Ismail I (Persian:اسماعیل,romanized: Ismāʿīl; 17 July 1487 – 23 May 1524) was the founder and firstshah ofSafavid Iran, ruling from 1501 until his death in 1524. His reign is one of the most vital in thehistory of Iran,[3] and the Safavid era is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history.[4] Under Ismail, Iran was unified under native rule for the first time since theIslamic conquest of the country eight-and-a-half centuries earlier.[3]
Ismail inherited leadership of theSafavidSufi order from his brother as a child. His predecessors had transformed the religious order into a military movement supported by theQizilbash (mainlyTurkomanShiite groups). The Safavids took control ofAzerbaijan, and in 1501, Ismail was crowned asshah (king). In the following years, Ismail conquered the rest of Iran and other neighbouring territories. His expansion intoEastern Anatolia brought him into conflict with theOttoman Empire. In 1514, the Ottomans decisively defeated the Safavids at theBattle of Chaldiran, which brought an end to Ismail's conquests. Ismail fell into depression and heavy drinking after this defeat and died in 1524. He was succeeded by his eldest sonTahmasp I.
Ismail I was also a prolific poet who under thepen nameKhaṭāʾī (Arabic:خطائي,lit. 'the wrongful') contributed greatly to the literary development of theAzerbaijani language.[12] He also contributed toPersian literature, though few of his Persian writings survive.[13]
Ismail I was born toShaykh Haydar and his wifeHalima Begum on 17 July 1487, inArdabil. His father was thesheikh of theSafavidtariqa (Sufi order) and a direct descendant of itsKurdish founder,[14][15][16]Safi-ad-Din Ardabili (1252–1334). In 1301, Safi-ad-Din had assumed the leadership of theZahediyeh, a significant Sufi order inGilan, from his spiritual master and father-in-lawZahed Gilani. The order was later known as the Safavid. Ismail also proclaimed himself theMahdi and a reincarnation of Ali.[17] Ismail was the last in this line of hereditary Grand Masters of the order, prior to his founding of a ruling dynasty.
The Safavids were essentially Türkmen of remote Kurdish descent,[30] and the Safavid conquest has been presented as "the third Türkmen wave" to hit Iran, after theSeljuks and theQara Qoyunlu/Aq Qoyunlu.[31] At the same time, the majority of scholars agree that the resulting empire was an Iranian one.[7][32][33][10][34]
A fabricated genealogy developed by the Safavids claimed thatSheikh Safi (the founder of the order and Ismael's ancestor) was a lineal descendant of the Seventh Twelver Shia Imam and therefore of ImamAli and the Prophet Mohammad.[30]
Early years
In 1488, Ismail's father was killed in a battle atTabasaran against the forces of theShirvanshahFarrukh Yassar and his overlord, theAq Qoyunlu, a Turkic tribal federation which controlled most ofIran. In 1494, the Aq Qoyunlu capturedArdabil, killingAli Mirza Safavi, the eldest son of Haydar, and forcing the seven-year-old Ismail to go into hiding inGilan, where under theKar-Kiya rulerSoltan-Ali Mirza, he received education under the guidance of scholars.
When Ismail reached the age of twelve, he came out of hiding and returned to what is nowIranian Azerbaijan along with his followers. Ismail's rise to power was made possible by the Turkoman tribes ofAnatolia and Azerbaijan, who formed the most important part of theQizilbash movement.[35]
In the summer of 1500, Ismail rallied about 7,000 Qizilbash troops atErzincan, including members of theUstajlu,Rumlu,Takkalu,Dhu'l-Qadar,Afshar,Qajar, andVarsaq tribes.[3] Qizilbash forces passed over theKura River in December 1500 andmarched towards theShirvanshah's state. They defeated the forces of the Shirvanshah Farrukh Yassar nearCabanı (present-dayShamakhi Rayon,Azerbaijan Republic)[38] or at Gulistan (present-dayGülüstan, Goranboy, Azerbaijan),[39][40] and subsequently went on to conquerBaku.[40][41] Thus, Shirvan and its dependencies (up to southernDagestan in the north) were now Ismail's. The Shirvanshah line nevertheless continued to rule Shirvan under Safavid suzerainty until 1538, when, during the reign of Ismail's son,Tahmasp I (r. 1524–1576), it was placed under the rule of a Safavid governor.[42] After the conquest, Ismail hadAlexander I of Kakheti send his son Demetre to Shirvan to negotiate a peace agreement.[43]
The successful conquest alarmed the ruler of theAq Qoyunlu, Alvand, who subsequently proceeded north fromTabriz and crossed theAras River in order to challenge the Safavid forces. Both sides met at theBattle of Sharur, which Ismail's army won despite being outnumbered by four to one.[40] Shortly before his attack on Shirvan, Ismail had made the Georgian kingsConstantine II and Alexander I of the kingdoms ofKartli andKakheti, respectively, attack theOttoman possessions near Tabriz, on the promise that he would cancel the tribute that Constantine was forced to pay to the Aq Qoyunlu once Tabriz was captured.[43] After eventually conquering Tabriz andNakhchivan, Ismail broke the promise he had made to Constantine II and made the kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti both hisvassals.[43]
In July 1501, following his occupation of Tabriz, Ismail took the titlePādshāh-i Irān (King of Iran).[44] He appointed his former guardian and mentorHusayn Beg Shamlu as thevakil (vicegerent) of the empire and the commander-in-chief (amir al-umara) of the Qizilbash army.[45][46] His army was composed of tribal units, the majority of which were Turkmen fromAnatolia andSyria with the remainder Kurds andChagatai.[47] He also appointed a formerIranianvizier of the Aq Qoyunlu named Amir Zakariya as his vizier.[48] After proclaiming himself Shah, Ismail also proclaimed Twelver Shi'ism to be the official and compulsory religion of Iran. He enforced this new standard by the sword, dissolving Sunni Brotherhoods and executing anyone who refused to comply to the newly implemented Shi'ism.[49]
