Ahmad Fartash – In 1501 AD (907 AH), Ismail Safavi in Tabriz, at the age of fourteen, crowned himself as the first king of the Safavid dynasty and declared Twelve Imam Shiism as the official religion of Iran, and with this decision, the history of Iran in set a new path Safavi Empire
Shah Ismail Safavi was actually the founder of the first “Iranian government” after the Arab Muslim attack on Iran. Before that, Iran was part of the “Islamic State” for more than 600 years; A government that was formed in the form of the “Caliphate” system and dominated Iran from the time of the Muslim attack on Iran during the Caliphate of Omar Ibn Khattab until the collapse of the Abbasid Empire in 656 AH.
From the time of the collapse of the Abbasid caliphate until the establishment of the Safavid government, Iran was mainly considered a part of the “Mongol government”, which was actually a vast empire.
From the time of the collapse of the Sassanids until the rise of the Safavids, Iranian governments had also been formed in the area that was once part of the Sassanid territory, but none of them had been able to unify Iran and remove it from the rule of the “Islamic Caliphate”.
The coronation of Shah Ismail in Tabriz was the product of two centuries of ideological preparation of the Safavid dynasty to gain power in Iran.
The forefather of the Safavids, Sheikh Safi al-Din, reached a high religious position in approximately 700 AH, and this was the beginning of two centuries of ideological preparation of the Safavid family to gain political power and unify Iran as a nation-state.
The first member of the Safavid family, whose name and actions were recorded in history, was a rich landowner in the Ardabil area named Firozshah Zarin Kalah, who lived in the 5th century (A.H.).
There are several opinions among historians about the origin of the Safavid dynasty. Some have said that Firozshah migrated from Yemen to Azerbaijan and therefore the Safavids had Arab origins. Some have said that the Safavids were Turks.
But Ahmed Kasravi had come to the conclusion that the Safavids were the native inhabitants of Iran and of Aryan descent, but they spoke Azeri, which is a type of Turkish language and the native language of Azerbaijan. Kasravi only did not know that the Safavids lived in Azerbaijan for a long time or migrated from Kurdistan to Azerbaijan.
Ahmad Kasravi
Roger Siori, the famous historian and author of the book “Iran in the Safavid Era” also confirms Kasravi’s opinion in one of his articles.
After Kasravi, it was suggested that Safavid ancestors were probably with him during the conquest of Ardabil, Mughan and Darbom by the Kurdish Amir Rawadi in 415 A.H. and after that they settled in Ardabil.
Anyway, Firozshah had settled near Gilan and Ardebel Rahal so that his numerous cattle could benefit from the quality pastures of that area. He was a rich, chivalrous, good-natured, decent and very religious person, and as they said, he was also a Sayyid. Inevitably, he found many disciples among the people.
Sheikh Safiuddin was the great-great-great-great-grandson of Firozshah. Shah Ismail was the great-great-great-great-grandson of Sheikh Safiuddin. Firouzshah’s wealth was the basis of the Safavid dynasty’s financial resources. The religious-mystical position and the “will to power” of Sheikh Safi al-Din also became the basis for the political supremacy of the Safavid dynasty.
Sheikh Safiuddin was born in 650 AH. At the age of 20, he was looking for a mentor among the zahads of Ardabil, but he did not find what he was looking for, and on the advice of a sheikh, he went to Shiraz to become a disciple of Najib al-Din, but Najib al-Din died before he reached Shiraz. Sheikh Safi stayed in Shiraz for a while and the dervishes of this city told him that only Sheikh Zahid Gilani can interpret your dreams.
Tomb of Sheikh Safiuddin in Ardabil
He also went to Gilan and finally, at the age of 25, he found Sheikh Zahid in a village on the coast of the Caspian Sea. Safi al-Din was a disciple of Sheikh Zahid until he was 50 years old, and he was also married to the daughter of the Sheikh on the coast of the Caspian Sea.
Sheikh Zahid died in 700 A.H. and chose Safi al-Din as his successor, that is, the leader of the Zahidiya sect; A mystical tariqat, which had Shia themes and was called the Safavid tariqat after that.
Sheikh Safi al-Din died in 735 A.H. and unlike Sheikh Zahid, he made his son his successor. Historians see this decision as a sign of the Sheikh’s foresight and desire to seize political power from his family; Especially, during his time, the social power of the Safavid family increased significantly. The reason for this development was the growing number of disciples of Sheikh Safiuddin and the access of the Safavid family to many properties and endowments in the last 35 years of the Sheikh’s life. Safavi Empire
The son of Sheikh Safi al-Din, Sheikh Sadr al-Din, was the head of the Safavid family and Tariqat for 58 years. From 735 to 793 AH. He built the shrine of the Safavid dynasty on his father’s grave in ten years and followed his father’s efforts to spread the religious propaganda of the Safavid dynasty and attracted many nobles and Mughal nobles to the shrine and Tariqat of Sheikh Safi al-Din.
At the beginning of Sheikh Sadr al-Din’s leadership of the Safavid Tariqat, the Ilkhanid Empire collapsed in Iran and in the absence of a strong central government, the Mongol power bands began to compete with each other, and the union of Turkmen tribes, named Qaraqoyunlu (Black Sheep), was able to control the Tabriz region from the Mongols. Take out the flour. This event was in 792 A.H.
A year later, Sheikh Sadr al-Din died and his son Khwaja Ali became the leader of the Tariqat and the Safavid dynasty. Khwaja Ali lived until 830 A.H. and during his leadership, the semi-secret teachings of the Safavid Tariqat became openly Shiite in nature. After the pilgrimage, he died in Jerusalem and was buried there, and his son Ibrahim took his place.
