Thread by @abhistoria

The Garden of Martyrs (روضة الشهداء) is perhaps the most popular modern account of the tragedy of Karbala and the death of Husayn b. 'Ali on Ashura in 680 CE. Composed in 1502-03, its author, Husayn Va’iz Kashifi was a Persian Hanafi Sunni who belonged to the Naqshabani Order. 1/

Kashifi was a prolific author & prominent intellectual of the Timurid period. Described as a polymath (ذو فنون) by contemporaries, he authored works, in Persian, on quranic exegesis (المواهب العالية), hadith, occultism, poetry & rhetoric, fiction & storytelling, & Hanafi fiqh. 2/

Although not his most known work, the Garden of Martyrs enjoyed cross-confessional popularity. The text became the standard Karbala narrative in public Persian elegies among Sunni communities in Ottoman and Mughal societies and Shii communities in Safavid and Qajar Iran.3/

Owing to the popularity of Rawdat al-Shuhada in Sunni & Shia Persian-speaking societies, the term Rawda-khwani (روضه‌ خوانی) came to describe pulpit preachers & reciters who lament the tragedy of Karbala. In Iraqi Arabic, the term الروزخون denotes eulogy reciters & preachers. 4/

Broadly, the Rawdat is a martyrdom account of the Ahl al-Bayt that focuses largely on Husayn b. Ali. While the author is Sunni, Kashif belonged to the widespread Sunni religiosity in early modern Persian lands that was sympathetic to the Ahl al-Bayt and their suffering. 5/

Moreover, as an occultist, Kahsifi took the Twelve Shii Imams as authorities. He saw them as paragons of esoteric Islam. As for the style, the Rawdat follows a lucid account that blends creative storytelling with elegant but simple prose. 6/

The literary style is captivating and inviting of public recitals. In some parts of the early modern Sunni world (in places like Herat and Ottoman territories) crowds would gather to hear selections of the Rawdat recited in poetic verse,
recalling the death of Husayn. FIN.

Typo: naqshbandi.