SCIENCE ROAD
Journal
SCIENCE ROAD JOURNAL
Year: 2014
Volume: 02
Issue: 01
Pages: 28-36
Social transformation in the Safavid era
Mohammad Ghorban Kiani
Department of Management, College of Humanities, Sanandaj Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Kurdistan, Iran
Abstract:
With the advent of the Safavids in the sixteenth century A. D. fundamental changes took place in the fate of Iran, the Islamic
countries and global equations; so that many researchers consider the age of Safavid the beginning of the modern history of
Iran. The safavid dynasty, using an ideology and a combination of shia Islam, mysticism, and monarchy, was able to reshape
the political, social, economic and cultural structures of Iran and create an new identity for it. It was at this time that Iran
regained its political sovereignty and changed to a country with its own government and geographical territory. On the one
hand, by removing the feudal system, political unity in the country was created and on the other hand, by strengthening Shiite
against western aggressors and the Ottoman, an independent society was established. This, in turn, helped the country to
enter global arena and eventually went through four periods including testing period (guidance in the Abbey), government
formation, prosperity, decline period to experience social transformation.
Keywords:
Safavid, mysticism, Shia Islam, identity, Social transformation, social ancestry, political ancestry
Corresponding Author: Mohammad Ghorban Kiani
Email: [email protected]
Acceptance Date: 1/4/2014
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1. Introduction
I n the history of Iran, the Safavid era has a special status. The reason for this is that the rise of the Safavids in the
sixteenth century caused such great changes in the destiny of Iran, Islamic countries, and global equations that
resulted in the historical horizon change and opened a new era in the history of Iran; the way that most researchers
consider the Safavid era the beginning of the modern history of Iran. In fact, before Safavid, Iran with its whole
area, from Balkh to Diarbakr, was divided among various countries; and feudal system in its expanded form was
dominant. In addition, local governments claiming independence troubled the country, and there were also various
external threats in this era. The Ottoman sultans, on the one hand, and Uzbek Nobles, on the other hand, cast greedy
eye at Iran. In addition to these, European colonists including Portuguese intended to expand its colonial territory
through Iran. From this time onwards, for the first time after Islam, an inclusive and concentrated government based
on Iran‟s ancient borders having both materialistic and spiritual features rose from the core of the ruins left over by
foreigners and internal conflicts which eventually eliminated feudal system and repelled all invasions and prevented
the establishment of new powers that were mainly nomadic. Even the tribes playing great roles in the establishment
of the Safavid government which were mainly from foreign territories were removed if they were not able to get
integrated into the new government, therefore, a period of relative internal stability which consequently resulted in
the prosperity of Iranian culture and civilization began. As the establishment of Safavid paved the way for
prosperity, social and political stability, its decline was a terrible blow on the social life of Iran and its effects are
observed in the eras after Safavid.
Although before the Safavid government in the fourth and sixth centuries Isma'ilian Shiite government of Egypt was
established against Abbasid, some researchers state that the establishment of the Safavid government was a great
harm to the world of Islam. By making Shia Islam official and disabling Sunnite, religious integration which was
dominant up to that time was eliminated and by embattling the Ottoman they halted their progress and weakened
their power. Of course integration or disintegration of the expansive world of Islam was under the influence of many
internal and external factors and investigating the role of Safavid in this regard is beyond the scope of this study.
Therefore, in the present study an attempt is made to investigate the process of social transformation of the Safavid
and Iranian community, the social and political foundations of this authoritative Iranian dynasty, and the
consequences of social transformation.
2. Cultural, social, and historical backgrounds of the rise of the Safavid dynasty
As it was mentioned before, the Safavid era is known as one of the most important historical periods in the history
of Iran; as 900 years after the destruction of the Sassanid Empire, a ruling kingdom could dominate at that time.
From the overthrow of the Mongols to Timur attack to Iran which is known as the interregnum, Iran experienced
many transformations, turbulences and chaos. In this period, a series of small and large local dynasties were engaged
in war. Finally Timur came to Iran and eliminated all small and big dynasties and dominated the whole country.
