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Safavid order

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Sufism
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Safaviyya star from ceiling of Shah Mosque, Isfahan
Safaviyya star from ceiling of Shah Mosque, Isfahan

The Safavid order, also called the Safaviyya (Persian: صفویه), was a tariqa (Sufi order)[1][2] founded by the Kurdish[3][4] mystic Safi-ad-din Ardabili (1252–1334). It held a prominent place in the society and politics of northwestern Iran in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but today it is best known for having given rise to the Safavid dynasty. While initially founded under the Shafi'i school of Sunni Islam, later adoptions of Shi'i concepts such as the notion of the Imamate by the children and grandchildren of Safi-ad-din Ardabili resulted in the order ultimately becoming associated with Twelverism.

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Persian language

Persian language

Persian, also known by its endonym Farsi, is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and used officially within Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan in three mutually intelligible standard varieties, namely Iranian Persian, Dari Persian and Tajiki Persian. It is also spoken natively in the Tajik variety by a significant population within Uzbekistan, as well as within other regions with a Persianate history in the cultural sphere of Greater Iran. It is written officially within Iran and Afghanistan in the Persian alphabet, a derivation of the Arabic script, and within Tajikistan in the Tajik alphabet, a derivation of the Cyrillic script.

Tariqa

Tariqa

A tariqa is a school or order of Sufism, or specifically a concept for the mystical teaching and spiritual practices of such an order with the aim of seeking haqiqa, which translates as "ultimate truth".

Sufism

Sufism

Sufism, also known as Tasawwuf, is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ritualism, asceticism and esotericism. It has been variously defined as "Islamic mysticism", "the mystical expression of Islamic faith", "the inward dimension of Islam", "the phenomenon of mysticism within Islam", the "main manifestation and the most important and central crystallization" of mystical practice in Islam, and "the interiorization and intensification of Islamic faith and practice".

Kurds

Kurds

Kurds or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northern Syria. There are exclaves of Kurds in Central Anatolia, Khorasan, and the Caucasus, as well as significant Kurdish diaspora communities in the cities of western Turkey and Western Europe. The Kurdish population is estimated to be between 30 and 45 million.

Mysticism

Mysticism

Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ultimate or hidden truths, and to human transformation supported by various practices and experiences.

Safi-ad-din Ardabili

Safi-ad-din Ardabili

Safi-ad-din Ardabili was a poet, mystic, teacher and Sufi master. He was the son-in-law and spiritual heir of the Sufi master Zahed Gilani, whose order—the Zahediyeh—he reformed and renamed the Safaviyya, which he led from 1301 to 1334.

Safavid dynasty

Safavid dynasty

The Safavid dynasty was one of Iran's most significant ruling dynasties reigning from 1501 to 1736. Their rule is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history, as well as one of the gunpowder empires. The Safavid Shāh Ismā'īl I established the Twelver denomination of Shīʿa Islam as the official religion of the Persian Empire, marking one of the most important turning points in the history of Islam. The Safavid dynasty had its origin in the Safavid order of Sufism, which was established in the city of Ardabil in the Iranian Azerbaijan region. It was an Iranian dynasty of Kurdish origin, but during their rule they intermarried with Turkoman, Georgian, Circassian, and Pontic Greek dignitaries, nevertheless they were Turkish-speaking and Turkified. From their base in Ardabil, the Safavids established control over parts of Greater Iran and reasserted the Iranian identity of the region, thus becoming the first native dynasty since the Sasanian Empire to establish a national state officially known as Iran.

Founder and foundation

Safī al-Din grew up in Ardabil, but left it for lack of adequate teachers, traveling to Shiraz and then Gilan. In Gilan, he became the disciple of Zahed Gilani, leader of the Zahidī Sufi order. He eventually became Zahid's chief disciple and married his daughter. Upon Zahed Gilani's death, the Zahidiyyah came under Safī ad-Din's leadership and was renamed the Safawiyyah.

