Safavid Persia

Portugal in the Sea of Oman - Religion and Politics is an editorial achievement, which is unique in the Arab World. In cooperation with the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Oman, the University of Aachen and the Centro de Estudos Históricos (Universidade Nova de Lisboa), more than one thousand documents, ranging from 1504 to 1697, from the Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo (Lisbon), are published in a trilingual edition (original portuguese, translation into English and Arabic). Thus, invaluable primary sources are now available for scientists all over the world and a new scholarly dialogue about this essential period for the Arabian History can ensue.

This chapter seeks to place Iran’s recent foreign policies in the Cold War and beyond in the broader context of the country’s experiences in international affairs. Modern Iran emerged around 1501, when Esma‘il I, a youthful prince descended from Muslim, Georgian, Turkish, and Byzantine royalty and nobility, proclaimed himself shah and re-established a Persian state after a hiatus of nine centuries. From that time onward, ensuring Iran’s security and at times its survival repeatedly impelled its leaders to seek support from imposing external allies or patrons who could help the new state to resist the threats, demands, and assaults of powerful and often threatening neighbors. From the late fifteenth to the early eighteenth century, the Ottoman Empire was by far the most dangerous international opponent of Iran. In response, Esma‘il and his successors turned to European powers and Russia for assistance. From the late eighteenth century, expansionist Russia represented the greatest threat to both Iran and the Ottoman Empire, prompting both states to seek the protection of the British Empire. In practice, for much of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this often meant that Britain and Russia effectively colluded in dividing Iran into spheres of influence. This pattern recurred when Britain and the Soviet Union were allied against Adolf Hitler’s Germany during World War II, a conflict that also brought the United States into direct involvement in Iran’s affairs. As British power in Iran declined, the United States stepped in, organizing a coup that cemented the hold on power of Shah Reza Mohammad Pahlavi and effectively replacing Britain as Iran’s foremost international ally and patron. Following the Shah’s overthrow in 1979 and the Islamic Revolution, which left the nation locked in bitter antagonism with the United States and vulnerable to attack by neighboring Iraq, Iran was initially somewhat friendless. From 1980 to 1988, it was locked in a bitter, stalemated war with Iraq, in which up to one million Iranians died or were seriously wounded. Facing continued hostility from the United States and also from Israel and Saudi Arabia, together with threats to its nuclear program, in the early twenty-first century Iran turned for security to post-Soviet Russia. As China’s reach expanded dramatically in these years, stretching well into Central Asia and beyond, Iran’s leaders also believed it profitable to align their country with the ambitious and increasingly influential new global superpower. The history of Iran’s involvement with major external powers nonetheless suggests that the purported new triple alliance will soon find itself navigating treacherous territory and troubled waters.

Religious sects were affected upon the political system changes in many countries as a historical factor, on the earth, time to time. Some sects failed, but some of them were successful. In fact, some of their leaders came to power or established a dynasty. Historically, there were two prominent religious and syncretic sects on the earth, which lead a revolt and established their dynasties: First, White Lotus and Red Turban Movement in the fourteenth century in China; second, the Shi'ite Safavids in the sixteenth century in Iran. In this article, shortly, both will be compared as historical factors, and inquired that their ways of coming to power, taking their lead of the revolts and establishing their dynasties 1.Religious Sects and "Syncretism" Religious sects had not symbolized a character of a whole religious system as a historical point of view, because mainstream religious institutions had been converted into a political tool by the ruling class or the monarch. Thus, it was emerged two (or more) separated belief approachment within a religion which each one was able to eclectic. Also, religious sects became popular and independently faith-based organizations which mixed with old local beliefs and spread to different places in a country. On the other hand, there had been some sects with a mixed character of various belief systems in a religion, as historically. This was called "syncretism".

For a country that was never colonized, the title of the present article is greatly preoccupying; and indeed, what happens in today’s Turkey should consume much thought and analysis among not only Turks but also Russians, Chinese, Persians, Mexicans, Indians, Brazilians, Japanese, and useless to add it, Africans.