Although Timur‟s attack like that of Changiz created a lot of ruins, his successors were attracted to the culture and
civilization of Iran and religion of Islam and helped it flourish.
In the 9th century, in addition to the rise of Timurid Dynasty and their dominance over Iran, two Turkmen tribes
called Aq Quyunlu and Qraqwiyunlu appeared on the political scene of Iran. First, the Qraqwiyunlu who were Ghali
Shiite and were led by Ghra Mohammad took power and after him, Ghara Yousef stood against Timurian and also
Alexander, son of Ghara Yousef, went into war with Shahrokh; And after his death, his brother, Jahanshah,
conquered Kerman, Heart, Fars, and cities within areas of Iraq in 840-841. Therefore, the Qraquiyunlu government
was short-lived and along with political instability.
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The chief of the rival tribe, Ozun Hassan, who was settled in Diar Bakr defeated Jahanshah army causing his own
death too, as a result, the Aq Qoyunlu from Sunnite religion dominated Iran; the dynasty which was built by Ozun
Hasan was named Bayandarih. In the period of Sunnite Aq Quyunlu specially Amir Hasan Baek (Ozun Hasan) and
his son, Jacob, most ruins created by the Mogul and Timur‟s attacks were rebuilt and also commerce and, in general,
civilization and culture flourished. The era of Amir Hasan Bayandari should be considered as the most important era
in the diplomatic relations between Iran and Europe. Because with power of Mohammed the Conqueror and growing
power of Ottoman Government, many of the European countries, the Trebizond government, the papacy etc. sent
representatives to the court of Hassan Ozun to build military unity. Also he sent representatives to the court of
different countries. This diplomacy communications caused an increase in credit and military power of the
Bayandari government (Nozari, 2010:250, Mirjafari 2009). After the Mongol and Timur invasions, many Iranians
that had financial capability to escape the tyranny of the Mongols adopted migration and in those areas where there
was a relative security settled and some of the Iranians agreed with tyrants and had become their agents or they
surrendered and remained silent. Except these two groups, most people for the sake of security and getting rid of
tyrants adopted mysticism and preferred seclusion and solitude in abbey beside sheikh and mentors. Kings and heads
of Mongols and newly- become Muslim Turks paid homage to the clergy and the Safavid clan and their followers
(Nozari, 2010:255). After the Mongol invasion Shia could gain more freedom for the Mongols invasion caused
religion of Sunni Islam to fall from its governmental position. In fact religious indifference of the Mongols, gave a
new opportunity to the Shiites to act in the fields of ideology and politics so that they had considerable growth in
different political, military, and scientific fields (Navaei & Ghafarifard 2010:27). It is worth mentioning that
mysticism first began within the religion of Sunni Islam and finally most of them joined Shia Islam. Such mystic
tendencies existed from the seventh to the ninth centuries. The sixth century is characterized by exaggeration in
religious stances and also adoring religious authorities. In this century, the Sufis enjoyed respect and admiration by
most people including special and common ones. The reason why most of the upper classes, even princes and kings,
advocated the profession of mysticism was that most of the theologians who accepted to hold judgment position and
teach in schools and custodianship of Endowments etc. were considered as the genuine employed men to give
service to the supreme court. Therefore canonical affairs were entrusted to them and they advocated the autocrats
and fulfilled their desires resulting in the discouragement and rejection of people. In fact mysticism kept common
people away from the debates of scholars to focus on real aspects of life. And there was a mystic in each city
astonishing people by his marvels and these people having marvels were able to solve people‟s religious problems
and also by gatherings and community prayers convinced common people and by inculcating the idea of getting
close to God they ruled the hearts of people(Navaei & Ghafarifard 2010:28). One of these Sufis was Sheikh Safi-Aldin Ardabili that after the death of his mentor, Sheikh Zahed Gilani, 700 Ah, continued his way and founded “Sufieh
profession” in Ardabil a city in Azarbajan. And then quickly turned into a political method and with conversion of
the Safavid dynasty to Shiite, the soul of resistance was inspired in this profession. And for less than two centuries
later his children in Iran established a unified state within Shia framework.
