Kirmānī, Awḥād al-Dīn - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
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[Article]
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Ridgeon, Lloyd
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
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Leiden
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Brill
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(1,149 words)
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
Awḥād al-Dīn Kirmānī (d. 635/1238) was one of the most controversial Persian Ṣūfīs of the sixth/twelfth and seventh/thirteenth centuries. The controversy centred on the practice of samāʿ and his penchant for gazing at beautiful young boys (shāhid bāzī) , which, sympathisers argue, was a way of meditating upon the divine. The uproar surrounding Kirmānī is all the more surprising as he was appointed by the ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Mustanṣir (r. 623-40/1226-42) as shaykh al-shuyūkh ( shakh of shaykh s), which gave him precedence amongst