In 1507, he conqueredDiyarbakır. During the same year, Ismail appointed the IranianAmir Najm al-Din Mas'ud Gilani as the newvakil. This was because Ismail had begun favoring the Iranians more than the Qizilbash, who, although they had played a crucial role inIsmail's campaigns, possessed too much power and were no longer considered trustworthy.[53][54] One year later, Ismail forced the rulers ofKhuzestan,Lorestan, andKurdistan to become his vassals. The same year, Ismail and Husayn Beg Shamlu seizedBaghdad, putting an end to the Aq Qoyunlu.[3][55] Ismail then began destroyingSunni sites in Baghdad, including the tombs ofAbbasid Caliphs and tombs ofImam Abu Hanifah andAbdul Qadir Gilani.[56]
By 1510, he had conquered the whole of Iran (includingShirvan), southernDagestan (with its important city ofDerbent),Mesopotamia,Armenia,Khorasan, andEastern Anatolia, and had made theGeorgian kingdoms ofKartli andKakheti his vassals.[57][58] In the same year, Husayn Beg Shamlu lost his office as commander-in-chief in favor of a man of humble origins, Mohammad Beg Ustajlu.[53] Ismail also appointedNajm-e Sani as the newvakil of the empire due to the death of Mas'ud Gilani.[54]
Ismail Imoved against the Uzbeks. In theBattle of Merv (1510), some 17,000 Qizilbash warriors trapped an Uzbek force. The Uzbek ruler,Muhammad Shaybani, was caught and killed trying to escape the battle, and the shah had his skull made into a jewelled drinking goblet.[59] In 1512, Najm-e Sani was killed during a clash with the Uzbeks, which made Ismail appointAbd al-Baqi Yazdi as the newvakil of the empire.[60]
War against the Ottomans
Shah Ismail (center) leading a charge during the Safavid defeat against the Ottomans at theBattle of Chaldiran (1514). Painting of theQajar period, 19th century
The active recruitment of support for the Safavid cause among the Turcoman tribes ofEastern Anatolia, among tribesmen who wereOttoman subjects, had inevitably placed the neighbouring Ottoman empire and the Safavid state on a collision course.[61] As theEncyclopædia Iranica states, "As orthodox or Sunni Muslims, the Ottomans had reason to view with alarm the progress of Shīʿī ideas in the territories under their control, but there was also a grave political danger that the Ṣafawīya, if allowed to extend its influence still further, might bring about the transfer of large areas inAsia Minor from Ottoman to Persian allegiance".[61] By the early 1510s, Ismail's rapidly expansionist policies had made the Safavid border in Asia Minor shift even further west. In 1511, there was a widespread pro-Safavid rebellion in southern Anatolia by the Takkalu Qizilbash tribe, known as theŞahkulu Rebellion,[61] and an Ottoman army that was sent in order to put down the rebellion down was defeated.[61] A large-scale incursion into Eastern Anatolia by Safavidghazis underNur-Ali Khalifa coincided with the accession of SultanSelim I in 1512 to the Ottoman throne. Such incursions were one of the reasons for Selim's decision to invade Safavid Iran two years later.[61] Selim and Ismail had been exchanging a series of belligerent letters prior to the attack. While the Safavid forces were atChaldiran and planning on how to confront the Ottomans,Mohammad Khan Ustajlu, who served as the governor ofDiyarbakır, and Nur-Ali Khalifa, a commander who knew how the Ottomans fought, proposed that they should attack as quickly as possible.[62] This proposal was rejected by the powerful Qizilbash officerDurmish Khan Shamlu, who rudely said that Mohammad Khan Ustajlu was only interested in the province which he governed. The proposal was rejected by Ismail himself, who said; "I am not a caravan-thief; whatever is decreed by God, will occur."[62]
Selim I eventually defeated Ismail at theBattle of Chaldiran in 1514.[63] Ismail's army was more mobile, and his soldiers were better prepared, but the Ottomans prevailed in large part due to their efficient modern army and possession of artillery, black powder and muskets. Ismail was wounded and almost captured in battle. Selim entered the Iranian capital ofTabriz in triumph on September 5[64] but did not linger. A mutiny among his troops, fearing a counterattack and entrapment by fresh Safavid forces called in from the interior, forced the triumphant Ottomans to withdraw prematurely. This allowed Ismail to recover. Among the booty from Tabriz was Ismail's favorite wife, for whose release the Sultan demanded huge concessions, which were refused. Despite his defeat at the Battle of Chaldiran, Ismail quickly recovered most of his kingdom, from east ofLake Van to thePersian Gulf. However, the Ottomans managed to annex for the first timeEastern Anatolia and parts ofMesopotamia, as well as briefly northwestern Iran.[65]
The Venetian ambassadorCaterino Zeno describes the events as follows:
The monarch [Selim], seeing the slaughter, began to retreat, and to turn about, and was about to fly, when Sinan, coming to the rescue at the time of need, caused the artillery to be brought up and fired on both the janissaries [sic] and the Persians. The Persian horses hearing the thunder of those infernal machines, scattered and divided themselves over the plain, not obeying their riders bit or spur anymore, from the terror they were in ... It is certainly said, that if it had not been for the artillery, which terrified in the manner related the Persian horses which had never before heard such a din, all his forces would have been routed and put to edge of the sword.[66]
