Astarabad, Mir Damad, and the Safavid State
By Shaykh Rasul Jafariyan
With the ascension of Shah Abbas I in 996 AH (1588 CE), two prominent scholars, Sheikh Baha’i and Mir Damad, played significant roles in the Safavid state. Among them, Mir Damad was originally from Astarabad, and his father was the son-in-law of Muhaqqiq Karaki and one of his students in Najaf. This dual heritage positioned his intellectual foundations between Astarabad and Najaf.
This article seeks to explore the extent to which Mir Damad’s legacy was shaped by Astarabad. However, we lack clear historical and biographical information on this matter. Can we rely on alternative sources to investigate this question? This work, prepared for a lecture rather than as a formal article, aims to address this inquiry.
Full Paper: https://iqraonline.net/astarabad-mir-damad-and-the-safavid-state