Therefore after Sheikh Safieh-Din, his children, Sheikh Sadruddin, Khwaja Ali, Sheikh Ibrahim, Sheikh Joneid,
Sheikh Heider, continued mysticism heritage and sat on guidance chair. Of course from the time of Khaje Ali who
had the title of Sultan and his son called „Sheikh of the king‟ a new way for changing a mere religiosity to political
system was formulated. But it was Sheikh Joined and Sheikh Heidar who prepared the condition for establishing the
Safavid government by integrating Darvishi Path and spiritual government. In fact, Sheikh Joneid caused concerns
among the Qraqwiyunlu by increasing the number of his disciples and expansionist activities. Jahanshah who was a
Shiite himself could not form an expedition against a clergyman, therefore through a threatening letter made Joneid
drive out of his ancestors‟ lands and Ozun Hasan Aqqyonulu, the ruler of Diarbakr, who was an enemy of Jahansha
Qara Quonolo took advantage of this and by writing a letter invited him to Darbakr and warmly welcomed him.
After staying there for three years, he married Khadijeh Beigem, sister of Ozun Hasan. This marriage was so
important that the Safavid leaders were considered as clergymen up to that time but since then Joneid‟s successors
had holy leaders on the part of their fathers and were related to the monarchy on the part of their mothers. Besides,
Sheikh Heidar, son of sheikh Joneid and son of Ozun Hasan‟s sister married his cousin, Halimeh Beigi Agha who
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was from royal family of Tarabouzan. Then, Ozun Hasan appointed his sister‟s son as the leader of Safavid Path in
Ardabil. Sheikh Joneid and Sheikh Haider were killed in war with Sheravanshahan. The murder of these two in war
with Sheravanshahan gave emotional consideration to the Safavid movement and Fadaei Sufis were aroused to
establish a government based on the heritage of the sheikhs.
Then Ismail (907-930 H. B. C.) was heir to his ancestors‟ spiritual domination and he introduced himself as a decent
of Imam Musa Kazem(P.B.H). As a result, Ismail supported by nine Turkish tribes: Estajlo, Shamlu, Teke Lo, Rom
Lo, Versagh, Zolghadr, Afshar, Qajar, and other Sufis came to throne and attempted to found a civil government
based on Shiite religion which was unprecedented (Navaei & Ghafarifard 2010; Nozari 2010).
But what caused the dominance of a Shiite government in a Sunnite society should be addressed from a racial
genealogy perspective because the origin of the Safavid dynasty is still unknown and a few references such as
Habibo Al Seir attribute them to Imam Mousa Kazem (P.B.H). Safvato al Safa attributes their pedigree to the
Kurds of Shafei religion (Navaei & Ghafarifard 2010; 36-38). AyanLo know them as Turk; Kasravi attribute them to
Aryaei of Azeri and recently Togan has introduced them as kurd (Savori 1995:2). But why is there so much
confusion over the origin of this important dynasty which revitalized Iranian identity and after eight and a half
centuries of the dominance of foreign dynasties founded an independent government? This is due to the fact that the
Safavid, taking power using a dynamic power of a special ideology, intentionally annihilated the evidence related to
their origin which might have undermined the efficiency of this ideology and put its basis under question.
To understand the causes and factors of distortion of the origin of the Safavid, we should know the foundations of
the power of the Safavid. The power of the Safavid kings was based on three foundations: 1. divine right theory of
Iranian kings, this right is based on the fact that the kings enjoyed „Farayazdi”. This ancient theory dating back to
pre Islam era reappeared in a new form “king is shadow of God on the earth‟. 2. The claim of the Safavid kings that
they are the representatives of the last Imam of the Shiite, namely, Imam Zaman(P.B.H.) on the earth. 3. The role of
the Safavid kings is known as a perfect mentor following mystic Path (Sevori 1995:2).