He also adds:
[...] if the Turk had been beaten, the power of Ismail would have become greater than that of Tamerlane, as by the fame alone of such a victory he would have made himself absolute lord of the East.[67]
After theBattle of Chaldiran, Ismail lost his supernatural air and the aura of invincibility, gradually falling intoheavy drinking.[69] He retired to his palace and never again participated in a military campaign,[70] and left the affairs of the state to his vizierMirza Shah Husayn,[71] who became his close friend andNadeem (i.e. drinking companion). This allowed Mirza Shah Husayn to gain influence and expand his authority.[72] Mirza Shah Husayn was assassinated in 1523 by a group of Qizilbash officers, after which Ismail appointed Zakariya's sonJalal al-Din Mohammad Tabrizi as his new vizier. Ismail died on 23 May 1524 aged 36 and was buried inArdabil. He was succeeded by his sonTahmasp I.
The consequences of the defeat at Chaldiran were also psychological for Ismail; his relationships with the Qizilbash followers were fundamentally altered. The tribal rivalries between the Qizilbash which had ceased temporarily before the defeat at Chaldiran resurfaced intensely immediately after his death and led to ten years of civil war (930–40/1524–33) until Shah Tahmasp regained control of the affairs of the state. TheSafavids later briefly lostBalkh andKandahar to theMughals, and nearly lostHerat to theUzbeks.[61]
During Ismail's reign, mainly in the late 1510s, the first steps for theHabsburg–Persian alliance were taken withCharles V andLudwig II of Hungary being in contact with a view of combining against the common Ottoman Turkish enemy.[73]
One of the main problems of Ismail I's reign was the integration of the Safavid order into the administrative structure inherited from previous Muslim polities. Ismail sought to stabilize the newly established Safavid state and restore economic prosperity to the realm, but some of his supporters wanted to continue the revolutionary struggle. The Qizilbash raids in Anatolia, which were one of the causes of the first Ottoman–Safavid war, have been interpreted by Roger Savory as Ismail's attempt to "siphon off this excess revolutionary fervour".
Another major issue was the competition between the Qizilbash, who expected important positions in the Safavid state in return for their services, and the Iranians, who had traditionally dominated the sphere of administration and made up most of theulama (religious leadership).[74] The amirs (chiefs) of the Qizilbash tribes held the governorships of provinces in early Safavid Iran and occupied the most important state offices.[75]
Ismail instituted the office ofvakil-e nafs-e nafis-e homayun;[a] its holder was to serve as the shah's representative in both religious and secular matters. The Qizilbash amirHusayn Beg Shamlu was the firstvakil.[74] The top military offices ofamir al-umara (commander-in-chief) andqurchibashi were also granted to Qizilbash leaders.[76] Ismail also made the office ofsadr (head of theulama) an appointee of the shah; this office was held by an Iranian.[77]
Iranians also occupied the office of vizier, the traditional chief of the bureaucracy, but this office was less powerful than that ofvakil.[76][b] Eventually, Ismail appointed a succession of Iranians to the office ofvakil in an apparent attempt to counterbalance the power of the Qizilbash. This provoked the resistance of the Qizilbash, who assassinated the IranianvakilMirza Shah Hossein in 1523[78] and took control of the state after Ismail's death.[13]
From an early age, Ismail was acquainted with the Iranian cultural legacy. When he reached Lahijan in 1494, he gifted Mirza Ali Karkiya a copy of the medieval Persian epicShahnameh (Book of Kings) with over 300 illustrations.[79] Owing to his fondness of Iranian national legends, Ismail named three of his four sons after mythological shahs and heroes of theShahnameh; his oldest son was named Tahmasp, after the last shah of thePishdadian dynasty; his third sonSam after thechampion of the Pishdadian shahManuchehr and ancestor of the celebrated warrior-heroRostam; his youngest sonBahram after theSasanian shahBahram V (r. 420–438), famous for his romantic life and hunting feats. Ismail's expertise in Persian poetic tales such as theShahnameh, helped him to represent himself as the heir to the Iranian model of kingship.[80] According to the modern historian Abbas Amanat, Ismail was motivated to visualize himself as a shah of theShahnameh, possiblyKaykhosrow, the archetype of a great Iranian king, and the person who overcame the Turanian kingAfrasiyab, the nemesis of Iran. From an Iranian perspective, Afrasiyab's kingdom ofTuran was commonly identified with the land of the Turks, in particular with theUzbekKhanate of Bukhara inCentral Asia. After Ismail defeated the Uzbeks, his victory was portrayed in Safavid records as a victory over the mythological Turanians.[80] However, this fondness of Iranian legends was not only restricted to that of Ismail and Safavid Iran; BothMuhammad Shaybani,Selim I, and laterBabur and hisMughal progeny, all associated themselves with these legends. Regardless of its increasing differences, Western, Central, and South Asia all followed a commonPersianate model of culture and kingship.[81]
Ashrafi of Shah Ismail, struck in Tabriz. Dated AH 926 (AD 1519/20)
