Zayn al-Din Mahmud Vasifi and the Transformation of Early Sixteenth Century Islamic Central Asia

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Indiana University, Central Eurasian Studies, 2015The Badayi al-vaqayi of Zayn al-Din Mahmud b. Abd al-Jalil Vasifi is an early sixteenth century memoir and historical work written from a unique perspective, that of a non-elite, well-educated member of what we might refer to as "the middle class". This dissertation will argue that if the Badayi al-vaqayi is to be properly read and understood by Western scholars, then we cannot fail to acknowledge what is an essential aspect of Vasifi's identity - that being his identity as a devout Muslim. The present study will show that if we are to understand the author and historian Vasifi and his work the Badayi al-vaqayi then we must not overlook or ignore this central component of his identity. Being Muslim was fundamental to Vasifi's worldview, his interpretation of the events, and consequently the historical narrative he produced; Vasifi saw the Divine as active in the unfolding of history and events, both great and small, and this is made quite apparent throughout his memoir. Bearing in mind this key aspect of Vasifi's identity one is then able to appreciate how he experienced, interpreted, and wrote about such politically, socially, and religiously transformative events as the Abu'l-Khayrid Uzbek conquest of Herat in 1507, the Safavid-Qizilbash seizure of the same city in 1510, and the subsequent Safavid-Qizilbash invasion of Mavarannahr in 1512, all of which are considered herein. This dissertation also considers the Badayi al-vaqayi Vasifi a unique and invaluable work that sheds light on processes of social, political, and religious transformation that redefined Islamic Central Asia in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. This claim will be supported via a close reading and analysis of chapters of the Badayi al-vaqayi that narrate events in Vasifi's life that took place around the aforementioned significant historical events. It will be shown that, due to Vasifi's unique perspective and the unofficial capacity in which he wrote, the Badayi al-vaqayi contains information regarding the history of Islamic Central Asia found in no other source, and must be reconsidered as a work of immense importance by scholars endeavoring to reconstruct the history of the period