-ye Aḥmad Kasravi” (Some thoughts on Kasravi), Rāhnemā-ye ketāb 20/11-12, 1977, Supplement, pp. 3-23; Nāṣer Pākdāman, Qatl-e Kasravi (Kasravi’s assassination), Uppsala, 1999; Jaʿfar Rāʾed, Kasravi Tabrizi, mard-i ke palang-e āramida-ye maḏhab rā bešurānid (Kasravi, a man who instigated the dormant leopard of religion), Ruzgār-e now 5/5, June 1986, pp. 39-47. Sohrāb Yazdāni, Kasravi va tāriḵ-e mašruṭa-ye Irān (Kasravi and history of the constitutional revolution of Iran), Tehran, 1997.

Selected books and essays by adversaries. Numerous critical, and often bitterly rhetorical, articles, pamphlets, and books were published in response to Kasravi’s influential work, Šiʿigari, which effectively challenged the main principles of Shiʿism: Taqi Adibpur, Tiša bar bonyād-e Kasravi (A cutting blow to the foundation of Kasravi), Shiraz, 1945; ʿAbd-Allāh Ātaškadi, Nāma-ye sargošāda (Open letter), Ahvaz, 1944; Nur-al-Din Čahārdehi, Wahhābiyat va rišahā-ye ān (Wahhabism and its roots), Tehran, 1984; Yusof Fażāʾi, Bābigari, Bahāʾigari, Kasravigari (Babism, Bahaism, and Kasravism), Tehran, 2003; Ruhollah Khomeini (Ruḥ-Allā Ḵomeyni), Kašf-e al-asrār-e hazār sāla, Tehran, 1944; Ḥāj Sayyed Nur-al- Din Širāzi, Kasr-e Kasravi yā šekast-e Kasravi (The defeat of Kasravi), Shiraz, 1945; Ḥāj Mehdi Serāj Anṣāri, Nabard bā bidini: dar radd-e ʿaqāyed-e Kasravi (Struggle against enmity to religion: On debunking Kasravi’s beliefs), Tehran, 1944; Idem, Šiʿa če miguyad (What does the Shiʿa say?), Tehran, 1946, 3rd ed., Tabriz, 1965; Sayyed Moḥammad Vāḥedi, “Tāriḵ-e Fedāʾiān-e Eslām az Šahid Navvāb Ṣafavi” (History of the Devotees of Islam according to Navvāb Ṣafavi), Tāriḵ o farhang-e moʿāṣer 1/2, 1991, pp. 7-41; Maḥmud Zarandi, Čand soʾāl az Kasravi (A few questions for Kasravi), Tehran, 1944. Also to be noted is a controversy of Kasravi and his followers with the Tudeh Party (see communism ii) members over his criticism of materialism and his views on the destiny of Iran: Jahāndār (a member of the Tudeh Party), Pāsoḵ be yek Irāni (Answer to an Iranian), Tehran, 1925 (this pamphlet is a response of the Tudeh Party to Kasravi’s Sarnevešt-e Irān če ḵᵛāhad bud? [What will be Iran’s destiny?], Tehran, 1925); A. B. Āzādeh (Aḥmad Barātlu), Pāsoḵ be pasoḵ-e Āqā-ye Jahāndār ʿożv-e Ḥezb-e tuda-ye Irān (Answer to the answer of Mr. Jahāndār, member of the Tudeh Party of Iran), Tehran, 1925; Kāršād (psudonym of Colonel Mortażā Ṭoluʿi, a member of the Tudeh Party), Āqā-ye Kasravi va mafhum-e materiālism (Mr. Kasravi and the meaning of materialism), Tehran, 1945. Moḥammad- ʿAli Emām Šuštari, Maktab-e Kasravi va māterialism dar pāsoḵ-e Kāršād (Kasravi’s school and materialism, in answering Karšād), Tehran, 1947; Parviz Šahriāri and M. Neʿmat-Allāhi, Aḥmad Kasravi yā nikḵᵛāhān-e tuda? (Ahmad Kasravi or well-wishers of the masses?), Tehran, 1947; Eḥsān Ṭabari, Āvarandagān-e andiša-ye ḵaṭā (Carriers of wrong ideas), Tehran, 1998.

WORKS IN OTHER LANGUAGES

There are a number of doctoral dissertations, books, essays, and book reviews in Western languages on Kasravi’s life and work or on certain aspects of his contributions.

Doctoral dissertations. There are three doctoral dissertations in English, German, and French: William C. Staley, “The Intellectual Development of Ahmad Kasravi,” Princeton University, 1966 (available at Google books); Edeltrud Jung, “Ahmad Kasravi: em Beitrag zur Ideengeschichte Persiencs im 20, Jahrhundert,” Albert Ludwig Universität, Freiburg, Germany, 1976 (available at Google books); Alireza Manafzadeh, Ahmad Kasravi: l’homme qui voulait sortir l’Iran de l’obscurantisme, pub. Paris, 2004.