In the second part of the fifteenth century, Safavid propaganda adopted many beliefs held ofghulat groups. Ismail's father and grandfather were reportedly considered divine by their disciples, and Ismail taught his followers that he was a divine incarnation, as is demonstrated by his poetry.[13] For example, in some of his poems he wrote "I am the absolute Truth" and "I am God’s eye (or God himself)".[82] This made his followers intensely loyal to him.[13] Through their supposed descent fromImam Musa al-Kazim, Ismail and his successors claimed the role of deputy (na'ib) of theHidden Imam (theMahdi) and also the infallibility or sinlessness (isma) ascribed to theMahdi; this brought them into conflict with themujtahids (high-ranking Shi'ite jurisprudents) who traditionally claimed the authority of deputyship.[13] At least until his defeat at Chaldiran in 1514, Ismail identified himself as the reincarnation ofAlid figures such as Ali,Husayn, and theMahdi.[83] HistorianCornell Fleischer argues that Ismail took part in a broader trend ofmessianic andmillenarian claims, which were also being expressed in the Ottoman Empire. He writes, "Shah Ismāʿīl was the most spectacular and successful— but by no means singular—instance of the convergence between mysticism, messianism, and politics at the beginning of the sixteenth century."[84]
Besides his self-identification with Muslim figures, Ismail also presented himself as the personification of the divine light of investiture (farr) that had radiated in the ancient Iranian shahsDarius,Khosrow I Anushirvan (r. 531–579),Shapur I (r. 240–270), since the era of theAchaemenids and Sasanians. This was a typical Safavid combination of Islamic and pre-Islamic Iranian motifs.[83] The Safavids also included and promoted Turkic and Mongol aspects from the Central Asian steppe, such as giving high-ranking positions to Turkic leaders, and utilizing Turkic tribal clans for their aspirations in war. They likewise included Turco-Mongolian titles such askhan andbahadur to their growing collection of titles. The cultural aspects of the Safavids soon became even more numerous, as Ismail and his successors included and promotedKurds,Arabs,Georgians,Circassians, andArmenians into their imperial program.[85] Moreover, the conquests ofGenghis Khan andTimur had merged Mongolian and Chagatai aspects into the Persian bureaucratic culture, terminology, seals, and symbols.[86]
Art of the book
Shah Ismail, by conquering both the Aq Qoyunlu and the Timurids, took over the two dominant Persian artistic schools of the time in the domain of calligraphy and miniatures: the westernTurkoman school based inTabriz, characterized by vibrant and colorful compositions, which had developed under his uncleSultan Yaqub Aq Qoyunlu, and the easternTimurid school based inHerat and brought to new summits bySultan Husayn Bayqara, which was more balanced and restrained and used subtle colors.[87] Artists from both realms were made to work together, such asBehzad from Herat andSultan Mohammed from Tabriz, to collaborate on major manuscripts such as theShahnameh of Shah Tahmasp.[87] This synthesis created the new Safavid imperial style.[87] This new aesthetic also affected traditional crafts, including textiles, carpets, and metalwork, and influenced the styles ofOttoman Turkey andMughal India.[87]
Miniatures commissioned by Shah Ismail and painted bySultan Mohammed inTabriz, circa 1505. Protagonists wear his signature headdress, theTaj-i Haydari
Soon after he conquered theAq Qoyunlu capital ofTabriz in 1501-1502, Shah Ismail started to commission illustrated manuscripts such as theDastan-i Jamal u Jalal, Tabriz (1502-1505).[88] Such early works followed theTurkman style of miniatures, with highly decorative elements, and exuberant representations of nature.[88]
Another early commission was the contribution of additional miniatures in 1505 to an Aq Qoyunlu manuscript, theKhamsa of Nizami (Tabriz, 1481).[89] Shah Isma'il entrusted the creation of eleven miniatures to the young painterSultan Mohammed, who later became a key artist of theSafavid school.[90] Some of the paintings created by Sultan Mohammed for this manuscript are considered as highly original, such asThe Mir'aj of Prophet Muhammad (now in the Keir Collection in London), in which the Prophet can be seen rising over the Great Mosque in Mecca, the Ka'ba and his tomb, riding into a billowing mass of heavenly clouds with a multitude of angels. The sky is pieced with anoculus, an artistic device of probable European origin. A small inscription in gold letters on the portal of a small building on a terrace gives the date of creation as 1505.[91]
One of the main criteria used to differentiate the Safavid miniatures from the Aq Qoyunlu ones is for a great part iconographic, as the protagonists in Shah Isma'il's paintings generally wear his signature turban, theTaj-i Haydari, which he introduced when he occupied Tabriz in 1501-1502.[92]
Towards the end of his reign, circa 1520-21, Shāh Ismaʿīl also commissioned panegyric histories of his accomplishments, where he can be seen in various court and battle scenes. These works, such as theShāhnāmah Shāh Ismaʿīl (Tabriz, 1541), were generally completed only after he died.[19][18] These manuscripts offer some very interesting illustrations in lively style, which, stylistically, are witnesses to the persistence of the Turkoman element in the creations ofTabriz around 1541.[19][18] Some, such asShāhnāmah Shāh Ismaʿīl (Bodleian Library, MS. Elliot 328) are more provincial in style but also show undisguised and rather gruesome scenes of conquest, such as the time when a defender ofFiruzkuh was roasted on a spit at the hands of the Safavids.[93][94]
