RELIGIONS IN IRAN (2) Islam in Iran (2.3) Shiism in Iran Since the Safavids: Safavid Period", Persian Constitutional Revolution (19051911), 1949 Iranian Constituent Assembly election, March 1979 Iranian Islamic Republic referendum, December 1979 Iranian constitutional referendum, 2009 Iranian presidential election protests, International military intervention against the Islamic State (2014), Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (2015), 20182019 Iranian general strikes and protests, Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Islamic Consultative Assembly (parliament), Industrial Development and Renovation Organization (IDRO), Iran Aviation Industries Organization (IAIO), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Safavid_dynasty&oldid=1150017490, Early Modern history of Georgia (country), Wikipedia extended-confirmed-protected pages, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Persian-language text, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Amoretti, Biancamaria Scarcia; Matthee, Rudi. Second to the Prime Minister post were the General of the Revenues (mostoufi-ye mamalek), or finance minister,[189] and the Divanbegi, Minister of Justice. Particularly important in this regard were the Gilan and Mazandaran provinces, which produced Iran's single most important export; silk. And most craftily of all, they used grants of land and money to create a new class of wealthy religious aristocrats who owed everything to the state. Ismail I, brought in mainstream Twelver Shi'a religious leaders and granted them land and money in return for loyalty. After that they join together in uttering a great cry and trying to overthrow each other. It rejected the use of reasoning in deriving verdicts and believed that only the Quran, hadith, (prophetic sayings and recorded opinions of the Imams) and consensus should be used as sources to derive verdicts (fatw). "Review of Emile Janssens'. The Silk Road which led through northern Iran was revived in the 16th century. 1. [160] He considered them to be a well-educated and well-behaved people. Abbas's tolerance towards Christians was part of his policy of establishing diplomatic links with European powers to try to enlist their help in the fight against their common enemy, the Ottoman Empire. Blow, David; Shah Abbas: The ruthless king who became an Iranian legend, pp. They are present on the level ground, and a small drum is always playing during the contest for excitement. The Safavid shahs ruled over one of the Gunpowder Empires. By the time of Isml I, the orders sixth head, the afavs commanded enough support from the Kizilbashlocal Turkmens and other disaffected heterodox tribesto enable him to capture Tabrz from the Ak Koyunlu (Turkish: White Sheep), an Uzbek Turkmen confederation. GIMME SOME TRUTH. In response, a Ghilzai Afghan chieftain named Mirwais Hotak revolted and killed Gurgin Khan, the Safavid governor of the region, along with his army. After the conquest a division of powers was agreed between the new Afghan Shahs and the Shi'a ulama. The Qizilbash were warriors, spiritual followers of Haydar, and a source of the Safavid military and political power. iii. But in spite of a weak economy, a civil war and foreign wars on two fronts, Tahmsp managed to retain his crown and maintain the territorial integrity of the empire (although much reduced from Ismail's time). He expanded commercial links with the English East India Company and the Dutch East India Company. The name "Iran" disappeared from official records of the Saffarids, Samanids, Buyids, Saljuqs and their successor. Although Turkish was widely spoken in Safavid Iran this fact is rarely mentioned. According to historian Roger Savory, "Sheikh Junayd was not content with spiritual authority and he sought material power. Following his conquest of Iran and Azerbaijan, Ismail I made conversion mandatory for the largely Sunni population. [80] Humayun handed over Kandahar, but Tahmsp was forced to retake it in 1558, after Humayun seized it on the death of the Safavid governor. [179] There were large Shii communities in some cities like Qom and Sabzevar as early as the 8th century. They ruled their provinces like petty shahs and spent all their revenues on their own province, only presenting the Shah with the balance. The growth of Safavid economy was fuelled by the stability which allowed the agriculture to thrive, as well as trade, due to Iran's position between the burgeoning civilizations of Europe to its west and India and Islamic Central Asia to its east and north. Later, during the Safavid and especially Qajar period, the Shii Ulema's power increased and they were able to exercise a role, independent of or compatible with the government. The two wrestlers were covered in grease. According to Donald Struesand, "although the Safavid unification of the eastern and western halves of the Iranian plateau and imposition of Twelver Shii Islam on the region created a recognizable precursor of modern Iran, the Safavid polity itself was neither distinctively Iranian nor national. This trading route proved to be of vital importance, especially during times of war with the Ottomans. The latter was the