Having been formed in the nucleus part of the Ottoman Empire that constituted an uninterrupted continuity of more than 600 years, Turkey was first constrained to fight against all sorts of colonials: the Russians had been defeated in the North-East by Mustafa Kemal Pasha (later known as Ataturk) already before the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. But there were French in the South, Italians in the South-East, English in Istanbul, and in the West, the Greeks were incited by the colonial powers to expand around Izmir. After the liberation of these territories, foreigners were not allowed to move through Turkey – except in rare cases and in custody. Thanks to Kemal Ataturk, Turkey was not colonized.
First published in AfroArticles, American Chronicle, and Buzzle on 23rd February 2009
Republished in Illyria Proboards on 29th January 2010

Ismaili traditions of devotional poetry continued to flourish after the Mongol conquests, although much of it has been little known until recently. The period of the Imam Mustansir bi'llah II of Anjudan (d. 885/1480) and his successors saw a flowering of Ismaili devotional poetry. The poet Muhammad b. Husam b. Shams al-Din Muhammad Khusfi (d. in either 875/1470 or 893/1488) is associated with the village of Khusf in Khurasan. He became well known for a genre of praise poetry dedicated to the Prophet and Imam Ali, and his poems are found in both Ismaili and non-Ismaili collections. "The Season of Orisons" is a piece that urges devotion to the Imam of the Time.

The Yemen, is the birth place and hub for a number of monotheistic religious convictions . In its North West region, just 243 kilometers away from San'aa, the official capital of the Republic of Yemen , lies a spiritual center, a holy metropolis known as Saa'da  .
It is to Zaidi Islam as Qum is to Shia Islam and Mecca is to Sunni Islam. It is where the scholars dwell, to read, learn and teach their disciples to carry on the doctrine and preserve the faith throughout history.
It is here that the Houthi phenomenon first appeared.
This study focuses on the very beginnings of Houthism as a phenomenon, it's source and affiliations. It is but the first part of a series of papers that will delve into the movement as it expands over time.

«مسجد حکیم اصفهان، مسجدی چهارایوانی است که در زمان صفویان بر روی بقایای مسجدی قدیمی از دورۀ دیلمیان ساخته شده و مانند سایر بناهای مذهبی این دوره، از تزئینات زیبا و چشم‌نوازی برخوردار است. عمده تزیینات این بنا شامل کاشی‌کاری‌های معرق است که با رنگ‌های مرسوم در این دوره، زینت‌بخش فضای خارجی مانند صحن و فضای داخلی مانند گنبدخانه مسجد شده‌اند. چنانچه بگوییم مسجد حکیم، بزرگترین گنجینۀ کتیبه‌های "کوفی بنایی" یا همان "مُعَقلی" معماری ایران را به‌لحاظ تعدد و تنوع در خود جای داده است، سخن به گزافه نگفته‌ایم. کمتر بنایی را در تاریخ معماری ایران در دورۀ اسلامی می‌توان یافت که با این میزان از کتیبه‌های متنوع به خط کوفی بنایی آراسته شده باشد. تنوع در کتیبه‌ها، رنگ‌بندی کاشی‌ها، بهره‌گیری از ترفندهای فنی، هندسی و چیدمانی متفاوت در اجرای عبارات کوفی بنایی از جمله نکات شاخص کتیبه‌نگاری‌های این بناست.»

This study into both reformism and mysticism demonstrates both that mystical rhetoric appeared regularly in supposedly anti-mystical modernist writing and that nineteenth- and twentieth-century Sufis actually addressed questions of intellectual and political reform in their writing, despite the common assertion that they were irrationally traditional and politically quietist.

European travel accounts have often been incorporated into scholarship on Safavid Iran as sources for historiography and ethnographic information. The study of previously underexplored travel narratives composed by Safavid Iranians, although outnumbered by European accounts, foregrounds Persian travel writing as a self-referential and self-reflective source for Safavid and Shi‘i historiography. The image of Iran in Safavid narratives of travels, none of which were destined for Europe, emerges in close encounters with Iran’s neighbours in the Muslim world and beyond. Safavid travel narratives, as the site of self-inscription, reveal how Iranians envisaged Iran and their identity in the course of their travels within and outside Iran. 

Ala Amjadi, Maryam

Conference: The Idea of Iran: The Second Safavid Century

Link: https://www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis/events/idea-of-iran/11may2019-the-idea-of-iran-the-second-safavid-century.html

Although several portraits of Shah Ismail I – the founder of Safavid State of Azerbaijan are known today, there are no detailed research works on the true author of these portraits, when and under what circumstances they were painted. For the first time, the identification of the portraits was classified according to two different criteria: the first for outward signs (clothes, ornamental accessories, hat, etc.) and the second for anthropometric signs. The image of Shah Ismail I was analyzed comparatively with the portraits of Yavuz Sultan Selim, their different peculiarities were revealed.