Probably about 1522, Shah Isma'il started a sumptuous illuminated manuscript of theShahnameh for his sonShah Tahmasp I. But Shah Ismail I died in 1524, shortly after the work had begun.[95] Work continued into the 1530s, ultimately including 258 original miniatures. It is now dispersed, and known under the name ofShahnameh of Shah Tahmasp.[96]
Ismail's poetry
Dīvān of Khatā'ī (Collected Poems by Shah Isma’il), "Five youths in the garden". Tabriz. 1515-20s. Text in Turkish in black nasta’liq script:"I have never seen anyone so beautiful as you on the earth, never in this world anyone as gorgeous as you. Truly within the garden of the soul there can be no gesture so elegant as your tall erect cypress. Although there are many beauties among humanity, there is none, O Beauty, so radiant as you".[97]Dīvān of Khatā'ī (Collected Poems by Shah Isma’il), "The Castle". Tabriz. 1515-20s. Text on the castle walls:"Founder of the Sultanate, the greatest sultan and most just, most noble emperor, liege lord of the kings of the Arabs and Persians, layer of the foundations of justice and munificence, spreader of the carpet of safety and security, Abu'l-Muzaffar Shah Isma'il Bahadur Khan".[98]
Ismail is also known for his poetry using thepen nameKhaṭāʾī (Arabic:خطائي,lit. 'the wrongful',[99] 'sinner',[100] or 'the mistaken one').[101]Khatai was a popular pen name among Iranian poets, but none are as famous as Ismail.[102] He wrote in Turkish and Persian, although his extant verses in the former vastly outnumber those in the latter.[103] The Turkish spoken in Iran, which was commonly known asTurki,[104] was not theTurkish of Istanbul,[105] but a precursor of modern-dayAzerbaijani or Azeri Turkic (see also:Ajem-Turkic).[106] His devotional poetry was meant for the mainly Turkish-speaking Qizilbash who followed him, hence his decision to write in that language.[25] Ismail used some words and forms not found in modern Turkish speech.Chaghatai words are also found in his poetry.[c]Vladimir Minorsky writes that Ismail's Turkish "already shows traces of decomposition due to the influence of the Iranian milieu".[108]
Khata'i'sdivan (collection of poems) was compiled during the reign of Ismail's successor,Tahmasp I, so all of the poems in it may not actually belong to Ismail's pen.[101] The oldest surviving copy of the divan (dated 1535) comprises 262qasidas andghazals, and tenruba'is. The second oldest copy has 254qasidas andghazals, threemathnawis, onemurabba' and onemusaddas. T. Gandjei argues that thesyllabic poems attributed to Khata'i (as opposed to the usualaruz ones, based on syllable length) are really the works ofBektashi-Alevi poets in Anatolia.[13] Kioumars Ghereghlou states that the author of the divan is "still unknown", citing the fact that Ismail's sonSam Mirza never referred to his father as the author of the divan in hisTuhfa-yi Sami, a collection of biographies of contemporary Persian poets[109] (he does, however, state that his father wrote poetry in Persian and Turkish).[13]
Ismail is considered an important figure in the literary history of Azerbaijani language.[101] According toRoger Savory and Ahmet Karamustafa, "Ismail was a skillful poet who used prevalent themes and images in lyric and didactic-religious poetry with ease and some degree of originality".[13] He was also deeply influenced by thePersian literary tradition of Iran, particularly by theShahnameh ofFerdowsi, which probably explains the fact that he named all of his sons after characters from theShahnameh. Dickson and Welch suggest that Ismail's "Shahnamaye Shahi" was intended as a present to his young son Tahmasp.[110] After defeatingMuhammad Shaybani's Uzbeks, Ismail askedHatefi, a famous poet fromJam (Khorasan), to write aShahnameh-like epic about his victories and his newly established dynasty. Although the epic was left unfinished, it was an example ofmathnawis in the heroic style of theShahnameh written later on for the Safavid kings.[6]
Most of the poems are concerned with love—particularly themystical Sufi kind—though there are also poems propagating Shi'i doctrine andSafavi politics. His other serious works include theNasihatnāme, a book of advice sometimes included in his divan, and the unfinishedDahnāme, a book which extols the virtues of love—both written in proto-Azeri Turkic.[13][111]
Along with the poetImadaddin Nasimi, Khata'i is considered to be among the first proponents of using a simpler Azerbaijani language in verse that would appeal to a broader audience. His work is most popular in Azerbaijan, as well as among theBektashis ofTurkey.[failed verification] There is a large body of Alevi and Bektashi poetry that has been attributed to him.[failed verification] The major impact of his religious writings, in the long run, was the conversion ofPersia from Sunni to Shia Islam.[61]
Today I have come to the world as a Master. Know truly that I am Haydar's son. I amFereydun,Khosrow,Jamshid, andZahak. I amZal's son (Rostam) and Alexander. The mystery of I am the truth is hidden in this my heart. I am the Absolute Truth and what I say is Truth. I belong to the religion of the "Adherent of the Ali" and on the Shah's path I am a guide to every one who says: "I am a Muslim." My sign is the "Crown of Happiness". I am thesignet-ring onSulayman's finger.Muhammad is made of light, Ali of Mystery. I am a pearl in the sea of Absolute Reality. I am Khatai, the Shah's slave full of shortcomings. At thy gate I am the smallest and the last [servant].