Therefore, the conditions and potentialities of an Iranian society for adopting such a governmental method should be
considered and we cannot rely on official narratives. Social, political, and cultural factors of Iran from the beginning
of Islam prepared conditions for easy spread of such faith and spiritual values and new rites were blended with old
methods of Iranian social and personal life. As a result, this integration not only terminated the inner conflicts but
also repaired the damage made by hundred years of externally imposed disturbances (war between Iran and Rome).
This situation needed no military operations because Iranians by accepting Islam rejected the dominance of the
Caliphs and by creating independence-seeking movements attempted to maintain national identity and unity. None
of the ruling dynasties of Iran t whether local and originally Iranian (Samanid, Saffarid dynasty and Ale Bouye) and
Turkish non-Iranian conquerors (Ghaznavid, Seljuqs and Kharezmshayan) and their appointees (Atabakan in
Azerbaijan and Fars) went under complete domination of the Abbasid caliphate and sometimes even against the
caliph and nominal position of the Caliph conducted political and military actions; culturally or by managing
political, social, and economic affairs maintained the originality and capabilities of Iranians in the history of their
great society. Mogul invasion undoubtedly caused great loss to social institutions, broke religious unity and
eliminated the Abbasid Caliphate; but the modern social life in the framework of a more independent and relative
political identity was formed. Mogul government, the dominance of Ilkhanan, and finally Timur invasion and its
government were unable to cut the heartfelt relation of Iranians to Islam and the values left over by prophets and
Imams. Feudal dynasties and short-term governments in some parts of Iran, Sarbedaran movements and The
exponential power of local rulers and conflicts among some of them prepared a special situation in which Iranians,
remembering Umayyads and Abbasid Caliphates, standing against the Ottoman empire resulting in conquering
Constantinople, sought a social and political unity based on common culture and ideals whose ground had been
prepared centuries ago. The Safavid were pioneers in the realization of the social and cultural unity based on
common ideals (Takmil Homayon, 2004: 133-134).
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Therefore, it was Safavids that in their own historical process enjoyed two types of power 1- Spiritual power; 2Political power. Spiritual power should be considered as the product of virtue, religion and asceticism creating a
divine face of them among their disciples. Gaining such power formed the basis of mysticism and the social power
was also the result of an increase in the number of disciples and devotees, storage of wealth collected from
endowments and offerings provided by the believers in mysticism (Bahram nezhad 2004:94).
An interesting point about the Safavids is that like other powerful governments such as Sasanid, along with having
evolutionary movements attempted to establish a strong relationship with the history of Iran. One of the most
outstanding manifestations of this can be traced in their claim stating that they were from the generation of Iranian
old kings and were their right successors. The Sasanids attribute their pedigree to Artaxerxes Daraz Dast- king of
Achaemenid – and the Safavids also attributed their origin to Imam Sajad(P.B.H) whose father, Imam Hosein, is the
grandson of Holy Prophet of Islam, and his mother is Shahrbanou, daughter of Yazdgird, the last Sasanid king who
attributed his own origin to the Achaemenid. Therefore, the Safavids, on the one hand, were related to the holy
prophet of Islam (P.B.H) and, on the other hand, to the kings of Iran.
Therefore, the ideology of the Safavid which was the basis of their government was based on three foundations
including Shiite, mysticism, and monarchy. With skillful combination of these three elements a strange mixture was
created, giving them great power, keeping them from any harm, and providing independence and national identity
for them, and it was a distinguishing feature of this dynasty (Sedrineya, 2004: 589). Although Shiite and mysticism
avoided getting involved in conflicts with the dominant political parties, in addition, blending Shiite with mysticism
was not an easy task to do because mysticism, in contrast with Shiite, was passive and lacked active movements
,therefore, a review in the foundations of thee two ideologies was necessary. As a result, the Safavids dealt with
conducting a review in the political philosophy of Shiite, integration and adaptability of Shiite and monarchy, and
theoretical background of mysticism.
For Shiite political philosophy in the age of Imams and in the absence period is based on denying the legitimacy of
ruling powers, avoiding opposing them ant attempting to gain political power. Therefore the Shia Imami until the
Mongol age with awareness to this conflict never sought power by fighting against the government of the time.
