Some Aspects of Conversion Narratives in Late Safavid Iran and their Circulation: The Case of ʿAlī Akbar Armanī

This study focuses on a conversion narrative from the late Safavid period, the Iʿtirāf-nāma , written by an Armenian merchant known after his conversion as ʿAlī Akbar Armanī. The study addresses questions on the transmission of texts, the conventions of the genre of convert literature, and the socialization of converts into Muslim scholarly families. This study seeks to contextualize this text not only vis-à-vis the cultural and social milieu of religious minorities in the late Safavid period, but also within the wider history of the genre of convert literature.