Jâmî and Majlis: A Study in the Timurid Environment

Abstract

Majlis which functioned as an environment of aesthetic and intellectual exchange have been a wide-spread social practice in the history of Islamic civilization. In contrast with its socio-historical popularity, the subject has not received the due attention it deserves. This article examines the majlis phenomenon in the Timurid world by focusing on one of the prominent Timurid Sufis and poets, namely, Abdurrahmân Jâmî (d. 1492). It identifies main types of majlis as majlis-i khâss, lecture majlis, sermon majlis, and majlis-i sharîf. Next, it problematizes the concept of poetry majlis and asserts that in fact, poetry was not an organizing principle of that type of majlis although it played a major role in it. Through an examination of the members of Jâmî’s majlis it discusses to what extent majlis and mulâzamat overlapped. In the conclusion, it draws attention to the possibility that modern studies of historical figures may rather exhibit a bias to depict the majlis personae of those individuals rather than being a realistic analysis of the historical individuals. It suggests that in order to understand the phenomenon of majlis as a historical reality a more fruitful approach may be analyzing mentality and values rather than adopting literary text based approaches.