final appeal in civil and criminal cases, and his office stood next to the main entrance to the Ali Qapu palace. [195] Abbas himself was able to speak Georgian as well. As non-Turcoman converts to Islam, these Circassian and Georgian olmns (also written as ghulams) were completely unrestrained by clan loyalties and kinship obligations, which was an attractive feature for a ruler like Tahmsp whose childhood and upbringing had been deeply affected by Qizilbash tribal politics. Sultan Hosein tried to forcibly convert his Afghan subjects in Qandahar from Sunni to Twelverism. [74] The goal of the Ottomans in the 1534 and 15481549 campaigns, during the 15321555 OttomanSafavid War, was to install Tahmsp's brothers (Sam Mirza and Alqas Mirza, respectively) as shah in order to make Iran a vassal state. Over the following centuries the brotherhood became stronger, by attracting local warlords and by political marriages. Although already by the early years of king Abbas' reign (r. 15881629) they were no longer controlling the state, the Turkoman Qizilbash continued to provide many of the senior army officers and to fill important administrative and ceremonial offices in the royal household. [138], The shah had set great store on an alliance with Spain, the chief opponent of the Ottomans in Europe. A new age in Iranian architecture began with the rise of the Safavid dynasty. The longest-lasting of the Gunpowder Empires, the Ottoman Empire in Turkey was first established in 1299, but it fell to the conquering armies of Timur the Lame (better known as Tamerlane, 1336-1405) in 1402. [31] In addition, from the official establishment of the dynasty in 1501, the dynasty would continue to have many intermarriages with both Circassian as well as again Georgian dignitaries, especially with the accession of Tahmasp I. A year after his victory in Tabriz, Ismil I claimed most of Iran as part of his territory,[31] and within 10 years established a complete control over all of it. By the time of the orders fourth leader, Sheikh Junayd, it had become explicitly Shii. More problematic for the Safavids was the powerful neighboring Ottoman Empire. It was from this time that the division of the Shia world into mujtahid (those who could follow their own independent judgment) and muqallid (those who had to follow the rulings of a mujtahid) took place. The Safavid dynasty lasted until 1135/1722 when Isfahan was occupied by Afghan riots. His descriptions of the public appearance, clothes and customs are corroborated by the miniatures, drawings and paintings from that time which have survived. The latter included merchants trading in the bazaars, the trade and artisan guilds (asnf) and members of the quasi-religious organizations run by dervishes (futuvva). [149] The end of the reign of Abbas II, 1666, thus marked the beginning of the end of the Safavid dynasty. After a long and bloody siege led by the Safavid grand vizier Hatem Beg, which lasted from November 1609 to the summer of 1610, the Kurdish stronghold of Dimdim was captured. Af first, Kopek Sultn's Ustajlu tribe suffered the heaviest, and he himself was killed in a battle. 378. This form of Turkish was also the mother-tongue of Shah Abbas, although he was equally at ease speaking Persian. In the 16th century, carpet weaving evolved from a nomadic and peasant craft to a well-executed industry with specialization of design and manufacturing. Abbas I also supported direct trade with Europe, particularly England and The Netherlands which sought Persian carpet, silk and textiles. Most of the extant poetry of Shah Ismail I is in Azerbaijani pen-name of Khatai. Bandit chiefs and feudal lords plundered it at will, further weakening the Empire, and people yearned for strong central rule and stability. It was certainly not homogenousmaybe it was an Azerbaijanian-Ottoman mixed language, as Beltadze (1967:161) states for a translation of the gospels in Georgian script from the 18th century. 1867. The Mongol invasions that began in the 13th century drastically reconfigured the Islamic world. Ferrier, R. W.; A Journey to Persia: Jean Chardin's Portrait of a Seventeenth-century Empire; pp 7171. He blamed this on misgovernment, the sparse population of the country, and lack of appreciation of agriculture amongst the Persians. On these occasions the royal edicts were drawn up and sealed. [210][211] According to contemporary historians, though, the landlord always had the worst of the bargain with the farmer in the crop-sharing agreements. The second most senior appointment was the Grand Steward (Ichik Agasi bashi), who would always accompany the Shah and was easily recognizable because of the great baton that he carried with him. From here, Persian traders ventured eastwards to Southeast Asian kingdoms, most notably Ayutthaya Siam, where influential Persian families like the Bunnag helped foster cordial diplomatic relations between Thailand and Iran, as evidenced in the expedition of Suleyman's Ship. The Takkalu replaced the Rumlu as the dominant tribe. He also reduced the taxes of districts that were traditionally Shii, regulated services in mosques and engaged Shii propagandists and spies. A major problem faced by Ismail