Ḥaydar Ṣafawī (d. 893/1488) or Shaykh Ḥaydar, the eldest son of Shaykh Junayd Ṣafawī by Khadīja Begum, nephew of the Āq-qūyūnlū (q.v.) sovereign Ūzūn Ḥasan, and the fifth of Shaykh Ṣafī’s descendants to act as the spiritual leader of the Ṣafawid Sufi order which he founded in Ardabīl. Under his leadership, the order—which was largely Shiʿi in character—continued the process of militarisation which had begun under his father. Most significantly, he was the father of Shah Ismāʿīl, who was to found the Ṣafawid dynasty with the support of the qizilbāsh following that he created.

Ḥaydar’s pre…