Article devoted to the copper Persian coins of eighteenth century, countermarked by "shamshir(s)", and found in Syuniq, Southern Armenia. Basing on numismatic analysis they attributed to sparapet Davit Bek. During 1725/6-1728 Davit Bek was head of the Sghnax of Kapan ("a kind of republic," as J. Hanway noted), and achieved from Tahmasp II Safavi right to struck the coin - "išxanowt‘iwn hatanel zdram," that is the same as right of haqq al-zarb.

Book Description The Safavid World brings together thirty chapters on many aspects of the complex Safavid state, 1501-1722. With the latest insights and arguments, some offer overviews of the period or topic at hand, and others present new interpretations of old questions based on newly found sources. In addition to political history and religious life, the chapters in this volume cover economic conditions, commercial links and activities, social relations, and artistic expressions. They do so in ways that stretch both the temporal and geographical perimeters of the subject, and contributors also examine Safavid Iran with an eye to both its Mongol and Timurid antecedents and its long afterlife following the fall of the dynasty. Unlike traditional scholarship which tended to view the country as unique, sui generis, and barely affected by the outside world, The Safavid World situates Iran in a wider, regional or global context. Examining the Safavids from their foundations in the fourteenth century to their relations with the rest of the world in the eighteenth century, this study is essential reading for undergraduates, postgraduates, and scholars of the Safavid world and the history and culture of Iran and the Middle East.

This study pays particular attention to Malay-Indonesian manuscripts which has not been examined
[precisely] so far. The manuscripts examined in this article are kept in the Leiden University Library
whose content or origin remained under-researched. In some instances, the manuscripts have not been
comprehensively examined. The following themes are analysed:

1. Persian Musical Modes and Poems in the Malay-Indonesian world;
Persian Rhythmic Poems Copied by Malays;
Rhythmic Mystical Supplication to ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib;
Poems of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar;
2. Familiarity with the Persian Language
3.Learning Islamic Sciences through Persian
4. Persianized Malay and Malayized Persian

Paolo Piromalli (1591-1667) came from Siderno in Calabria. He joined the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) in around 1610, and spent the following two decades in Soriano Calabro, Naples, and Rome. In 1631, he was sent by the Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide to the mission in Persia and Greater Armenia, for the purpose of bringing the Armenian Orthodox population into union with Rome. As a missionary he was heavily engaged in religious debates with clergymen of the Armenian Apostolic Church. (...)

First published on 17th June 2020 here:
https://megalommatis.wordpress.com/iran-is-not-persia-and-persia-is-not-iran/

Excerpt:
There was never a Persian Empire; in either pre-Islamic or Islamic times, there was only an Iranian Empire, and Persia (Fars) was only one of its provinces (or satrapies). Persians were only one of the Iranian Empire's nations. After the Islamic Conquest (636-642-651), Farsi was the native language of only the Persians. But it was the cultural language of the Iranian Empire, and of many others: the Seljuks, the Ilkhanids, the Ottomans, the Timurids, and the Mughal of India.

The Safavid World brings together thirty chapters on many aspects of the complex Safavid state, 1501–1722. With the latest insights and arguments, some offer overviews of the period or topic at hand, and others present new interpretations of old questions based on newly found sources.

No doubt, every nation had possessed a set of deeply rooted
beliefs, these rendered into variant practices and traditions,
establishing civilization aspects. The belief in magic,
superstitions and divinations are categorized under these
beliefs. Mankind had tremendously believed their ability to
hurt, bring bad destiny, and on other hand, trusting their
capacity to bestow protection and guarantee good luck, thus,
motivated the appeal to possessing amulets and talismans.
This research paper deals with ‘Bāzūbands’; a form of
amulets and talismans, worn by warriors to, morally,
safeguard them and ensure triumph through Qur’ānic
inscriptions, invocations, besides other magical texts. The
research tackles some important aspects related the Safavid
and Qajar bāzūbands, like the belief in magic, its roots in the
Persian culture, an etymological study for the different terms;
‘amulet’, ‘talisman’ and ‘bāzūband’, to reveal their roots and
consequent development. This is followed by a preview for
the Shi‘ītes’ attitude regarding amulets and talismans, and the
main elements that should be exploited in fashioning them,
and the influence of the Shi‘īte belief on its mounting and
ornamentation. In addition, a detailed description for a
special collection of talismanic ‘bāzūbands’ from world-wide
museums and private collections; some of which are to be
published for the first time, is enclosed. Thenceforth, a
concise analysis for the described samples is incorporated.

