Mir Abu al-Qasim Findiriski (970/1560 1050/1640) a prominent scholar of the Ṣafwid period (906/1501 1148/1736) played an important role in the development of Shi'i Irfan and Ḥikmah. He was a classmate and close friend of Mir Damad (950/1543 1041/1631) and Shaykh-i Baha'i (953/1546 1030/1622). Beside the other major juridical, traditional, philosophical, and mystical accomplishments of the School of Isfahan, the philosophical and mystical contributions of Mir Findiriski are invaluable. Although he was not a fertile writer, the uniqueness of his works has drawn remarkable attention. Many considered him a great teacher of peripatetic philosophy. This thesis aims to display Mir Findiriski's achievements in these fields and attempts to exhibit the originality in his exceptional mystico-philosophical ode (qaṣidah ḥikmiyyah ). In this ode Mir Findiriski summarized the principles of ḥikmah. Considering his mystical and scientific writings, and various narrative accounts of his spirituality and super-natural powers, his reputation as a great philosopher and mystic of the Ṣafavid period appears to be well deserved. This thesis evaluates various aspects of his life in some detail and a number of ambiguities surrounding the corpus of his writings are resolved through a complete list of his works. Finally, an overview of his doctrines on ontological as well as epistemological problems in his work is presented.

The struggle for power between the military class and state officials in the 'Abbasï court on governmental affairs had assumed serious proportions by the time of Munis' rise to power (296/908). There was a similar struggle among the ghilman, the class to which Munis belonged. From the start, those ghilman particularly the Hujariya and the Masaffiva appeared as armed political groups rather than apolitical military units. The purpose of this thesis is to deal with Munis' political and military career at the 'Abbasi court between 296-321/908-933. Three focal areas were chosen for this study. (1) The struggle for power between the military class and the kuttab as exemplified by Munis' struggle with the wazir Ibn al-Furat. (2) The struggle for power within the military class itself as it appears through Munis' struggle with Harun b. Gharib and Yaqut. (3) The struggle between the military class and the khalifa as shown hy Munis' conflict with al-Muqtadir and al-Qahir.

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In respect both of legal theory and technical legal thought, Kufians stood mid-way between ancient schools and Shâfi'i.