Baba'i ben Lotf

Baba'i ben Lotf (, ; died after 1662) was a Jewish poet and historian in 17th-century Safavid Iran. He lived in Kashan, where he probably originally hailed from, and was the author of the first Judeo-Persian chronicle, the Ketāb-e anūsī, or the Book of the forced convert (see anusim). It consists of some 5,300 verses written in Persian using the Hebrew script, or Judeo-Persian. Ben Lotf was forcibly converted to Islam, but practiced Judaism in secret. It is considered one of the first historical narrative works of Iranian Jews. He is a member of the crypto-Jewish community of Iran. Baba'i ben Farhad (fl. 18th century) was one of his grandsons who followed in his footsteps as a chronicler.