Shiite movements with a positive approach toward gaining political power began in the age of Moghol Ilkanan and
this approach had the characteristic of mysticism. It was in this period that Ghalianah Shiite and popular mysticism
joined and formed the ideology of Shiite movements. Shhiite at the outset of the Safavid was a combination of shiite
Ghaligari and moderation of the Twelve Imams along with a mystic tendency to dignity and Velayat (the same
reference p. 591). The Ghalyaneh feature of the ideology of the Safavid had been shaped long before king Ismail
took power and even in the time of their fathers. In the second half of the ninth century, the Safavid mystic leader
was not only the representative of the absent Imam but the absent Imam himself. The Safavid leader claimed that
God was dissolved in him and it has been narrated that the disciples of Joneid apparently called him God and
considered his sons as sons of God. Shah Ismail Safavid was considered, up to the time of Ottoman defeat in
Chaldaran war, as a person beyond mankind but Godlike and was worshiped. From this time onwards, in the age of
Shah Abbas I a separation between worldly and spiritual powers was made because Shiite scholars gained power
and kings were forced to hand over the spiritual power to them and were satisfied with temporal power. However,
the existence and sustenance of the Safavid government was beholden to Shiite religion. Recognition of Shia Islam
in Iran gave people an identity distinct from other Moslems and independence and territorial unity were obtained in
the light of this religion. In fact like Sasanian who formed a centralized government in Iran by resorting to Zoroaster
and put an end to the chaos of the age of Parthian, the Safavds utilizing religion established an integrated
government and also by the force of sword transformed the identity of the Iranian society. And this violent approach
toward Muslims of Sunnite religion and keeping distance from the world of Islam helped to weaken Islamic Unity
and strengthen Iranian unity which eventually resulted in fall of the Safavid and dominance of the Afghans in Iran.
To strengthen the principles of their own legitimacy, the Safavid kings relying on the Shiite religion attempted to
manipulate their own genealogy to prove that they were true heirs to Shiite Imams. Adopting this method and
tarnished documents on the marriage between Imam Hosein with the daughter of Sassanid Yazdgerd claimed heir to
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the Sassanid throne. By integrating Shiite and monarchy an irresistible ideology was shaped which in turn helped
them gain power and legitimacy. These two sources gave a unique dignity to the Safavid kings that the AqQionolo ,
despite their tendency to Shiite, lacked it. The Safavid benefited from ethnic sentiment of Iranians to implement
their religious policies. Therefore, by limiting the freedom of other peoples and religions the foundations of the
Safavid government became loose and paved the way for the warm welcome to the Afghan invaders. Although the
tradition of the Sufis was based on disregarding ruling powers, fighting against the world was replaced with
understanding it (the same reference p. 597).
To analyze civilization transformation, cyclic theories should be used. People who used this perspective to analyze
the rise and fall of civilization are Ibn Khaldun, Sorokin, and Spengler,etc. to name a few. Ibn Khaldun in his book
entitled “Introduction” believes that civilizations have starting and ending points and their transformations are
cyclic. He considers “Asabiat” the main factor of change which exists more in nomads than settled ones. There is
no suitable equivalent for „Asabiat‟ in Farsi although some authors think that the term “alliance” used by Durkheim
in his discussions is clse to Asabiat but „Asabiat” in Ibn Khadlun‟s writing includes attributes such as courage,
freedom, solidarity, tribal coherence, ethnic/national bias, religious beliefs, blood bonds , courage and generosity.
Ibn Khaldun believes that societies go through the stages of invasion, summit, luxury, despotism and the decline.
Sorokin determined three stages of civilization (good, bad, transitional) that cyclically and eternally one stage takes
the place of the other (Giroushe, 2005: 34). He sees the human societies fluctuating among three types of
mentalities- sensory mentality, meaning-making, and idealism. Societies based on sensory mentality stress the role
of senses in understanding the realities, societies influenced by more religious understanding of realities have a
meaning-making mentality, and the societies which are of idealism type are transitional and try to make a balance
between the other two types. Stimulating factor of social transformation should be sought within the internal logic of
each society. Human societies are under the influence of internal force to expand their ideology to its logical extent.