Poetry example 2
My name is Shāh Ismā'īl. I am God's mystery. I am the leader of all these ghāzīs. My mother isFātima, my father is 'Ali; and eke I am thePīr of theTwelve Imāms. I have recovered my father's blood fromYazīd. Be sure that I am ofHaydarian essence. I am the livingKhidr and Jesus, son of Mary. I am the Alexander of (my) contemporaries. Look you, Yazīd, polytheist and the adept of the Accursed one, I am free from theKa'ba of hypocrites. In me is Prophethood (and) the mystery of Holiness. I follow the path ofMuhammad Mustafā. I have conquered the world at the point of (my) sword. I am the Qanbar of Murtaza 'Ali. My sire is Safī, my father Haydar. Truly I am theJa'far of the audacious. I am aHusaynid and have curses for Yazīd. I am Khatā'ī, a servant of the Shāh's.
Architectural construction was almost nonexistent during the time of Shah Ismail and his sonShah Tahmasp, especially compared to the previous Timurid era, or the following century underAbbas the Great, probably because of the general instability of the realm which discouraged large and long-term monumental investments.[115] Many buildings also remained from previous eras, which limited the need for further constructions.[115] Thus, at Tabriz, the new capital, all the survivingIlkhanid,Jalayirid,Aq Qoyunlu andTimurid monuments largely satisfied the needs of the Shah and his administration.
It was nevertheless Ismail who made the city ofArdabil (northern Iran) into a dynastic center and place of pilgrimage, embellishing theArdabil complex surrounding the tomb ofShaykh Safi and burying there the remains of his father in 1509. Shah Ismail was probably responsible for the construction of theDar al-Hadith in Ardabil, a hall dedicated to the study of theHadiths, similar to the oldDar al-Huffaz, which served for reciting theQuran.[116] More marginally, Ismail is also credited with the restoration of theJameh Mosque of Saveh, in 1520, of which the exterior decoration has disappeared, but of which themihrab combines the use of ancient stucco and a delicate decoration of arabesques in ceramic mosaic. Another mosque ofSaveh, the Masjed-e meydan, also received a similar mihrab, dated by inscriptions to between 1510 and 1518.[115]
Durmish Khan Shamlu, a Turkoman potentate and brother-in-law of Ismail, partially compensated for this lack of construction beginning in 1503. This governor of Isfahan, who lived more often at the court of Tabriz than in his city, left the reins to Mirza Shah Hussein Isfahani, the greatest architect of the period, whom he commissioned and funded to build in Isfahan theMausoleum of Harun-e Vilayat (1512–1513), and theAli Mosque (1522), the only mosque built in Iran in the first half of the 16th century.[115] The Mausoleum of Harun-e Vilayat is composed of a square chamber under a cupola, a completely traditional design. The cupola rests on a high drum, themuqarnas filling the octagonal passageway. Two minarets, now gone, magnified the great porch, while the decor of hazerbaf and the ceramic mosaic, concentrated on the facade, stayed in the Timurid tradition. The facade, punctuated by blind arches, is thus unified by basic decor, as was already the case at the mosque of Yazd. Still, the decorative elements of the Mausoleum of Harun-e Vilayat and their extreme density are already indicative of the ulterior development of Safavid architecture.[115]
ThisSophi is fair, handsome, and very pleasing; not very tall, but of a light and well-framed figure; rather stout than slight, with broad shoulders. His hair is reddish; he only wears moustachios, and uses his left hand instead of his right. He is as brave as a game cock, and stronger than any of his lords; in the archery contests, out of the ten apples that are knocked down, he knocks down seven.[61]
European portraiture
Imaginary portrait of Shah Ismail ("Hysmael Sophus"), byPaolo Giovio in hisElogia virorum bellica virtute illustrium (1554).[118][119]
Europeans made several attempts at a portraiture of Sultan Ismail.Paolo Giovio, in hisElogia virorum bellica virtute illustrium (1554),[119] created a gallery of portraits for all the great men of his time, some possibly based on notes from travelers, including a portrait of Sultan Ismail, whom he named "Hysmael Sophus" ("Ismail the Sage").[120][118][119]
This portrait engraving was then used as a reference by theItalian painterCristofano dell'Altissimo between 1552 and 1568 for his famousportrait of Shah Ismail in theFlorencian style. It is thought that this portrait was affected by idealized notions of Shah Ismail as a savior of Christians and Europeans against the Ottomans, complete with rumors of a conversion of Christianity.[118] It may be for this reason that Shah Ismail's face is idealized in this portrait as "spiritual, nice and bright".[118]
Legacy
Ismail's greatest legacy was establishing an empire which lasted over 200 years. As Brad Brown states, "The Safavid dynasty would rule for two more centuries [after Ismail's death] and establish the basis for the modern nation-state of Iran."[121] Even after the fall of the Safavids in 1736, their cultural and political influence endured through the succeeding dynasties of theAfsharid,Zand,Qajar, andPahlavi states and into the contemporaryIslamic Republic of Iran as well as the neighbouringRepublic of Azerbaijan, whereShia Islam is still the dominant religion as it was during the Safavid era.