Articles in English. Some sixteen articles, book chapters, and book reviews on Kasravi in general or on special areas of his works are available in English. The first article on Kasravi’s works in a Western language appeared in 1927 in a review of his Āẕari yā zabān-e bāstān-e Āẕabāygān by E. Denison Ross (see above). Other works on Kasravi began in the 1960s and gradually increased, including: Ervand Abrahamian, “Kasravi: The Integrative Nationalist of Iran,” Middle Eastern Studies 9/3, 1973, pp. 271-95; M. Reza Afshari, “The Historians of the Constitutional Movement and the Making of the Iranian Populist Tradition,” IJMES 25/3, 1993, pp. 477-94; Sohrab Behdad, “Islamic Utopia in Pre-Revolutionary Iran: Navvab Safavi and the Fadaʾian-e Eslam,” Middle Eastern Studies 33/1, 1997, pp. 40-65; James Buchan, “Clerical Errors,” in The Guardian, Friday 26 June 2009; Kamran Dadkhah, “Ahmad Kasravi on Economics,” Middle Eastern Studies 34/2, April 1998, pp. 37-59; Asghar Fathi, “Kasravi’s Views on Writers and Journalists: A Study in the Sociology of Modernization,” Iranian Studies 19/2, 1986, pp. 167-82; Idem, “Ahmad Kasravi and Seyyed Jamal Waez on Constitutionalism in Iran,” Middle Eastern Studies, 29/4, 1993, pp. 702-13; Mohammad Ali Jazayery; “Ahmad Kasravi and the Controversy over Persian Poetry 1: Kasravi’s Analysis of Persian Poetry,” IJMES, 4/2, 1973, pp. 190- 203; Idem, “Kasravi Tabrizi, Sayyed Ahmad,” in EI2 IV, 1978, pp. 732-33; Idem, “Ahmad Kasravi and The Controversy over Persian Poetry 2: The Debate on Persian Poetry between Kasravi and His Opponents,” IJMES, 13/3, 1981, pp. 311-27; Idem, “Kasravi, Ahmad (1890-1946), Iranian Historian,” in Encyclopædic Historiography of the Muslim World I, 2003, pp. 533-35; Abbas Milani, “Ahmad Kasravi,” in idem, Eminent Persians: The Men and Women who Made Modern Iran, 1941-1979, 2 vols., Syracuse and New York, 2008, II, pp. 946-50; Vladimir Minorsky, “Tārīkh-i pānsad sāla-yi Khūzistān by Sayyid Aḥmad Kasravī” (a book review), BSOAS 8/4, 1937, pp. 1172-75; Roy Mottahedeh, The Mantle of Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran, New York, 1985, pp. 98-105; Ruzbeh Parsi “Ahmad Kasravi (1890-1946),” in Almut Höfert and Armando Salvatore, eds., Between Europe and Islam, Brussels, 2000, repr., 2004, pp. 133-39; Iraj Parsinejad, A History of Literary Criticism in Iran (1866-1951): Literary Criticism in the Works of Enlightened Thinkers of Iran: Akhundzadeh, Kermani, Malkam, Talebof, Maragheʾi, Kasravi and Hedayat, Bethesda, Md., 2003, pp. 163-94; Lloyd Ridgeon, “Aḥmad Kasravī’s Criticisms of Edward Granville Browne,” Iran, 42, 2004, pp. 219-33. Idem, Sufi Castigator: Ahmad Kasravi and the Iranian Mystical Tradition, London, 2006.

Translation of Kasravi’s works. A number of full or partial translations of Kasravi’s works have been published, including one in Arabic and five in English: Ḥāfeẓ čeh miguyad, tr. L. Ridgeon as “What does Hafez say?” in idem, 2006, pp. 160-90; Payām be dānešmandān-e Orupā va Āmrikā, tr. Pishdad (Khan Bahador) as A Message to European and American Scientists, Tehran, November 1963 (as cited by Katirāʾi, p. 373); Šiʿigari (Shiʿism), translated into Arabic by the author himself, as al-Šiʿa wa’l-tašayyoʿ, Beirut, 1945, tr. M.‑R. Ghanoonparvar as On Islam and Shi’ism, Santa Ana, Calif., 1990; Ṣufigari, tr. L. Ridgeon as “Sufism,” in idem, 2006, pp. 65-119; Tāriḵ-e mašruṭa-ye Irān, tr. Evan Siegel as History of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, Costa Mesa, Calif., 2006.

(The bibliography of works in Persian from 1915 until 1972 is partly based on a comprehensive, annotated bibliography of Kasravi’s works by Maḥmud Katirāʾi, “Ketābšenāsi- e Kasravi,” FIZ 18, 1972, pp. 365-98. All works in Western languages and works in Persian published after 1972 are prepared by EIr. and M. Amini.)

(EIr. and M. Amini)

Originally Published: May 1, 2012

Last Updated: May 2, 2012

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Vol. XVI, Fasc. 1, p. 102-105