Safī al-Din's importance is attested in two letters by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani. In one, Rashid al-Din pledges an annual offering of foodstuffs. In the other, Rashid al-Din writes to his son, the governor of Ardabil, advising him to show proper consideration to the sheikh.[5]

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Ardabil

Ardabil

Ardabil is a city in northwestern Iran, and the capital of Ardabil Province.

Shiraz

Shiraz

Shiraz is the fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the population of the city was 1,565,572 people, and its built-up area with Sadra was home to almost 1,800,000 inhabitants. A census in 2021 showed an increase in the city's population to 1,995,500 people. Shiraz is located in southwestern Iran on the rudkhaneye khoshk seasonal river. Founded in the early Islamic period, the city has a moderate climate and has been a regional trade center for over a thousand years.

Zahed Gilani

Zahed Gilani

Taj Al-Din Ebrahim ibn Rushan Amir Al-Kurdi Al-Sanjani ‎, titled Sheikh Zahed Gilani, was an Iranian Grandmaster of the famed Zahediyeh Sufi order at Lahijan. He is also known as Sultân-ûl Khalwatiyya and Tadj’ad-Dīn Ebraheem Zāheed al-Geylānī as well.

Zahediyeh

Zahediyeh

The Zahediyeh Sufi Order was founded by Zahed Gilani of Lahijan. As a precursor to the Safaviyya tariqa, which was yet to culminate in the Safavid dynasty, the Zahediyeh Order and its murshid, Sheikh Zahed Gilani, holds a distinct place in the history of Iran.

Growth of the order

After Safī al-Din's death, leadership of the order passed to his son, Sadr al-Dīn Mūsā, and subsequently passed down from father to son. By the mid-fifteenth century, the Safawiyyah changed in character and became militant under Shaykh Junayd and Shaykh Haydar, launching jihads against the Christians of Georgia. The later Safawiyyah is considered "ghulat", meaning it had messianic beliefs about its leadership and Shi'ite antinomian practices outside of the orthodox norm of Twelver Islam.

Haydar's grandson, Ismail, further altered the nature of the order when he founded the Safavid empire in 1501 and proclaimed Twelver Shi'ism the state religion, at which point he imported ulama largely from Lebanon and Syria to make the Safavid practices orthodox.[6][7][8][9]

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Shaykh Junayd

Shaykh Junayd

Sheikh Junayd was the son of Shaykh Ibrahim, father of Shaykh Haydar and grandfather of the founder of Safavid dynasty, Shah Ismail I. After the death of his father, he assumed the leadership of the Safaviyya from 1447–1460.

Shaykh Haydar

Shaykh Haydar

Shaykh Haydar or Sheikh Haydar was the successor of his father as leader of the Safavid order from 1460 to 1488. Haydar maintained the policies and political ambitions initiated by his father. Under Sheikh Haydar, the order became crystallized as a political movement with an increasingly extremist heterodox Twelver Shi'i coloring and Haydar was viewed as a divine figure by his followers. Shaykh Haydar was responsible for instructing his followers to adopt the scarlet headgear of 12 gores commemorating The Twelve Imams, which led to them being designated by the Turkish term Qizilbash "Red Head".

Georgia (country)

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a transcontinental country at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is part of the Caucasus region, bounded by the Black Sea to the west, Russia to the north and northeast, Turkey to the southwest, Armenia to the south, and by Azerbaijan to the southeast. The country covers an area of 69,700 square kilometres (26,900 sq mi), and has a population of 3.7 million people. Tbilisi is its capital and largest city, home to roughly a third of the Georgian population.

Ghulat

Ghulat

The ghulāt were a branch of early Shi'i Muslims. The term mainly refers to a wide variety of now extinct Shi'i sects who were active in 8th/9th-century Kufa, and who despite their sometimes significant differences shared a number of common ideas. These common ideas included the attribution of a divine nature to the Imams, the belief that souls can migrate between different human and non-human bodies, a particular creation myth involving pre-existent 'shadows' whose fall from grace produced the material world, and an emphasis on secrecy and dissociation from outsiders. They were named ghulāt by other Shi'i and Sunni Muslims for their purportedly "exaggerated" veneration of the prophet Muhammad and his family, most notably Ali ibn Abi Talib and his descendants, the Shi'i Imams.