In popular culture
Literature
In the Safavid period, the famous Azeri folk romanceShah Ismail emerged.[122] According to Azerbaijani literary criticHamid Arasly, this story is related to Ismail I. But it is also possible that it is dedicated to Ismail II.
'Abul Ghazi Sultan Alqas Mirza (15 March 1515 – 9 April 1550) Governor ofAstrabad 1532/33–1538,Shirvan 1538–1547 andDerbent 1546–1547. He rebelled against his brother Tahmasp withOttoman help. Captured and imprisoned at the Fortress ofQahqahan. He had a consort, Khadija Sultan Khanum, and two sons,
Ahmad Mirza (died 1568)
Farukh Mirza (died 1568)
Rustam Mirza (born 13 September 1517)
'Abul Naser Sultan Sam Mirza (28 August 1518 – December 1567) Governor-General ofKhorasan 1521–1529 and 1532–1534, and ofArdabil 1549–1571. He rebelled against his brother Tahmasp, captured and imprisoned at the Fortress of Qahqahan. He had two sons and one daughter. His daughter marriedPrince Jesse of Kakheti (died 1583) Governor ofShaki, the third son of Georgian kingLevan of Kakheti.
Khanish Khanum[129] (1507–563, buried inImam Husayn Shrine,Karbala), married to Shah Nur-al Din Nimatullah Baqi,[130] and had a son named Mirmiran and a daughter;[132]
Khair al-Nisa Khanum (died at Masuleh, 13 March 1532, and buried inSheikh Safi al-Din tomb,Ardabil), married on 5 September 1517 to Amira Dubbaj, ruler of Gilan and Fuman;[130]
^Literally, 'representative of the exquisite royal person'
^The office ofvakil decreased in importance after the Battle of Chaldiran, becoming a purely bureaucratic position and eventually falling into obsolescence.[72]
^Within this context, James J. Reid suggests that Chaghatai became thelingua franca amongst the multilingual and polyglot Qizilbash in Iran.[107]
References
^Mahir, Banu (2009)."Album H.2169 in the Topkapi Palace Museum Library (p.465-)". In Géza, Dávid; Ibolya, Gerelyes (eds.).Thirteenth International Congress of Turkish Art: Proceedings. Hungarian National Museum. pp. 471, 476.ISBN978-963-7061-65-3.The image is of Shah Ismail I, and the note at the bottom edge ('Kalem-i şikeste-i fakir Behzad') identifies the drawing as the copy of an original byBihzad
^Savory 2007, p. 3: "Why is there such confusion about the origins of this important dynasty, which reasserted Iranian identity and established an independent Iranian state after eight and a half centuries of rule by foreign dynasties?"
^Tapper 1997, p. 39: "The Safavid Shahs who ruled Iran between 1501 and 1722 descended from Sheikh Safi ad-Din of Ardabil (1252–1334). Sheikh Safi and his immediate successors were renowned as holy ascetics Sufis. Their own origins were obscure; probably of Kurdish or Iranian extraction ..."
^Kamal 2006, p. 24: "The Safawid was originally a Sufi order whose founder, Shaykh Safi al-Din, a Sunni Sufi master descended from a Kurdish family ..."
^Savory 1999, p. 259: "From the evidence available at the present time, it is certain that the Safavid family was of indigenous Iranian stock, and not of Turkish ancestry as is sometimes claimed. It is probable that the family originated in Persian Kurdistan, and later moved to Azerbaijan, where they adopted the Azari form of Turkish spoken there, and eventually settled in the small town of Ardabīl sometime during the eleventh century."
^Savory 1999, p. 258 "The heartlands of Iran was reunited under the rule of one Persian king (albeit one who spoke the Azari dialect of Turkish) for the first time since the Arab conquest of Iran more than eight and a half centuries earlier."
^Dale 2020, pp. 73–74 "Ismāʿīl – who evidently knew both Persian and what has been described as a Southern Turkic dialect"
^abKia 2014, pp. 110–111 (note 81): "Shah Esmaʿil wrote poetry in Turkish, because this devotional poetry was aimed at his Qizilbash followers, who were mostly Turkish speakers."
^Savory & Karamustafa 1998;Roemer 1986, pp. 214 "The Safavid Shah combined in himself the blood of both Turkmen and Iranian ancestors",229;Blow 2009, p. 1 "The Safavids are thought to have been Kurdish in origin"
^Savory 1997 "This official version contains textual changes designed to obscure the Kurdish origins of the Safavid family and to vindicate their claim to descent from the Imams."