It means that a sensory society becomes so sensory that a condition for its decline is prepared. When sensory
mentality reaches its logical extent, people turn to meaning-making systems. But as this new system becomes
dominant, it is moved to its highest point, as a result, the society becomes extremely religious and ready to give
place to an idealistic culture and finally the previous cycle is repeated (Richtzer 2000: 78).
Spengler presents pessimistic ideas about social transformations. He compares the history of the civilizations to
human life and detects four stages of birth, maturation, decline, and death in civilizations. On the basis of this
theory, he has analyzed the current decline of western civilization and predicted its probable ending. In general,
from his point of view, civilizations and cultures are like flowers which grow and then wither without any clear goal
and history is a picture of this eternity (Girousheh 2005: 34).
Based on the abovementioned theories, the Safavid dynasty passed four periods 1. The period of the abbey; it was a
period of testing power based on the ideologies of mysticism and Shiite, 2. The period in which government
establishment began; it was the period starting with the special religious policy of Shah Ismail I and continued with
some innovations by the help of Ghezelbash, 3. The period of prosperity, during this period religion and clergymen
enjoyed authority which was a policy proposed by Shah Ismail I and was continued during the kingdom of Shah
Tahmasb and also covered some yeas of the age of Shah Abbas I,4. Decline period, the period starting from the
middle of Shah Abbas I‟s kingdom; it included the removal of authorities and also transformations in the Safavid
military organizations. Consequently, in the age of Shah Soleiman, Sufis and clergymen except for a short period of
time were not appointed to important jobs and religion and religious people became less important (Nozari,
2010:261)).
From the age of Shah Abbas I, social structure of the Safavid government experienced weaknesses and departing
because the king considered himself as an absolute power and was in control of all affairs and the ministers and the
court had no power. While military and governmental aristocracy, the leaders of Ghezelbash tribes whose support
had led to the rise of the Safavid government had power and authority before Shah Abbas I took power. But after the
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rise of Shah Abbas I, their authority was abolished and even the chieftains who were against the arbitrary measures
taken by the king were killed and made the tribes of Kurdistan and Azarbaijan migrate to Khorasan against the
Uzbeks and seized their goods and cattle and in war with the Ottoman employed the policy of destroying water
supplies and rations. To prevent the influence of religion in the country affairs, the Safavid kings first increased the
number of courts of common law and then created chaos and anarchy in religious courts and finally by bringing the
religious leaders under control and getting them engaged in materialistic affairs, they reduced the amount of their
contribution. This showed that the Safavid government made maximum use of the Shiite religion, Sheikhdom,
mysticism by arousing the religious sentiments of people to pave the way for the establishment of monarchy.
Therefore, factors causing the decline of the Safavid dynasty are as follows:
-
The way Shah Abbas I treated his sons, after him the Safavid throne was captured by incompetent and less
powerful kings and increasingly their authority declined. This stimulated the foreign enemies to think of
aggression and invasion.
-
As mentioned by Mionereski in the introduction of his book entitled” Takerat Al Molouk”, the following
factors caused the decline of Safavid:
1.
The basis of the government of the clergymen upon which Shah Ismail based his government
collapsed, and there was no ideology to replace it.
2.
extreme opposition between old and new elements in the Iranian military classes
3.
the influence and provocation of Queen Mother and khajesarayan
4.
Atrocities of the princes who were bred in harems and were unaware of the outside world.
5.
the lack of consent of the last kings of the Safavid dynasty
-
Political weakness and economic degeneration of Iran, which started with the death of Shah Abbas I,
worsened in the twenty-eight-year reign of King Solomon. The splendor of the divan, the King‟s
lavishness, Khwaja sarayan and the women's intervention in the country„s affairs resulted in the
degradation of the government authority. At the time of Shah Sultan Hossein heavy taxes were taken of
people; this led to the migration of the villagers and reduction of the activities of the crafts men, trading
downturn, and decrease in the capability of the workers which, in turn, resulted in the bankruptcy of the
feudalists. As a result the feudalists claimed independence of the government. The intensified internal
conflicts among the statesmen and governmental corruption all resulted in the disintegration of the Safavid
dynasty.
