History of Safavid in Iran

Iran is seen as the heartland of Shi’ism in today’s world. But it wasn’t always like that. The country’s conversion from Sunni to Shia took place in the 16th & 17th centuries during the rule of the Safavid dynasty, who sought to create a distinct political identity for their state. Under Shah Ismail I and his successors, the Safavids made an active effort to enforce the Twelver Shia creed on their citizens. Through a host of different policies, including violence, the religious demographics of Persia changed slowly but surely to the point that by the end of the dynasty in 1722, Persia had become predominantly Shia. For hundreds of years after Islam’s arrival, Persia had been a majority-Sunni territory.

Centers of learning such as Isfahan were sought after destinations by Ulama throughout the Islamic world to receive training in orthodox Sunni knowledge. In the aftermath of the Timurid Empire’s decline in the middle of the 15th century, control of Persia was up for grabs. This is where the Safavids come in. Having started out as a Sufi order that was likely of Kurdish origins, they became politicized and militarized during the course of the 15th century. The leader of the Safavid order in the second half of the 15th century, Sheikh Haydar set up the Qizilbash, a largely Turkic militant group of followers whose name came from the distinctive red hats they wore. In this time the order also gained an increasingly Shia character, as it gradually incorporated Twelver Shia elements such as Ghulam, the messianic belief that saw the Safavid leader’s followers regard him as a figure of divine incarnation.

It was in this context that Sheikh Hayder’s son Ismail, the founder of the Safavid Empire, proclaimed himself the Twelfth Imam or the Mahdi, a figure who was said to have stayed in Occultation until the time was right to reappear and bring justice to the world. To give us more insight into Twelver Shi'ism we now go to Filip from Let's Talk Religion. When it comes to Shi'ism it all basically revolves around the figure of the Imam. After the death of the prophet Muhammad there were disagreements about who should succeed him as the authority and the so-called Shi'as believed that that authority rests in his family the so-called Ahl ale-Bayt and in particular with the so-called Imams.

These Imams begin with Ali his son-in-law and cousin and then continue in a patrilineal succession from Ali and down through the generations. to speak there is always one Imam present in the world according to majority Shi'a opinion and the Imamate is always passed down from father to son and the role of the Imam is all-encompassing. In Shi'ism the Imam has the role to lead the community; he has been taught the secrets the esoteric secrets of the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet so he is the sole authority who can interpret and give a true interpretation of the Quran and the Sunnah and thus stands as the absolute authority on all matters of religion within Shi'ism. Now later in history, Shi'ism also divided into various different branches and all these branches are based on the fact they follow different lines of Imams so they believe that the different Imams were the correct ones essentially.

There are the Zaidi Shi'a which was the first ones to branch off. Then there was a major split after the sixth Imam Jaffar al-Sadiq some believe that his older son Ismail ibn-Jafar was the correct imam the successor and they became known as the Ismailis and then there was others who believed that his younger son Musa al-Kazim was the correct imam and they became known as the Ethan Ashari or Twelver Shi'a is sometimes also the Imam Shi'a and this later group the Twelver Shi'a is the majority community today. They make up about 80 percent of Shi'as around the world. They are called the Ethan Ashari or Twelver Shi'as because they believe that there were 12 Imams so after Jaffar al-Sadiq there were six more Imams ending with Muhammad al-Mahdi who they believe went into occultation or hiding and will return before Judgment Day to set the world right again.

The second largest group of Shi'as today the Ismailis are in themselves divided into various branches and one of those branches, the largest today, the Nizar Ismailis actually claim to have a living Imam still in the world. They believe that they have an Imam that is the descendant of all of those previous Imams and that is the figure of the Aga Khan. There are various other branches and technicalities and complexities within the world of Shi'ism but that is a general overview of the importance of the Imam and then the reason for the different splits and branches in Shi'ism so back to you. The Qizilbash are central to our story because they were the foundation of Safavid military power, at least in the early days. But more importantly they give us an insight into the political geography of the region.

The Qizilbash were primarily recruited from Anatolia; in fact, the Safavids had been able to generate much more enthusiasm for their cause in the Ottoman heartland than they had in Persia. This helps to explain why the Safavids took such extreme religious measures when they came to power; because at the heart of their state’s identity was a desire to be seen as different to the Ottomans whose ethnic foundation was also built on Turkic support. Upon his enthronement as the Shah of Iran in 1501, Ismail announced Shi’ism as the official state religion of the Safavids - a move that was violently enforced upon the major cities of his realm.

