Amīr Pūr′rastigār

Amīr Pūr′rastigār holds a Bachelor’s degree in Persian Language and Literature from the University of Tehran and earned both his Master’s and Ph.D. in Persian Language and Literature from Shiraz University. He currently serves as a lecturer at Zand University in Shiraz.

His primary area of research focuses on Persian Sufi literature, with particular attention to the study and analysis of mysticism and Sufism from the perspective of Orientalist scholarship. His doctoral dissertation, titled “Barrasī va tahlīl-i āsār-i tarjumah′shudah-i mustashriqīn bā takyah bar bun′māyah′hā-yi adab-i ʿirfānī” (A study and analysis of translated works by Orientalists with an emphasis on themes in mystical literature), explores the external and distinct interpretive frameworks employed by Western scholars in their engagement with Iranian mysticism and Sufism. The dissertation centers on their methodological approaches, their editorial efforts in critical editions, and their translations of Persian mystical texts.

Pourrastegar has published several peer-reviewed articles in this field, including: “Barrasī va tahlīl-i rūykard′hā-yi tasavvuf′pazhūhī-i Liʾūnārd Lūʾīzun” (An analysis of Leonard Lewisohn’s approaches to Sufi Studies) in Hikmat-i Muʿāsir (Contemporary wisdom, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies); “Justārī dar padīdar′shināsī-i ham′dilānah-ʾi Ānihmārī Shīmmil bar pāyah-ʾi ārā-yi Fridrīsh Haylir” (A phenomenological inquiry into Annemarie Schimmel’s empathetic understanding based on Friedrich Heiler’s thought), in Pazhūhashʹhā-yi adab-i ꜥirfānī: Gawhar-i gūyā (Studies in mystical literature).

Other major focus of his research is the critical evaluation of the methodologies and theoretical frameworks employed by Orientalists in their engagement with Sufi texts. In this regard, he has also published: “Rūykard-i jāmiʿahʹshinākhtī-i tasavvuf dar pazhūhashʹhā-yi sharqʹshināsān bā takyah bar khānqāhʹpazhūhī-i ānān” (The sociological approach to Sufism in Orientalist research, with a focus on the study of khānqāhs,” in Mutāliꜥāt-i tārīkh-i farhangī (Journal of cultural history studies).

In addition to his work in Persian mystical literature, Pourrastegar has contributed to the Encyclopaedia of Iranian and Islamic Medicine, authoring two entries. The first, on “Hakīm Shāh Qazvīnī,” a 16th-century physician and literary figure, was published in Volume III; the second, on “Saʿīd ibn Muʾammal Hazīrī,” the personal physician of the Abbasid caliph al-Nāsir li-Dīn Allāh, is forthcoming. He is also engaged in research on Iranian studies and travel literature. His article, “Sīmā-yi darvīshān va sūfiyān dar safarʹnāmahʹhā-yi sayyāhān-i urūpāʾī-i ʿasr-i Qājār” (Representations of Dervishes and Sufis in European Travel Accounts from the Qajar Era), was published in Pazhūhashʹhā-yi Īrānʹshināsī (Journal of Iranian Studies, University of Tehran).

Contributions

Rābi‎ʿah Quzdārī: The Vanguard of Women’s Poetry

Introduction Rābi‎‎ʿah bint Ka‎ʿb Quzdārī was a poet who lived in the AH 4th/10th century. She has been referred to…