-
The other cause of the degeneration of the Safavid dynasty was their foreign trade; trade of Iran was
transferred to the coast of the Indian Ocean and fell into the hands of Dutch and Indian traders, trading by
land decreased and Iran lost its mediation role in world‟s economy.
-
More important of all was the dogmatic policy of the Safavid kings including Shah Sultan Hossin. He
tightened the arena for the activities of the Sunnite followers in Kurdistan, the Caucasus, Afghanistan,
Shirwan and other states and by annoying and tormenting, murdering and prosecuting the followers of
other religions and changing their mosques to stalls and by making religious leaders political, he added to
the grudge and hatred of different ethnic and religious groups of people (Nozari, 2010: 305-306).
Corresponding Author: Mohammad Ghorban Kiani
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3. Conclusions
As it was mentioned before, the Safavid dynasty was a turning point in the modern history of Iran as the advent of a
powerful government with a solid ideology combined of Shiite, mysticism, and monarchy is observed. Therefore,
with the advent of Safavid, political, social, economic, cultural structures of Iran with a new identity and thorough
authority were conceived. Reflecting on the history of Iran from the fall of the Sassanid Empire to the rise of Iran's
Safavid dynasty proves that Iran lacked a well-determined political identity for more than nine centuries and it was
at this time that Iran regained its own independent political identity and, with a clearly designated geographical
territory, is recognized as a government against the Ottonan empire. Iran plays roles in international affairs therefore
the Safavis started extensive trade relations with foreign countries. The political genealogy of this period shows that
the advent of political Iran with political and cultural identity had an undeniable relationship with the ideology of
Shiite, mysticism, and the Safavid monarchy which, on the one hand, managed to establish a good relationship with
pre-Islam Iran, the Sassanid kings, and on the other hand, consider themselves as family descendants of Imams
(P.B.H) and the prophet Muhammad (P.B.H). Following the establishment of the government and feudal system
based on mysticism and Shiite, great changes took place in the ideology of the government because by making Shia
the official religion, spiritual recognition of Sufism declined and Shia became the greatest supporter of the Safavids.
As a result, in the historical cycle of two and a half centuries, we can consider the Safavids as the pioneers of
national sovereignty that, on the one hand, by eliminating the feudal system they created political unity and, on the
other hand, by strengthening Shia against the foreign aggressors and the Ottoman made the independence of the
country happen. But the Safavid experienced the four stages of social transformation including testing period (the
period of the abbey and mysticism), commencement (establishment of the government by Shah Ismail), The era of
prosperity (the time of Shah Tahmasb and a period of Shah Abass I‟s kingdom), the decline period (From Shah
Abbas I onwards) and the Iranian genealogy of success and failure began at this time because from the
contemporary Safavid with the beginning of Renaissance is in Europe. Due to wisdom disintegration, the society
experienced a lack of rationality. Separation between the elite and common people propelled the society to the
period of chaos and anarchy so as to give rise to the Afsharieh out of the Safavid ruins.
4. References
[1] Aram, Mohammad Bagher & Ghafarifard, Abbasgholi (1995). The history of the Safavid king, Vol. 1. Tehran:
University Press.
[2] Eghbal, Abbas (1971). Moghul history, Vol.6. Tehran. Amirkabir Press.
[3] Bahramnezhad, Mohsen (2004). The political identity of the Safavid government (An introduction to research
on how to revitalize the idea of religious and political Iran in the age of Safavid). A collection of articles from
the proceeding of a conference on “Safavid in the history of Iran, Tabriz University.
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Corresponding Author: Mohammad Ghorban Kiani
Email: [email protected]
Acceptance Date: 1/4/2014
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Corresponding Author: Mohammad Ghorban Kiani
Email: [email protected]
Acceptance Date: 1/4/2014
36