I after the establishment of the Safavid state was how to bridge the gap between the two major ethnic groups in that state: the Qizilbash ("Redhead") Turcomans, the "men of sword" of classical Islamic society whose military prowess had brought him to power, and the Persian elements, the "men of the pen", who filled the ranks of the bureaucracy and the religious establishment in the Safavid state as they had done for centuries under previous rulers of Iran, be they Arabs, Mongols, or Turkmens. The ulama retained control of religious practice; and enforced the Sharia (Qur'anic Law) in personal and family matters. First, in the west, the Ottomans, seeing the disarray of the warriors, pressed deep into Safavid territory and occupied the old capital of Tabriz. Concurrently, the Shahs themselves also supported Persian literature, poetry and art projects including the grand Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp,[26][27] while members of the family and some Shahs composed Persian poetry as well.[28][29]. PORTRAIT OF A SUFI SAINT MUGHAL INDIA, FIRST HALF 17TH CENTURY Painting 3 1. Whereas neither the ancient Greeks nor the Romans accorded high social status to their doctors, Iranians had from ancient times honored their physicians, who were often appointed counselors of the Shahs. [118] Ruthless discipline was enforced and looting was severely punished. "afavid Dynasty". George Lenczowski, "Iran under the Pahlavis", Hoover Institution Press, 1978, p. 79: "Ismail Safavi, descendant of the pious Shaykh Ishaq Safi al-Din (d. 1334), seized Tabriz assuming the title of Shahanshah-e-Iran". Though that language might generally be identified as Middle Azerbaijanian, it is not yet possible to define exactly the limits of this language, both in linguistic and territorial respects. Henceforth a treaty, signed in Qasr-e Shirin known as the Treaty of Zuhab was established delineating a border between Iran and Turkey in 1639, a border which still stands in northwest Iran/southeast Turkey. But the stumbling block of Hormuz remained, a vassal kingdom that had fallen into the hands of the Spanish Habsburgs when the King of Spain inherited the throne of Portugal in 1580. Show More. But even he stood accountable to a deputy (vakanevis), who kept records of his decision-makings and notified the Shah. Each town had their own troop of wrestlers, called Pahlavans. According to Encyclopdia Iranica, for Tahmsp, the problem circled around the military tribal elite of the empire, the Qezelb, who believed that physical proximity to and control of a member of the immediate Safavid family guaranteed spiritual advantages, political fortune, and material advancement. [187] To ensure transparency and avoid decisions being made that circumvented the Shah, a complex system of bureaucracy and departmental procedures had been put in place that prevented fraud. 904. This book was translated into French in 1681 by Angulus de Saint, under the name "Pharmacopoea Persica". Most were replaced by a ghulam, and within short time, Georgians, Circassians, and to a lesser extent Armenians had been appointed to many of the highest offices of state, and were employed within all other possible sections of society. [49] Ismil was of mixed Turkoman, Kurdish, Pontic Greek, and Georgian descent, and was a direct descendant of the Kurdish f Muslim mystic Sheikh Safi al-Din. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. The impressive achievements of its 400,000 residents prompted the inhabitants to coin their famous boast, "Isfahan is half the world". Saffron was the best in the world Melons were regarded as excellent fruit, and there were more than 50 different sorts, the finest of which came from Khorasan. Enemies increased. [122][123][124][125] After fully securing the region, he executed the rebellious Luarsab II of Kartli and later had the Georgian queen Ketevan, who had been sent to the shah as negotiator, tortured to death when she refused to renounce Christianity, in an act of revenge for the recalcitrance of Teimuraz. The moment was grave for the empire, with the Ottomans deep in Iranian territory in the west and north and the Uzbeks in possession of half of Khorasan in the east.[107]. His letter of remorse never reached Suleiman, and he was forced to flee abroad to avoid execution. Almost simultaneously with the emergence of the Safavid Empire, the Mughal Empire, founded by the Timurid heir Babur, was developing in South-Asia. Junayd was killed during an incursion into the territories of the Shirvanshah and was succeeded by his son Haydar Safavi. Realizing the limits of his military strength, Abbs made peace with the Ottomans on unfavourable terms in 1590 and directed his onslaughts against the Uzbeks. He thought that there was nothing like it in France or Italy:[208]. [242] As such, the status of medicine in the Safavid period did not change much, and relied as much on these works as ever before. Under Shah Abbas I the empire reached the height of its strength and prosperity Turkic chiefs were changed into . The two princes quarrelled and eventually Bayezid rebelled against his father. Astrakhan came under Russian rule, nearing the Safavid possessions in