Historical Sciences Studies

Introduction and Review of Matale Al-Aarifin: A Newly Discovered Manuscript from the Safavid Era

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Mohammad Hossein Soleymani 1
Anvar khalandi 2
Reza Shajari Ghasem Kheyli 3

1 Assistant Professor, History Department, Faculty of Letters and Human Science, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

2 Anvar khalandi: Assistant Professor, History Department, Faculty of Letters and Human Science, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.

3 Assistant Professor, Department of History, University of Mazandaran, Mazandaran, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22059/jhss.2025.392084.473791
Abstract
Qasem Ali Qayeni is one of the Persian-writing and obscure scholars from the late Safavid era, contemporaneous with Shah Sulayman. He authored numerous works in astronomy, astrological rulings, the craft of astrolabe construction, optics, occult sciences, and Quranic exegesis. Nevertheless, not only have many of his known books remained unexamined and unedited, but numerous lost works—mentioned by him in his other treatises—have yet to be identified and cataloged. One such unknown work is the manuscript treatise Matāliʿ al-ʿĀrifīn. Only a single copy of this treatise has been identified in the library of the Hawza ʿIlmiyya of Hazrat Vali-e Asr in Khansar. Matāliʿ al-ʿĀrifīn is composed in theoretical philosophy and theology, and it essentially consists of responses in Persian, expressed in a simple and straightforward manner free of complexity, to the philosophical-theological questions posed by one of the kings of Gil and Daylam, whose name is not mentioned in the treatise. The present study aims to investigate the codicology and bibliography of Matāliʿ al-ʿĀrifīn.The findings of this research demonstrate that, beyond his renown as a builder of astronomical instruments and a scholar in astronomy, occult sciences, Quranic exegesis, and optics, Qayeni has bequeathed a noteworthy contribution to theoretical philosophy and theology. He was familiar with the theological works preceding his own, and through authoring Matāliʿ al-ʿĀrifīn, he has shown acquaintance with the viewpoints of both Akhbari theologians and philosophical theologians—the two major theological intellectual currents that emerged after Muhammad Amin Astarabadi and Mulla Sadra—and has drawn upon them in this work. Given that Qayeni levels criticisms against certain beliefs of earlier theologians and articulates his own views in an argumentative and explicit fashion, this treatise can illuminate the trends and intellectual pursuits in theological-philosophical matters among Shiite scholars following Mulla Sadra, aid in the recognition of their works, and offer a perspective on the intellectual, scientific, and philosophical dynamics of these scholars during the final years of the Safavid era

Keywords

Matale al-Arifin
Qasem Ali Qaini
Safavids
Codicology
Wisdom
Theology
Subjects
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