^abKatouzian, Homa (1 January 2009).The Persians: Ancient, Mediaeval And Modern Iran. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 112.ISBN978-0-300-16932-4.The Safavids were themselves Turkamans of remote Kurdish descent who claimed (and convinced all) that they were direct descendants of the Seventh Twelver Shia Imam and therefore of Imam Ali and the Prophet Mohammad.
^Potts, D. T. (3 March 2014).Nomadism in Iran: From Antiquity to the Modern Era. Oxford University Press. p. 224.ISBN978-0-19-933080-5.The Third Türkmen Wave Hits Iran. Vladimir Minorsky famously described the original Oghuz/Saljuq conquest of Iran as the first period of Türkmen dominion in Iran; the era of the Qara-qoyunlu and Aq-qoyunlu as the second; and the Safavid conquest as the third.
^Bogle 1998, p. 145 "Safavid: Iranian dynasty which began early in 1500 and endured into the 18th century"
^Shaw 1976, p. 77 "...the rise of a new Iranian dynasty, the Safavids."
^Shahbazi 2005, p. 108: "Similarly the collapse of Sassanian Eranshahr in AD 650 did not end Iranians' national idea. The name 'Iran' disappeared from official records of the Saffarids, Samanids, Buyids, Saljuqs and their successor. But one unofficially used the name Iran, Eranshahr, and similar national designations, particularly Mamalek-e Iran or 'Iranian lands', which exactly translated the old Avestan term Ariyanam Daihunam. On the other hand, when the Safavids (not Reza Shah, as is popularly assumed) revived a national state officially known as Iran, bureaucratic usage in the Ottoman Empire and even Iran itself could still refer to it by other descriptive and traditional appellations".
^Casale 2023, pp. 39–40 "The imprisonment ofHusain Kia is depicted in a copy of Qāsimī’s Shāhnāma-i Ismāʾīl (Book of kings of Ismaʾil), a versified epic-history of the reign of Ismaʾil (fig. 1.4). The painting, dated to about 1540, presents a scene of the aftermath of Ismaʾil’s victory in Firuzkuh, just outside of Ustā, the largest fort in lands previously commanded over by Husain Kia: After surrendering to Ismaʾil’s forces, Kia has been placed in a large iron cage, one that he had designed as a tool of punishment for his own enemies. (...) The man on the spit is none other than a supporter of Kia named Murad Beg, whose gruesome death is narrated in Safavid sources."
^Dale 2020, p. 74: "It was, first of all, an Iranian state. Ismāʽīl took the Iranian termPādshāh-i Irān, following his occupation of Tabriz in 1501, using a title that recognized Iran, a name revived by the Ilkhanid Mongols and used by the Aqqoyunlu."
^Berengian 1988, p. 20: "It was also during the Safavid period that the famous Azeri folk romances – Shah Esmail, Asli-Karam, Ashiq Gharib, Koroghli, which are all considered bridges between local dialects and the classical language – were created and in time penetrated into Ottoman, Uzbek, and Persian literatures. The fact that some of these lyrical and epic romances are in prose may be regarded as another distinctive feature of Azeri compared to Ottoman and Chaghatay literatures."
Abasova, E. G. (1976)."Magomaev A. M."Магомаев А. М.. In Keldysh, Yu. V. (ed.).Muzykalʹnaia ėntsiklopediiaМузыкальная энциклопедия. Vol. 3. Moscow: Sovetskaia ėntsiklopediia.
Blow, David (2009).Shah Abbas: The Ruthless King Who Became an Iranian Legend. I.B. Tauris.
Bogle, Emory C. (1998).Islam: Origin and Belief. Austin: University of Texas Press.ISBN9780292708617.
Bomati, Yves; Nahavandi, Houchang (2017).Shah Abbas, Emperor of Persia (1587–1629). English translation by Azizeh Azodi. Los Angeles: Ketab Corporation.ISBN978-1595845672.
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Karakaya-Stump, Ayfer (2020).Kizilbash-Alevis in Ottoman Anatolia Sufism, Politics and Community. Edinburgh University Press.
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Lapidus, Ira M. (2014).A History of Islamic Societies (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-51430-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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Nesibli, Nesib (2002). "Osmanlı-Safevî Savaşları, Mezhep Meselesi ve Azerbaucan".Türkler (in Turkish). Vol. 6. Ankara: Yeni Türkiye Yayınları.ISBN975-6782-39-0.
Roy, Kaushik (2014).Military Transition in Early Modern Asia, 1400–1750: Cavalry, Guns, Government and Ships. Bloomsbury Publishing.ISBN978-1780938004.
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Savory, Roger M. (1999). "Safavids". In Burke, Peter; Inalcik, Halil (eds.).History of Humanity: Scientific and Cultural Development, Volume V: From the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century. Routledge.
Contemporary Persian and Classical Persian are the same language, but writers since 1900 are classified as contemporary. At one time, Persian was a common cultural language of much of the non-Arabic Islamic world. Today it is the official language ofIran,Tajikistan and one of the two official languages ofAfghanistan.
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