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Safavid dynasty

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Safavids, a long-lasting Turkic speaking Iranian dynasty that established Shiite Islam in Iran as an official religion. The Safavid dynasty had its origins in a long established Sufi order which had flourished in Azerbaijan since the early 14th century. Its founder was Sheikh Safi Al-Din (1252-1334), after whom it is named. Sheikh Safi came from Ardebil where his shrine exists till our days.

The founder of the Safavid kingdom (1501-1736) was Shah Ismail I (ruled 1501-1524). He was was a grand grandson of Sheikh Safi Al-Din and the grandson on his mother's side of Uzun Hasan, the founder of Turkic state of Ak_Koyunlu in Azerbaijan. Shah Ismail I came to power in 1501 in Tabriz with the aid of a militia of Turkic soldiers (called Qizilbash, Turkic for "Red Heads" due to their red head gear), recruited from Azerbaijan and Anatolia. During Shah Ismail I rule, the official language at the royal court was Azeri, the Turkic language spoken in Azerbaijan.

At its zenith, during the long reign of Shah Abbas I, the most eminent Safavid monarch, the empire's realms comprised the present day Iran, Iraq, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, parts of present Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. Fine arts, poetry and sciences flourished under Safavid patronage and to this day the cities which were Safavid capital Tabriz ,Kazvin and Isfahan bear witness to the era's magnificent architecture.

Over the almost 170 years following the death of Sheikh Safi Al-Din, the Safaviyeh Sufi Order acquired a formidable army and political force. His descendant, Shah Ismail I established his capital in Tabriz in 1501. Ismail I embraced Shi'a Islam, which he also made mandatory for the whole nation upon penalty of death. Ismail's and Iran's conversion to Shi'ism was the first time this sect had attained such high levels of power in the Islamic world. It would strengthen the rationale for attack by its Sunni neighbors.

The Ottoman Turks and Safavids fought over the fertile plains of Iraq for more than 150 years. The capture of Baghdad by Ismail I in 1509 was only followed by its loss to the Ottoman sultan Suleiman I in 1534. After subsequent campaigns, the Safavids recaptured Baghdad in 1623 yet lost it again to Murad IV in 1638. Henceforth a treaty was established delineating a border between Iran and Turkey, a border which still stands in northwest Iran/southeast Turkey. The century of tug-of-war accentuated the Sunni and Shi'a rift in Iraq.

Gradually declining in the 17th and early 18th centuries, effective Safavid rule ended in 1722 after the execution of Shah Soltan Hosein by an Afghan rebel army led by Mir Mahmud, who opposed conversion from Sunni Islam to Shi'a Islam.

The Afghans were prevented from making further gains in Iran by Nadir Shah Afshar, a former soldier who had risen to military leadership within the Afshar Turkoman tribe in Khorosan, a vassal of the Safavids . He had effective control under Tahmasp II and then ruled as regent of the infant Abbas III until 1736 when he had himself crowned shah.

Immediately after Nadir Shah's assassination in 1747, the Safavids were re-appointed as shahs of Iran in order to lend legitimacy to the nascent Zand dynasty. The brief puppet regime of Ismail III ended in 1760 when Karim Khan felt strong enough take nominal power of the country as well.


Safavid Shahs Iran

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