Ibrahim, in turn, increased the number of Safavid disciples, especially in the Anatolian region, and died in 851. After him, his son Junaid became the leader of the Safavid dynasty, and by declaring jihad against the infidels, he showed clear signs of his desire to gain worldly power. He introduced this spirit of bravery and war into the Safavid Tariq.
This work of his upset the ruler of western Iran, Jahanshah Qaraqoyunlu. He ordered Junaid to leave Ardabil and get out of his jurisdiction. The area of rule of the Qaraqoyunlous was from Azerbaijan and the borders of Georgia to the Persian Gulf.
The territory of the Qaraqyunlu empire at the height of its power
Junaid spent a few years here and there along with some of his disciples and finally took refuge with Uzun Hassan, the ruler of Aqqoyunlu, and formed an alliance with him. The Aqqoyunlu empire stretched from the upper branches of the Euphrates to the Great Salt Desert and from Kerman to the Transcaucasia (South Caucasus) and the Middle River and the Persian Gulf.
The Aqqoyunlous were Sunnis and the Qaraqoyunlous were Shiites. Therefore, Junaid’s alliance with the Aqqoyunlouhs was a purely political act aimed at defeating the Safavids over a Shiite rival, who also controlled a significant part of Iran. Junaid also married Uzon Hassan’s sister to strengthen their union.
However, luck was not on Junaid’s side because he was killed in 860 AH in a war with the ruler of Shirvan. After him, his son Haydar became the leader of the Safavids.
Uzon Hasan was the most powerful ruler of the Aqqoyunlu dynasty, who finally managed to defeat Jahanshah Qaraqyunlu in a war ten years before his death (872 AH) and by killing him, he destroyed the Qaraqyunlu dynasty.
Haider continued the alliance with the Aqqoyunlous and increased the military power of the Safavids, but like his father, he was killed in a not so important war. to the year 894 AH. Thirteen years before the beginning of Shah Ismail’s reign.
Uzon Hasan died in 882 AH and his son was not interested in continuing the alliance with Haydar. For this reason, in 894 AH, in the war between the Shirvan ruler and Haider, the Aqqoyunlous helped the Shirvan ruler and killed Haider.
The Safavids lost their leader in the war for the second time, but they were not defeated because they were a young and dynamic movement. Ali, the eldest son of Sheikh Haider, succeeded him and called himself the king (Sultan).
The territory of the Aqqoyunlu empire at the height of its power
In 896 A.H., the son of Uzon Hasan (Yaqub) died and the process of disintegration of the Aqqoyunlu empire began through civil war. Sultan Ali, the leader of the Safavids, helped one of the Aqqoyunlous (Rostam) to overcome his rivals. After defeating his rivals, Rostam was afraid of the power of the Safavid supporters and decided to kill Ali. to the year 899 AH. Safavi Empire
Ali fled to Ardabil and Rostam followed him. On the way to Ardabil, Sultan Ali felt that his death was near and appointed his brother Ismail as his successor and head of the Safavid Tariqat.
Ali and Ismail were fleeing with seven Safavid devotees. This small group played a very important role in the Safavid dynasty’s rise to power, and they were called “Ahl al-Ehyad”. In fact, these seven people were among the characteristics of Murshid Kamel (that is, the leader of the Safavid era).
Near Ardabil, Rostam’s envoys reached Ali and Ismail and their companions. Ali was killed but Ismail managed to escape. Ismail was hidden in Ardabil for six weeks and went from one hiding place to another hiding place and finally escaped secretly to Gilan.
Ahl al-Akhyad played a major role in his death, and if Ismail was killed, there would be no succession for him in the Safavid family. Ismail was seven years old at that time.
At the end of 902 A.H., Rostam was killed, and his son, Ismail, was ten years old. Ismail remained in his hiding place in Lahijan for five years and at the age of twelve he rebelled against the Aghqoyunlu clan and after their defeat, he was crowned king in Tabriz at the age of fourteen.
Young King Ismail
It is obvious that if they were not from Al-Akhiya, Ismail would not have survived, nor would he have been able to enter the war with the Aqqoyunlu and defeat them at the age of twelve. Safavi Empire
Minorsky has said that the “appropriators” were very similar to the “small group” with the help of which Lenin managed the Bolshevik movement before the revolution of 1917, and from 1919 it was called the “politburo” (Politburo).
In Muharram 905 A.H., the Ahl al-Ekhyad came to the conclusion that the right time had come for the final effort to gain power. The three previous Safavid leaders, Ali, Haydar and Junaid, had been killed in the war, and twelve-year-old Ismail had no successor.
Karkia Mirza, the ruler of Lahijan, who had sheltered Ismail for five years, tried to dissuade him, but Ismail moved from Lahijan to Ardabil. On the way, at least 8500 brave people from various tribes joined him.
At this time, two princes of Aqqoyunlu (Alvand and Murad), who had survived the internal quarrels of Aqqoyunlu, divided the Aqqoyunlu empire peacefully among themselves. Azarbaijan, Aran, Mughan, and Diyarbakir (that is, the north and west) had reached Alvand, and Murad had also taken Iraq, Ajam, Kerman, and Fars (that is, the center and the south) for himself!
After defeating Shirvan Shah and avenging the death of his father and grandfather (Haydar and Junaid) from the ruler of Shirvan, Ismail conquered Baku and went to fight the 30,000-strong Alvand army in Nakhchivan with 7,000 soldiers and defeated him and took control of Azerbaijan. He took over and was crowned in Tabriz in the summer of 1501 AD/907 AH and the 235-year reign of the Safavids began. Safavi Empire
