Jawanmardi

How did medieval Sufis express their system of everyday morality? Sufism attracts much attention in the West, yet its ethical dimension is often overlooked. Jawanmardi - a key element of Persian Sufism - was the ethic that encouraged Sufis to put others before themselves and to overlook the sins committed by others, representing a humane and liberal understanding of Islam. Many writers in the Persian tradition wrote about jawanmardi and this book presents three of the key medieval texts in translation: Kitab al-futuwwa by Shihab al-Din Umar Suhrawardi, Futuwwat nama of Mirza 'Abd al-'Azim Khan Qarib, and Risala -yi Hatim al-Tayy by Husayn Wa'iz-i Kashifi. The texts are drawn from across the medieval period, reflecting different timeframes and audiences. This allows the reader to identify shifts in the ethic of jawanmardi and Sufism more generally.