The Safavid order, also called the Safaviyya ( fa, صفویه), was a
tariqa
A tariqa (or ''tariqah''; ar, طريقة ') 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". ...
(
Sufi order) founded by the
Kurdish[R.M. Savory. Ebn Bazzaz.](_blank)
''Encyclopædia Iranica''[V. Minorsky, "The Poetry of Shāh Ismā‘īl I," ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', University of London 10/4 (1942): 1006–53.] 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
The Shafii ( ar, شَافِعِي, translit=Shāfiʿī, also spelled Shafei) school, also known as Madhhab al-Shāfiʿī, is one of the four major traditional schools of religious law (madhhab) in the Sunnī branch of Islam. It was founded by ...
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.
Founder and foundation
Safī al-Din grew up in
Ardabil, but left it for lack of adequate teachers, traveling to
Shiraz
Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) 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 p ...
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.
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
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
largely from
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), 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 lie ...
and
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
to make the Safavid practices orthodox.
See also
*
Safavid dynasty family tree The oldest extant book on the genealogy of the Safavid family is ''Safvat as-safa'' and was written by Ibn Bazzaz in 1350, a disciple of Sheikh Sadr-al-Din Safavi, the son of Sheikh Safi ad-din Ardabili. According to Ibn Bazzaz, the Sheikh was a ...
*
Safvat as-safa
*
Safavid dynasty
*
Musha'sha'iyyah, a rival Shi'a sect
References
{{Safavids
Ja'fari jurisprudence
Shia Islamic branches
Sufi orders
Twelver Shi'ism
Shia Sufi orders