We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
from Part II - Literature and Religious Change
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 October 2019
This chapter examines the interest in the apocalypse and the Mahdi, the Muslim saviour expected at the end of time, found in works of the Mongol period. While the Mongols were themselves seen by many Muslims as one of the signs of the apocalypse, in fact apocalyptic and Mahdist discourse was adopted by the Mongols on their conversion to Islam to justify their rule. In addition, both Seljuq sultans and Mongol governors of Anatolia sought to assert legitimacy in the face of the political crises of the period by identifying themselves as Mahdis, while the requirement for the Mahdi to impose perfect sharia law led to increase in persecution of Christians, contributing to the process of Islamisation. Yet interest in apocalyptic is reflected only in texts of limited circulation destined for an elite audience; contrary to what is argued in much of the existing literature, there is no evidence that it was either widespread more popularly, especially among the Turkmen, or that is was associated with Shiism.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