When he captured the city of Tabriz, Shah Ismail threatened to kill anybody who wouldn’t follow the Shia rituals of prayer and had Qizilbash soldiers patrol the congregation to ensure no one raised their voice against the cursing of the first 3 Rashidun Caliphs; who were viewed by the Safavids as the enemies of the Allu Bayt, the Prophet’s family for the way they apparently deprived Ali, a central figure in Shia Islam, of the Khalifa. It’s important to note that those 3 figures are held in very high esteem by Sunnis; this point was so important that during the course of their countless wars, the Ottomans would often call for an end to this ritual cursing during the subsequent peace negotiations with the Safavids.

Even though they started out as a Sufi order, the Safavids would suppress Sufi tariqas to further their aim of converting Persia into a Shi’a realm. Most of the Sufi tariqas were Sunni in their orientation and were consequently viewed as a threat. Whilst this suppression would take time, it was nonetheless a key step in disrupting the way Persians experienced religion because for many of them Sufism represented the spiritual compass through which they practiced and understood Islam. Another key element of the Safavid imposition of Shi’ism was through the migration of Shi’a and Sunni scholars in and out of Persia. Because of the repressive policies of the Safavids against Sunni Ulema and their institutions, many Sunnis decided to leave for India, Central Asia or the Ottoman Empire.

Prior to their arrival, Persia was not really known for its Shi’a scholars. That’s why they invited prominent Shi’a Ulema from Iraq and Jabel Amel in modern-day Lebanon. Given the opportunity to propagate their creed, many Shi’a scholars flocked to Persian cities such as Kashan and Qom. The Safavids gained a lot from the imported Ulema: firstly, they were an element outside of the established military and bureaucratic factions that were already present at the royal court. Throughout Islamic history, outside forces are sought by rulers’ intent on introducing new players that have no association with established factions within their polity.

And secondly, most of these Shi’a Ulema emigrated from Sunni lands, meaning that they had intimate knowledge of the Sunni creed. This was clearly an advantage in the sectarian polemics that accompanied the recurrent wars between the Safavids and their Sunni neighbors. It was really with the Ameli scholars from what was then Syria that the Safavid conversion of Iran started to take a different shape. The Qizilbash-enforced approach that required wanton violence was replaced by the softer approach advocated by the Ameli’s. Through learning and debate, they thought they had a better chance at converting Sunni’s to Twelver Shi’ism. This is not to say that persecution of religion stopped, but it was greatly lessened from its early days. Nevertheless, the softer approach of focusing on enriching the intellectual foundations of Safavid Twelver beliefs allowed Shia scholarly activity to thrive and prosper.

This was accompanied by a general flourishing of the Safavid’s political and cultural might. During the reign of Shah Abbas, the Great, Isfahan became a metropolis fit for an imperial power. The city became the site of a philosophical institution known as the School of Isfahan, which produced prominent scholars such as Muhammad Baqer Majlisi, who in turn played a key role in disseminating a Shi’a theological outlook throughout the realm. In an attempt to merge the new Twelver beliefs with Persian culture, the Safavids encouraged making Ziarat or pilgrimage to the various Imamzadehs, the shrine-tombs of descendants of the Shia Imams.

 Many of these, such as the Imam Ali Reza Shrine in Mashhad, had already been popular with the people, Shia and Sunni alike, so it was a helpful resource for the Safavids to tap into. Shia beliefs were also assimilated through the calendar. The martyrdom of Imam Hussein, son of Ali, at Karbala was commemorated as the most important religious occasion of the year. It was marked by ceremonies that became more elaborate over time, until it culminated in the dramatic performance of the Tazia we see today. The Eid al-Ghadir, which according to Shi’a beliefs was the day the Prophet Muhammad nominated Ali to be his successor, was also widely celebrated.

In keeping with their disdain for the first 3 Rashidun Khalifs, the Safavids hosted an annual festival known as the Omar Kushan, celebrating the assassination of the second Khalif Omar. All these factors combined to ensure Persia became a Shi’a realm by the end of the 17th century. Sunni Islam retained its dominant status in the far-flung provinces of the empire; where the Afghans in the east and the Kurds in the west stubbornly clung on to their religious identities. In fact, the Safavid downfall was brought about in the early 18th century partly as a result of the Shah’s persecution of the Sunni Afghans. The Hutka tribe of Kandahar spearheaded a revolt that pushed the Persians out of Afghanistan and then subsequently invaded Persia in the 1720s.