Dagestan. Archery took first place. It was a Turkish dialect, the dialect of the Qizilbash Turkomans, which is still spoken today in the province of Azerbaijan, in north-western Iran. Ferrier, RW, A journey to Persia: Jean Chardin's Portrait of a Seventeenth-century Empire, pp. [31], b Official language,[9] coinage,[10][11] civil administration,[12] court (since Isfahan became capital),[13] literary,[10][12][14] theological discourse,[10] diplomatic correspondence, historiography,[15] court-based religious posts. Their religious policies, patronage . [99] He may have believed that he would rule once their enemy was disposed of, but Mahd-i Uly proved the stronger of the two. In 1732 by the Treaty of Resht and in 1735 Treaty of Ganja, he negotiated an agreement with the government of Empress Anna Ioanovna that resulted in the return of the recently annexed Iranian territories, making most of the Caucasus fall back into Iranian hands, while establishing an Irano-Russian alliance against the common neighbouring Ottoman enemy. These military tactics transitioned into the Ottoman's social order. [96] She was done in by intrigues by the vizier Mirza Salman Jaberi (who was a holdover from Ismail II's reign) and Mohammad's chief wife Khayr al-Nisa Begum, known as Mahd-i Uly. In Esposito, John L. Three bodies of troops were formed, all trained and armed in an early modern manner and paid out of the royal treasury: the ghulms (slaves), the tofangchs (musketeers), and the topchs (artillerymen). [185] Majlisi promoted specifically Shii rituals such as mourning for Hussein ibn Ali and visitation (ziyarat) of the tombs of the Imams and Imamzadas, stressing "the concept of the Imams as mediators and intercessors for man with God."[186]. Increasingly, members of the religious class, particularly the mujtahids and the seyyeds, gained full ownership of these lands, and, according to contemporary historian Iskandar Munshi, Iran started to witness the emergence of a new and significant group of landowners. [6] It was an Iranian dynasty of Kurdish origin, [7] but during their rule they intermarried with Turkoman, [8] Georgian, [9] Circassian, [10] [11] and Pontic Greek [12] dignitaries, nevertheless they . Georgians in the Safavid Administration", The Politics of Trade in Safavid Iran: Silk for Silver, 16001730, "The Safavids and Mughal Relations with the Deccan States", "Persians and Shi'ites in Thailand: From the Ayutthaya Period to the Present", "Cetbang, Teknologi Senjata Api Andalan Majapahit", "CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS iv. The Safavid Empire: What were two major problems the Safavid Empire faced that the other gunpowder empires did not? Abbas I first fought the Uzbeks, recapturing Herat and Mashhad in 1598. "[135] Abbas would take active and all measures needed in order to seal the alliances. His painting and calligraphic style influenced Iranian artists for much of the Safavid period, which came to be known as the Isfahan school. [50] 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. The next most important mount, when traveling through Iran, was the mule. In 1598, when Shah Abbas decided to move the capital of his Iranian empire from the north-western city of Qazvin to the central city of Isfahan, he initiated what would become one of the greatest programmes in Iranian history; the complete remaking of the city. [67] In the absence of a charismatic, messianic rallying figure like the young Ismail, the tribal leaders reclaimed their traditional prerogative and threatened to return to the time of local warlords. Throughout the Ottomans expansion, they rapidly improved their military . The dependence of Abbas on the Qizilbash (which provided the only military force) was further reinforced by the precarious situation of the empire, in the vice of Ottoman and Uzbek territorial plunder. [243], The Safavids by the time of their rise were Azerbaijani-speaking although they also used Persian as a second language. The demise of Tamerlane's political authority created a space in which several religious communities, particularly Shii ones, could come to the fore and gain prominence. Many were attracted by the brotherhood's allegiance to Ali, and to the 'hidden Imam'. The Shah had a dozen of each in his service and would usually be accompanied by three doctors and three astrologers, who were authorized to sit by his side on various occasions. The Ottoman Empire came into power in 1301. The Uzbeks struck in the Spring of 1578 but were repelled by Murtaza Quli Sultan, governor of Mashhad. Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (/ s f v d, s -/), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. [101], The palace intrigues reflected ethnic unrest which would soon erupt into open warfare. The term dowlat, which in modern Persian means "government", was then an abstract term meaning "bliss" or "felicity", and it began to be used as concrete sense of the Safavid state, reflecting the view that the people had of their ruler, as someone elevated above humanity. At the apex of this system was the Shah, with total power over the state, legitimized by his bloodline as a sayyid, or descendant of Muhammad. [83] This was a huge impedance for the authority of the Shah, and furthermore, it undermined any developments without the agreeing or shared profit of the Qizilbash. 