Ebru Sönmez’s book, Idris-i Bidlisi Ottoman Kurdistan and Islamic Legitimacy, is an ambitious and broad-ranging study covering Bidlīsī’s biography, his role in the administration of Ottoman Kurdistan, and his significant contributions to the religio-political debates of the sixteenth century.1 Organized into three chapters, the book centers on a political and intellectual biography of Bidlīsī, and his role in the Ottoman-Safavid conflict.