Kitāb-i-anusī (The Book of the Forced Convert)

Bābāī ibn Lutf

First Half of the 17th Century

How the Grand Vizier Found a Pretext against the Jews of Isfahan and Drove Them out of Their Homes

In the age of every ruler, old and new, time and again some affliction befell us. But this one was greater than any other; in it hundreds of hearts and souls were torn. [ . . . ]

Come, listen and see what these afflicted [Jews] experienced and how…

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Creator Bio

Bābāī ibn Lutf

17th Century

Not much is known about Bābāī ibn Lutf, the earliest-known historian of Iranian Jewry. He lived in Kashan, an industrial town on the Silk Road. His Kitāb-i-anusīā (The Book of the Forced Convert) is a chronicle of the Persian Jewish community during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, particularly focused on persecutions, forced conversions, and struggles for religious freedom. Written in the Persian masnavi style—most famous in Rumi’s poetry—ibn Lutf’s chronicle is composed of five thousand couplets.

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