In Ardabil the khanqah and shrine complex that grew up around the tomb of Sheikh Safi al-Din has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2010. In the Middle Ages thousands of pilgrims came here, food was handed out to the poor and rulers sent gifts. Yet a grandson of the sheikhs from this quiet Sufi centre would one day be proclaimed shah in Tabriz. How did a religious brotherhood become, within two centuries, a movement that founded a state?
Sheikh Safi al-Din and the birth of the order
Sheikh Safi al-Din Ishaq (1252–1334) was born in Ardabil. As a young man his search for a spiritual guide led him to Gilan, to the famous Sufi Sheikh Zahid Gilani. He became Zahid’s devoted disciple and then his son-in-law, and after Zahid’s death (1301) he became head of the order. Safi al-Din returned to Ardabil and founded a khanqah — a centre where Sufis gathered and prayed and the poor were fed. After him the order was called the Safawiyya, and the line of sheikhs the Safavids.
Safi al-Din lived in the Hulaguid period, and his prestige attracted rulers too: the Hulaguid ilkhans and the vizier Rashid al-Din showed him great respect and sent gifts to the khanqah. His disciples were numerous in Azerbaijan, Anatolia and Syria, especially among the Turkic tribes. At first the order was a Sunni Sufi brotherhood; in the 15th century it gradually became a Shi‘ite order. Historians disagree on exactly when this change took place.
Order, murshid, muridDefinition
An order (tariqa) is a Sufi brotherhood; the murshid (sheikh) is its spiritual guide; a murid is a disciple who obeys the sheikh. In distant regions the sheikh ruled his disciples through his representatives, the khalifas. A murid had to carry out his murshid’s orders without question — and this very devotion later became the Safavids’ military strength.
From Sadr al-Din to Sheikh Ibrahim: wealth and influence
Safi al-Din’s son Sadr al-Din Musa (1334–1391) had his father’s tomb built and enlarged the khanqah. Villages donated by rulers and wealthy disciples became waqf lands, and the disciples brought the sheikh votive offerings (nazir) and gifts. In this way the Ardabil sheikhs became some of the richest feudal lords of Azerbaijan and in practice governed Ardabil and its district. This wealth was the economic basis of their later political power.
Under Khwaja Ali (1391–1429) the order’s influence grew further. According to tradition, when Timur was in Ardabil he freed, at Khwaja Ali’s request, the captives he had brought from Anatolia; they settled around Ardabil and became the sheikhs’ most devoted disciples. Sheikh Ibrahim (1429–1447) kept peaceful relations with the Qaraqoyunlu rulers: in 1440 his disciples took part in Jahan Shah’s Georgian campaign (see «The Qaraqoyunlu state»).
Sheikh Junayd: from an order to a political movement
Sheikh Junayd (1447–1460) sought not only spiritual but also worldly power: he armed his disciples from the Turkic tribes and formed fighting bands. Alarmed by this, the Qaraqoyunlu ruler Jahan Shah drove him out of Ardabil in 1449, and the leadership of the order was given to Junayd’s uncle Jafar. Junayd travelled through Anatolia and Syria gathering supporters, then found refuge in Diyarbakir with the Qaraqoyunlu’s rival Uzun Hasan and married his sister Khadija Begum. After returning to Ardabil he set out on a campaign to Daghestan, but his road ran through Shirvan: in 1460 he was killed fighting the army of the Shirvanshah Khalilullah I.
Sheikh Haydar, the Qizilbash and Sultan Ali
Junayd’s son Sheikh Haydar (1460–1488) grew up at the court of his uncle Uzun Hasan. After the fall of the Qaraqoyunlu state Uzun Hasan sent him to Ardabil as sheikh and gave him his daughter Alamshah Begum (Halima Begum) in marriage — Haydar became both Uzun Hasan’s nephew and his son-in-law. For his disciples Haydar introduced a red cap with twelve gores («Haydar’s crown») in honour of the twelve imams; those who wore it were called Qizilbash. He led several campaigns to Daghestan by the Shirvan road. In 1488 the Shirvanshah Farrukh Yasar asked the Aghqoyunlu Sultan Yaqub for help, and the joint army defeated the Qizilbash at Tabasaran; Haydar was killed.
Sultan Yaqub imprisoned Haydar’s sons — Sultan Ali, Ibrahim and Ismail, born in 1487 — together with their mother in the fortress of Istakhr in Fars. In 1493 the Aghqoyunlu ruler Rustam set them free in order to use the Qizilbash against his rival, but, fearing Sultan Ali’s growing influence, he then turned against him. In 1494 Sultan Ali was killed in battle near Ardabil, having named his younger brother Ismail as his heir before he died. The disciples hid Ismail and took him to Lahijan; from 1494 to 1499 he lived under the protection of the ruler of Gilan. What happened next is told in the lesson «The founding of the Safavid state of Azerbaijan: Shah Ismail I».