1977, p. 77. [91] While the murderous actions of Ismail might be explained by political prudence (Ottoman sultans occasionally purged the bloodline to prevent succession rivals[92]), his actions against Shia suggest retaliation against his father, who saw himself as a pious practitioner. Women from the provinces and slaves pierced their left nostrils with rings, but well-born Persian women would not do this. From the time of Shah Abbas onwards, more land was brought under the direct control of the shah. Safavid dynasty, (1501-1736), ruling dynasty of Iran whose establishment of Twelver Shiism as the state religion of Iran was a major factor in the emergence of a unified national consciousness among the various ethnic and linguistic elements of the country. Learn about the Islamic empire. The legal system was built up of two branches: civil law, which had its roots in sharia, received wisdom, and urf, meaning traditional experience and very similar to the Western form of common law. The Qizilbash were a wide variety of Shii Muslims (ghult) and mostly Turcoman militant groups who helped found the Safavid Empire. Mulla Sadra has become the dominant philosopher of the Islamic East, and his approach to the nature of philosophy has been exceptionally influential up to this day. A system of government based on military strength, B. That done, they slap their thighs, buttocks and hips to the rhythm of the drum. Due to the great spiritual charisma of Safi al-Din, the order was later known as the Safaviyya. [134] For his part, Abbas declared that he "preferred the dust from the shoe soles of the lowest Christian to the highest Ottoman personage. Mir Damad is considered the founder of this school. Roger M. Savory. However by this period the Empire was disintegrating, and for the next two centuries it lay in decay. The arguably most renowned historian from this time was Iskandar Beg Munshi. Thus, the majority of the people suffered from rapacity and corruption carried out in the name of the Shah. On extraordinary occasions when the Shah took justice into his own hand, he would dress himself up in red for the importance of the event, according to ancient tradition.[200]. Greece vs France | vs | total Military Strength | 2023 In any event, he was ultimately killed (according to some accounts) by his Circassian half-sister, Pari Khn Khnum, who championed him over Haydar. Ismil was known as a brave and charismatic youth, zealous with regards to his faith in Sha Islam, and believed himself to be of divine descentpractically worshipped by his Qizilbash followers. [70] Decentralized control over Uzbek forces was largely responsible for the inability of the Uzbeks to make territorial inroads into Khorasan. VI, Cambridge University Press 1986, p. 339: "Further evidence of a desire to follow in the line of Turkmen rulers is Ismail's assumption of the title "Padishah-i-Iran", "Iranian identity iii. But eschewing politics after his defeat in Chaldiran, he left the affairs of the government to the office of the wakl (chief administrator, vakil in Turkish). Struggles began, 3 Safavid . People met there to drink liqueurs or coffee, to smoke tobacco or opium, and to chat or listen to poetry. [136][137] Henceforward, the number of diplomatic missions to and fro greatly increased. The Afghan Shahs controlled the state and foreign policy, and could levy taxes and make secular laws. In addition to fighting its perennial enemies, their archrival the Ottomans and the Uzbeks as the 17th century progressed, Iran had to contend with the rise of new neighbors. The 16-year-old Abbas I was installed as nominal shah in 1588, but the real power was intended to remain in the hands of his "mentor," Murshid Quli Khan, who reorganized court offices and principal governorships among the Qizilbash[108] and took the title of wakl for himself. Savory, Roger M.; Karamustafa, Ahmet T. (1998), This page was last edited on 6 April 2023, at 01:37. Since the earliest days of the Safavid dynasty, the Qizilbash generals had been appointed to most of these posts. Even though the Safavids were not the first Shii rulers in Iran, they played a crucial role in making Shia Islam the official religion in the whole of Iran, as well as what is nowadays the Republic of Azerbaijan. It would seemthat the poet and miniaturist Sadeqi Afshar (15331610), whose mother tongue was not Azerbaijani Turkish, but Chaghatay (although he was born in Tabriz), was the first to refer to speakers of Qizilbashi (motakallemin-e Qizilbash), but he, and one century later Abdol-Jamil Nasiri, were the exception to this general rule of calling the language "Turki". These series of wars were the result of expansionism and the desire for control of the Middle East by both sides, specifically the threat that the Safavids posed to Ottoman territory. The Canon of Medicine by Avicenna (c. 9801037) was still regarded as one of the primary textbooks in medicine throughout most of the civilized world. amish home builders iowa,
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