Desire, Determination, and Action in Hayākil al-Nūr: Exploring the Legacy of Suhrawardī in Mughal India (1526–1857) | Program in Iranian Studies

Nariman Aavani is a scholar of Islam specializing in post-classical intellectual history (1200–1800), with a focus on Islamic philosophy, ethics and Sufism in Iran and South Asia. Aavani’s first book, Desire, Emotion, and Rituals in Islamic Thought, explores how Mullā Ṣadrā (d. 1635) and his Indian interpreters reconfigured Greek virtue ethics, to emphasize the role of desires and emotions in achieving happiness. His second project investigates the Hindu reception of Rumi’s Mathnawī in Mughal India, focusing on Bhubat Rāy Bīgham’s (d. 1720) works.