Safavid Iran


The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly called Safavid Iran, Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire, was one of the largest and longest-lasting Iranian empires. It was ruled by the Safavid dynasty from 1501 to 1736, albeit others place the end on the year 1722, when Isfahan fell to the Afghans. It is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history, as well as one of the gunpowder empires.
The Safavid emperor Ismail I established Twelver Shi'ism as the official religion of the empire, marking one of the most important turning points in the history of Islam.
A dynasty rooted in the Safavid order, a dervish order of Sufism, founded by sheikhs of native Iranian origin, it was not only Persian-speaking, but also Turkic-speaking and Turkified. From their base in Ardabil, the Safavids established control over parts of Greater Iran and reasserted the Iranian identity of the region, thus becoming the first native dynasty since the Buyids to establish a national state officially known as Iran.
The main group that contributed to bringing the Safavids to power were the Qizilbash, a Turkic word meaning 'red-head', Turkoman tribes. On the other hand, ethnic Iranians held positions in the bureaucracy and cultural affairs.
The Safavids ruled from 1501 to 1722 and, at their height, they controlled all of what is now Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia, eastern Georgia, parts of the North Caucasus including Russia, and Iraq, as well as parts of Turkey, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
Despite their demise in 1736, the legacy that they left behind was the revival of Iran as an economic stronghold between East and West, the establishment of an efficient state and bureaucracy based upon "checks and balances", their architectural innovations, and patronage for fine arts. The Safavids have also left their mark down to the present era by establishing Twelver Shi'ism as the state religion of Iran, as well as spreading Shia Islam in major parts of the Middle East, Central Asia, Caucasus, Anatolia, the Persian Gulf, and Mesopotamia.
The Safavid dynasty is considered a turning point in the history of Iran after the Muslim conquest of Persia, as after centuries of rule by non-Iranian kings, the country became an independent power in the Islamic world.

Names

The Guarded Domains of Iran was the common and official name of the Safavid realm, and it remained the country's official title under subsequent rulers until 1924. The idea of the Guarded Domains illustrated a feeling of territorial and political uniformity in a society where the Persian language, culture, monarchy, and Shia Islam became integral elements of the developing national identity. The concept presumably had started to form under the Ilkhanate in the late 13th century, contributing to the establishment of the early modern Persianate society. Its shortened form was mamalik-i Iran, and it also had other variants, such as mamalik-i mahrusa-yi khusravani and mamalik-i mahrusa-yi humayun.; It was also often shortend as Iran.
The phrase mulk-i vasi' al-faza-yi Iran is used in both the 17th-century chronicle Khold-e barin and the 1680s travelogue Safine-ye Solaymani by the Safavid ambassador to the Ayutthaya Kingdom. This recurring expression highlights the authors' pride and recognition of their homeland. This expression is likely the appropriate Persian way to describe an "empire" in the writings of that period.

Background

Safavid history begins with the establishment of the Zahediyeh Sufi order in Gilan by its eponymous founder Zahed Gilani. Having no male heir, Zahed married his daughter to his favorite disciple, Safi al-Din Ardabili, and appointed him as the spiritual successor of the Zahediyeh order. Safi al-Din succeeded him upon his death in 1301, and through his great spiritual charisma, the Zahediyeh order gained enormous influence in the city of Ardabil—Hamdullah Mustaufi noted that most of the people of Ardabil were followers of Safi al-Din. Consequently, the Zahediyeh gradually became known as the Safaviyya, after the more widely known Safi al-Din.
Religious poetry from Safi al-Din, written in the Old Azari language—a now-extinct Northwestern Iranian language—and accompanied by a paraphrase in Persian that helps its understanding, has survived to this day and has linguistic importance.
After Safī al-Dīn, the leadership of the Safaviyya passed to Sadr al-Dīn Mūsā. The order at this time was transformed into a religious movement that conducted religious propaganda throughout Iran, Syria and Asia Minor, and most likely had maintained its Sunni Shafi'ite origin at that time. The leadership of the order passed from Sadr ud-Dīn Mūsā to his son Khvajeh Ali Safavi and in turn to his son Ibrāhīm.
When Shaykh Junayd, the son of Ibrāhim, assumed the leadership of the Safaviyya in 1447, the history of the Safavid movement was radically changed. According to historian Roger Savory, "Sheikh Junayd was not content with spiritual authority and he sought material power." At that time, the most powerful dynasty in Iran was that of the Qara Qoyunlu, the "Black Sheep", whose ruler Jahan Shah ordered Junāyd to leave Ardabil or else he would bring destruction and ruin upon the city. Junayd sought refuge with the rival of Kara Koyunlu Jahan Shah, the Aq Qoyunlu Khan Uzun Hassan, and cemented his relationship by marrying Uzun Hassan's sister, Khadija Begum. Junayd was killed during an incursion into the territories of the Shirvanshah and was succeeded by his son Haydar Safavi.
Haydar married Alamshah Halime Begum, Uzun Hassan's daughter, possibly named "Martha", who gave birth to Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty. Martha's mother Theodora—better known as Despina Khatun—was a Pontic Greek princess, the daughter of the Grand Komnenos John IV of Trebizond. She had been married to Uzun Hassan in exchange for protection of the Grand Komnenos from the Ottomans.
After Uzun Hassan's death, his son Ya'qub felt threatened by the growing Safavid religious influence. Ya'qub allied himself with the Shirvanshah and killed Haydar in 1488. By this time, the bulk of the Safaviyya were nomadic Oghuz Turkic-speaking clans from Asia Minor and Azerbaijan and were known as Qizilbash "Red Heads" because of their distinct red headgear. The Qizilbash were warriors, spiritual followers of Haydar, and a source of the Safavid military and political power.
After the death of Haydar, the Safaviyya gathered around his son Ali Mirza Safavi, who was also pursued and subsequently killed by Ya'qub. According to official Safavid history, before dying, Ali had designated his young brother Ismail as the spiritual leader of the Safaviyya.