Images of Chan eccentrics were a popular artistic theme in East Asia from the eleventh century onwards. In the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), the theme was carried across the Eurasian continent to Persia. This article examines two fifteenthcentury paintings of Chan eccentrics in Persian albums, currently in the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul. It argues that the paintings are different both thematically and visually, and it explores them in the contexts of their specific albums and histories of collection and viewing. The article shows that each painting brings together visual and conceptual elements of many traditions, including Chinese, Persian and Eurasian traditions and Islamic mysticism. The paintings question common modes of art historical categorization. At the same time, they are evidence of lively artistic networks between Ming China and the Eurasian continent.

Brochure of an exhibition of textiles and related arts organized by The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C., on view 7 November 1986 - 29 January 1987. Topics addressed: Meaning and Metaphor, Court and Commerce, Textiles and Trade, Textiles and Technology, Commodity and Consumption, Pasture and Product.

Examining 16th-century Kurdish politics, particularly in the frontier districts between the Ottoman and Safavid Empires, aptly serves as a starting point for understanding Kurdish regional semi-autonomy. This paper, dedicated to the activities of Kurdish individuals involved in information-gathering on behalf of both the Ottoman and the Safavid Empires, is the first of its kind. The findings presented here are the result of close exploration in the Ottoman archives as well as detailed reading of a number of materials from Ottoman and Safavid chronicles. The paper discusses three main subjects. The introductory section briefly explains the methods and potentials of Kurdish spying as well as some of the particulars of Ottoman– Safavid espionage. The second section provides an overview of two famous Kurdish intellectual historians and the role each played in information-gathering. The third section discusses cases of espionage throughout the political careers of several Kurdish frontier emirs.

В статье на основе анализа первоисточников по истории армянского освободительного движения 1720-х гг. выявлено, в частности, следующее: 1. В Капане (Сюнике) апрель—июль 1722 г. явились периодом безвластия, в течение которого армянские и мусульманские военные силы региона активно готовились к ставшему неизбежным столкновению; 2. Давид-бек набрал 2000 армянских воинов (часть которых составляли тифлисские армяне) в период большой мобилизации в Грузии, организованной царем Картли Вахтангом VI в августе—первой половине сентября 1722 г. согласно указу (июнь 1722 г.) шаха Султан-Хусейна. В это же время Давид-бек со своим войском вступил в Армению; 3. Разграничиваются события, происшедшие сразу после вступления Давид-бека в Сюник и до 1723 г., уточняется их последовательность (от проведенной Давид-беком мобилизации в гаваре Сисиан до его переезда в Татев).

Identifying and analyzing the chronological system, its various components in a society, showing its components’ solidarity and their consequences with a historical approach are all examples of cultural studies. In this study, we will investigate the components of the chronological system in the Safavid society such as chronology, chronometry, time reconing, making calendars, historiography, dating, astrology, and its cosmological fundations.
The study shows that the criteria for the scheduling and time units in this
era were also inspired by the rhythms of the natural order and everyday
needs. Primitive and inaccurate tools and horological methods were used for measuring time, and aside from serving the limited scientific and astrological needs, their most important application was to determine the daily prayer times.
The dating system of the Safavid Era somewhat distanced itself from the
linear chronometers, and as a result, the non-linear dating was improved.
Making calendars and propagating it, and in addition to adjusting the
chronometers, they registered numerous and diverse astrology that led to its rapid growth. The time management was done by a network of material and spiritual tools and factors including religion, natural and economic needs, the force of nature, astrology and power relations. The predominance of the natural time repetitive rhythms, the weakness of horology system, poor historicizing and the understanding the historical time is consistent with the Safavid Era that indicates a continuous understanding of the natural and non-historical time in that era.
The growing use of astrology turned it into an important element in the
chronological order of the Safavid society and at the same time brought
about a development in the use of calendars. In addition, it became a basis for the astrologers’ position and high status in the Safavid society to the extent that its use among the public caused some of the religious scholars to react that its authority belonged to the astrologers. This study aims to analyze and identify the Safavid Era’s chronological system and its components, different issues related to the understanding of time in that era and its results using an explanatory-analytical method.

