Eskandar Beig Turkaman’s use of Qor'anic verses in his Alam Aray –e- Abbasi

Establishing the Shi'ite dynasty of Safavid within historical- geographic range of Iran brought about the formation of a special Shi'ite historiography. One of the main features of this historiography has been using the religious concepts, particularly the Qur'anic verses and hadiths, in proving the Safavids' legitimacy. The mentioned feature can be seen in the historiographical sources of Safavid era such as history of Alam Aray –e- Abbasi. Eskandar Beig Monshi -e- Turkaman, the author of Alam Aray –e- Abbasi, has used the Qur'anic verses to prove the authenticity of Shi'ah and Safavids' precedence over the surrounding sovereignties, and to propagate some religious doctrines and beliefs. Additionally, impressed by Iranian-Islamic historiography, he also used the Qur'anic words and terms frequently in his work. The aim of this study is analyzing this Eskandar Beig's approach. In line with this, answering the question of why the use of verses within Alam Ara has been strikingly high, the article tries to survey this hypothesis that Eskandar beig's mentioned approach has aimed the authentication of Safavids' authority with confirmation of Shi'ite doctrines. The study has been based on librarian and analytic method.