Messianism

Messianism

Messianism is the belief in the advent of a messiah who acts as the savior of a group of people. Messianism originated as a Zoroastrianism religious belief and followed to Abrahamic religions, but other religions have messianism-related concepts. Religions with a messiah concept include Judaism (Mashiach), Christianity (Christ), Islam, Druze faith, Zoroastrianism (Saoshyant), Buddhism (Maitreya), Taoism, and Bábism.

Antinomianism

Antinomianism

Antinomianism is any view which rejects laws or legalism and argues against moral, religious or social norms, or is at least considered to do so. The term has both religious and secular meanings.

Ismail I

Ismail I

Ismail I, also known as Shah Ismail, was the founder of the Safavid dynasty of Iran, ruling as its King of Kings (Shahanshah) from 1501 to 1524. His reign is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history, as well as one of the gunpowder empires.

Ulama

Ulama

In Islam, the ulama are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam, including Islamic doctrine and law.

Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lies to its west across the Mediterranean Sea; its location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland has contributed to its rich history and shaped a cultural identity of religious diversity. It is part of the Levant region of the Middle East. Lebanon is home to more than five million people and covers an area of 10,452 square kilometres (4,036 sq mi), making it the second-smallest country in continental Asia. The official language of the state is Arabic, while French is also formally recognized; Lebanese Arabic is used alongside Modern Standard Arabic throughout the country.

Syria

Syria

Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a Western Asian country located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It is a unitary republic that consists of 14 governorates (subdivisions), and is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east and southeast, Jordan to the south, and Israel and Lebanon to the southwest. Cyprus lies to the west across the Mediterranean Sea. A country of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts, Syria is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups, including the majority Syrian Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens, Assyrians, Circassians, Armenians, Albanians, Greeks, and Chechens. Religious groups include Muslims, Christians, Alawites, Druze, and Yazidis. The capital and largest city of Syria is Damascus. Arabs are the largest ethnic group, and Sunni Muslims are the largest religious group. Syria is the only country that is governed by Ba'athists, who advocate Arab socialism and Arab nationalism. Syria is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Source: "Safavid order", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, January 1st), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safavid_order.

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Further Reading

Safavid dynasty

Tahmasp I

Ismail I

Zahed Gilani

Safi-ad-din Ardabili

Sadr al-Din Musa

Shaykh Junayd

Shaykh Haydar

Sheikh Safi al-Din Khānegāh and Shrine Ensemble

Ardabil

Safavid Iran

Khvajeh Ali Safavi
See also
References
  1. ^ https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1345, Sheikh Safi al-Din
  2. ^ "Imamzadah Shaykh Ṣafi al-Din Ardabili | Exterior view of Shaykh Safi Tomb. The courtyard wall of Chilakhana courtyard appears in the background, while the Haramkhana is seen in the right foreground".
  3. ^ Newman, Andrew J., Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire, (I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 2006), 152.
  4. ^ R.M. Savory. Ebn Bazzaz. Archived 2009-05-29 at the Wayback Machine Encyclopædia Iranica
  5. ^ G. E. Browne, Literary History of Persia, vol. 4, 33–4.
  6. ^ Floor, Willem; Herzig, Edmund (2015). Iran and the World in the Safavid Age. I.B.Tauris. p. 20. ISBN 978-1780769905. In fact, at the start of the Safavid period Twelver Shi'ism was imported into Iran largely from Syria and Mount Lebanon (...)
  7. ^ Savory, Roger (2007). Iran Under the Safavids. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-0521042512.
  8. ^ Abisaab, Rula. "JABAL ʿĀMEL". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  9. ^ Alagha, Joseph Elie (2006). The Shifts in Hizbullah's Ideology: Religious Ideology, Political Ideology and Political Program. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-9053569108.
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