This manuscript stems from the period of Shāh Esmā'il Safavid (1502-1524 C.E.) that deals with fighting with weapons such as bows, lances, spears, swords and wrestling.  A copy of this manuscript is kept in the National Library of Malek in Tehran.  The chapter 13 (which consists of 49 handwritten pages) deals with the topic of archery, wrestling, lance/spear combat, riding horses and swords and similar topics.  The whole manuscript is translated and annotated in the book: Persian Archery and Swordsmanship: Historical Martial Arts of Iran. In the following some parts of the manuscript in original script and annotated translation as shown in the book Persian Archery and Swordsmanship: Historical Martial Arts of Iran are shown. For the complete translation consult the book above:

Osmanlılar ile Safeviler arasındaki uzun süreli mücadelelerin bir ayağını da çeşitli mecralarda sürdürülen dinsel tartışmalar oluşturur. II. Bayezid’in iktidarının son yıllarında başlayıp Yavuz Sultan Selim ve Kanunî Sultan Süleyman dönemlerinde devam eden bu tartışmalar, Osmanlı kronik yazarlarının kendi mecralarında konuya dair belirttikleri görüşleri, ulemanın verdiği Safevi/Kızılbaş karşıtı fetvalar ve iki taraf
arasındaki diplomatik yazışmalar üzerinden sürdürüldü. Kuşkusuz bu sonuncusu, tartışmaların en hararetle sürdürüldüğü mecra oldu. Bu makalede mevcut dini ve siyasi polemiklerin bir manifesto şeklinde karşı tarafa duyurulduğu ve karşılıklı çekişmeye dönüştürüldüğü diplomatik yazışmalar ekseninde Şah Tahmasb ile Kanunî Sultan Süleyman arasındaki hararetli meşruiyet tartışmalarına değinilecektir.

کتاب در جستجوی سفال ایران، سفرنامه‌ای علمی و خواندنی درباره‌‌ی هنر سفالگری ایران با قدمتی ده هزارساله است، که نتیجه‌ی مطالعات و تحقیقات میدانی، پژوهشگر برجسته ژاپنی، پروفسور میتسوکنی یوشیدا بوده است.
نویسنده کتاب به‌عنوان یک باستان‌شناس، مدیر دانشگاه  و موزه‌ی کیوتو، در سال ۱۹۵۶م. نخستین سفر  پژوهشی خود را به ایران انجام داد و از آن پس شیفته‌ی  فرهنگ و هنر ، به‌ویژه تاریخ هنر سفال و سفال‌سازی ایرانی شد.
از آن زمان و تا سال ۱۹۶۴م.، چندین بار دیگر به ایران سفر کرد و به اقصی نقاط ایران رفت تا با پیشینه این هنر بیشتر آشنا شود و در نهایت مجموعه‌ی اطلاعات و دستاوردهای علمی و پژوهشی خود را در قالب کتاب حاضر منتشر کرد.
این کتاب یکی از منابع ارزشمند وکمتر شناخته شده درباره‌ی تاریخچه‌ و سبک‌شناسی سفال ایران (از دوران باستان تا روزگار معاصر) است که برای نخستین‌بار به فارسی ترجمه و در ایران منتشر می‌گردد.

Shāh Ṭahmāsp Ṣafavī (r. 1524‒1576) patronized the translation of Arabic works into Persian in an effort to convert society to the Twelver Shī‘ī outlook. According to modern Iranian literary history, one of the works that came to his attention for translation was Risālah-i Ḥusnīyah (Ḥusnīyah’s Treatise (Ḥusnīyah)), the story of a scholarly Shīʿī slave-girl and former student of the sixth imām Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (d.765), who debates the Sunnī scholars of the fifth ʿAbbāsid caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd (d. 805) on religious law, and roundly defeats them all. The date of this narrative’s appearance in Iran is 958/1551, according to the manuscript introduction. A link between Ḥusnīyah and the “Tale of Tawaddud,” the story preserved in the One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights), and in independent form, which tells of a scholarly Sunnī slave-girl who debates the scholars of al-Rashīd’s court, had gone unnoticed in Iranian scholarship until recently, and was known to western scholars only through the summary and partial translation of Sir John Malcolm in his 1815 The History of Persia. From the Early Period to the Present Time. The comparison of a portion of the two tales illustrates not only a shared frame story but also the ideological common ground between the two. Since no Arabic original of Ḥusnīyah has been found, however, nor has scholarship located a sixteenth-century manuscript to date, the appearance of this story in Iran poses more questions than it provides answers. Ḥusnīyah is both an obvious artifact of the Ṣafavid legitimization project and a story linked to an earlier polemical narrative, and these two characteristics raise its importance for further study of its transmission as well as for the ideological intents of both stories.

Keywords: Ḥusnīyah, Tawaddud, Ṣafavid, Sunnī/Shīʿī Polemic, Arabian Nights, Folklore