Rudi Matthee je uznávaný historik, ktorý sa špecializuje na raný novoveký Irán a Perzský záliv. Jeho práca sa hlboko ponára do politických a ekonomických aspektov regiónu, najmä počas éry Safovidskej ríše. Skúma kľúčové aspekty života, ako sú drogy a stimulanty, a zároveň analyzuje zložité vzťahy medzi obchodom, hodvábom a striebrom v tomto období. Jeho výskum osvetľuje faktory, ktoré ovplyvnili vzostup a pád mocných dynastií a formovali iránsku spoločnosť a jej interakcie so svetom.
The decline and fall of Safavid Iran is traditionally seen as the natural outcome of the unrelieved political stagnation and moral degeneration which characterised late Safavid Iran. This book challenges this view. It takes a fresh look at Safavid Iran in the century preceding the fall of Isfahan... číst celé
Islam is the only major world religion that resists the juggernaut of alcohol consumption. In many Islamic countries, alcohol is banned; in others, it plays little role in social life. Yet, Muslims throughout history did drink, often to excess—whether sultans and shahs in their palaces, or commoners in taverns run by Jews or Christians. This evocative study delves into drinking’s many historic, literary and social manifestations in Islam, going beyond references to ‘hypocrisy’ or the temptations of ‘forbidden fruit’. Rudi Matthee argues that alcohol, through its ‘absence’ as much as its presence, takes us to the heart of Islam. Exploring the long history of this faith—from the eight-century Umayyad dynasty to Erdogan’s Turkey, and from Islamic Spain to modern Pakistan—he unearths a tradition of diversity and multiplicity in which Muslims drank, and found myriad excuses to do so. They celebrated wine and used it as a poetic metaphor, even viewing alcohol as a gift from God—the key to unlocking eternal truth. Drawing on a plethora of sources in multiple languages, Matthee presents Islam not as an austere and uncompromising faith, but as a set of beliefs and practices that embrace ambivalence, allowing for ambiguity and even contradiction.