| Sheikh | Years | Main deeds |
|---|---|---|
| Safi al-Din Ishaq | 1252–1334 | Zahid Gilani’s successor; founded the Ardabil khanqah |
| Sadr al-Din Musa | 1334–1391 | built Sheikh Safi’s tomb; the waqf lands grew |
| Khwaja Ali | 1391–1429 | by tradition, asked Timur to free the captives |
| Sheikh Ibrahim | 1429–1447 | peaceful relations with the Qaraqoyunlu |
| Sheikh Junayd | 1447–1460 | armed the disciples; expelled in 1449; killed fighting the Shirvanshah |
| Sheikh Haydar | 1460–1488 | the red cap — the Qizilbash; killed at Tabasaran |
| Sultan Ali | 1488–1494 | imprisoned at Istakhr; killed in 1494, named Ismail heir |
| Cause | Result |
|---|---|
| gifts from rulers and disciples | large waqf lands, the sheikhs’ wealth |
| Junayd armed his disciples | Jahan Shah drove him out of Ardabil (1449) |
| kinship with Uzun Hasan | Haydar returned to Ardabil as sheikh |
| campaigns by the Shirvan road | Junayd (1460) and Haydar (1488) killed; a blood feud with the Shirvanshahs |
| Feature | Sheikh Junayd | Sheikh Haydar |
|---|---|---|
| Kinship with Uzun Hasan | married his sister | married his daughter |
| With the Qaraqoyunlu | Jahan Shah drove him out of Ardabil | the Qaraqoyunlu no longer existed |
| Innovation | fighting bands of disciples | the red cap — the Qizilbash |
| Death | 1460, fighting Khalilullah I’s army | 1488, at Tabasaran — against Farrukh Yasar and Sultan Yaqub |
- 1252
Sheikh Safi al-Din is born in Ardabil
- 1301
Safi al-Din becomes head of the order
- 1334
Safi al-Din dies; Sadr al-Din Musa heads the order
- 1440
Sheikh Ibrahim’s disciples join Jahan Shah’s campaign
- 1447
Sheikh Junayd becomes head of the order
- 1449
Jahan Shah drives Junayd out of Ardabil
- 1460
Sheikh Junayd is killed fighting the Shirvanshah
- 1487
Birth of Ismail
- 1488
Sheikh Haydar is killed at Tabasaran
- 1493
Haydar’s sons are freed from Istakhr
- 1494
Sultan Ali is killed; Ismail the heir
- 1494–1499
Ismail in hiding in Lahijan
Interactive
Source (adapted): based on the work of Ibn Bazzaz, «Safwat al-safa».
From his youth the sheikh searched for a spiritual guide and travelled to many towns, but found no teacher to his heart’s liking. At last he came to Sheikh Zahid in Gilan and spent long years of his life in his service. Zahid appointed him as his successor. When the sheikh returned to his home town, disciples flocked to his khanqah from every side; among them were many Turks from the lands of Rum and Sham. Rulers and viziers sent him letters and gifts and endowed the khanqah with their villages. Every day hundreds of poor people were fed in the khanqah’s kitchen.
Source tasks
Problem
1. Which sheikh and which town does the text describe?
2. Explain one religious and one economic reason for the growth of the order’s influence.
3. Name two consequences not stated in the text.
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Solution
2. Religious: belief in the sheikh’s holiness and the spread of Sufi teaching among the Turkic tribes. Economic: villages given by rulers became waqf lands, the khanqah fed the poor, and disciples brought offerings. Marks: both — 1; one — ½.
3. For example: the sheikhs became some of the richest feudal lords of Azerbaijan; disciples from the Turkic tribes later formed the core of the Qizilbash army; in the 15th century Junayd and Haydar turned the order into a military and political force, and in 1501 the Safavid state was founded. Marks: two correct consequences — 1; one — ½.
DIM-type task: chronological order
Problem
Arrange the Safavid sheikhs in the order in which they led the order:
1. Sheikh Haydar
2. Sheikh Safi al-Din
3. Sheikh Junayd
4. Sadr al-Din Musa
5. Sultan Ali
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Solution
Trap: Haydar is Junayd’s son, not his father.
Answer: 2, 4, 3, 1, 5.
DIM-type task: sheikh → deed
Problem
Match:
1. Sheikh Junayd
2. Sheikh Haydar
3. Sultan Ali
a. introduced the red cap with twelve gores for his disciples
b. was driven out of Ardabil by Jahan Shah
c. was freed from Istakhr and later killed fighting the Aghqoyunlu
d. became Sheikh Zahid’s disciple in Gilan
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Solution
Answer: 1-b, 2-a, 3-c.
Remember
- Sheikh Safi al-Din (1252–1334) succeeded Zahid Gilani and founded a khanqah in Ardabil; the order was called the Safawiyya and the line the Safavids.
- Waqf lands, gifts from rulers and the disciples’ offerings made the sheikhs some of the richest feudal lords of Azerbaijan.
- Sheikh Junayd (1447–1460) armed his disciples; Jahan Shah expelled him from Ardabil in 1449; he married Uzun Hasan’s sister and was killed fighting the Shirvanshah Khalilullah I in 1460.
- Sheikh Haydar (1460–1488), Uzun Hasan’s son-in-law, introduced the red cap with twelve gores (the Qizilbash) and was killed at Tabasaran in 1488.
- Haydar’s sons were imprisoned at Istakhr; Sultan Ali was killed in 1494, and Ismail hid in Lahijan in 1494–1499.