History

Founding of the dynasty by Shah Ismail I (''r.'' 1501–1524)

Iran prior to Ismail's rule

Following the decline of the Timurid Empire, Iran was politically fragmented, giving rise to numerous religious movements. The demise of Timur's political authority created a space in which several religious communities, particularly Shiʻi ones, could come to the fore and gain prominence. Among these were several Sufi brotherhoods, the Hurufis, Nuqtavis and the Musha'sha'i. Among these movements, the Qizilbash was the most politically resilient, and, owing to its success, Ismail I gained political prominence in 1501. There were many local states before the state established by Ismail. The most important local rulers about 1500 were:
Ismail was able to unite all these lands under his empire.

Rise of Shāh Ismail I

The Safavid dynasty was founded about 1501 by Shah Ismail I, the sheikh of Safavid order and a direct descendant of its eponymous founder, sheikh Safi ad-Din Ardabili. His background is disputed: Different historians have contending claims regarding the ethnic origin of Safi ad-Din. Hinz states that he was Arab, Ayalon claims he was Turkic, Kasravi asserts he was Iranian, and Togan argues he was Kurdish but had completely Turkified by the time of Ismail. Gelvin and Lapidus also argue that he was of Kurdish origin. Savory and Gündüz have pointed out that the source text regarding Sheikh Safi al-Din's ethnic origin contains factual inaccuracies. According to Roemer , the Safavid Shah represented a lineage that combined both Turkmen and Iranian ancestry. Therefore, the question of whether the dynasty's founder, Sheikh Safi, was of Iranian, or seyyed descent is irrelevant. Due to the marriages of Safavid family with their dignitaries, Ismail also had Turkoman, Georgian and Pontic Greek ancestry. The language Ismail used is not identical with that of his "race" or "nationality" and he was bilingual from birth.
As such, he was the last in the line of hereditary grand masters of the Safaviyeh order, prior to its ascent to a ruling dynasty. Ismail was known as a brave and charismatic youth, zealous with regards to his faith in Shia Islam, and believed himself to be of divine descentpractically worshipped by his Qizilbash followers.
In 1500, Ismail I invaded neighboring Shirvan to avenge the death of his father, Sheik Haydar, who was murdered in 1488 by the Shah of Shirvan, Farrukh Yasar. Afterwards, Ismail went on a conquest campaign, capturing Tabriz in July 1501, where he enthroned himself the Shah of Azerbaijan, proclaimed himself King of Kings of Iran and minted coins in his name, proclaiming Twelver Shi'ism as the official religion of his domain. The establishment of Twelver Shi'ism as the state religion of Safavid Iran led to various Ṣufi orders openly declaring their Shi'ite position, and others to promptly assume Shia Islam. Among these, the founder of one of the most successful Ṣufi orders, Shah Nimatullah Wali, traced his descent from the first Ismaili Imam, Muhammad ibn Ismail, as evidenced in a poem as well as another unpublished literary composition. Although Shah Nimatullah was a Sunni Muslim, the future sheikhs of the Ni'matullāhī order declared adherence to Shia Islam after the rise of the Safavid dynasty.
Although Ismail I initially gained mastery over Azerbaijan alone, the Safavids ultimately won the struggle for power over all of Iran, which had been going on for nearly a century between various dynasties and political forces. A year after his victory in Tabriz, Ismail I claimed most of Iran as part of his territory, and within 10 years established a complete control over all of it. Ismail followed the line of Iranian and Turkmen rulers prior to his assumption of the title "Padishah-i-Iran", previously held by Uzun Hasan and many other Iranian kings. The Ottoman sultans addressed him as the king of Iranian lands and the heir to Jamshid and Kai Khosrow.
Having started with just the possession of Azerbaijan, Shirvan, southern Dagestan, and Armenia in 1501, Erzincan and Erzurum fell into his power in 1502, Hamadan in 1503, Shiraz and Kerman in 1504, Diyarbakır, Najaf, and Karbala in 1507, Van in 1508, Baghdad in 1509, and Herat, as well as other parts of Khorasan, in 1510. In 1503, the kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti were made his vassals as well. By 1511, the Uzbeks in the north-east, led by their Khan Muhammad Shaybani, were driven far to the north, across the Oxus River, where they continued to attack the Safavids. Ismail's decisive victory over the Uzbeks, who had occupied most of Khorasan, ensured Iran's eastern borders, and the Uzbeks never since expanded beyond the Hindu Kush. Although the Uzbeks continued to make occasional raids into Khorasan, the Safavid empire was able to keep them at bay throughout its reign.