, a dynasty which ruled in Persia as “sovereigns 907-1135/1501-1722, as fainéants 1142-8/1729-36, and thereafter, existed as pretenders to the throne up to 1186/1773. I. Dynastic, political and military history. The establishment of the Ṣafawid state in 907/1501 by S̲h̲āh Ismāʿīl I [ q.v.] (initially ruler of Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān only) marks an important turning-point in Persian history. In the first place, the Ṣafawids restored Persian sovereignty over the whole of the area traditionally regarded as the heartlands of Persia for the first ti…

, styled the Great, king of Persia of the Ṣafawī dynasty, second son and successor of Muḥammad Ḵh̲udābanda, was born on 1 Ramaḍān 978/27 January 1571, and died in Māzandarān on 24 Ḏj̲umāḍā I 1038/19 January 1629, after a reign of 42 solar (43 lunar) years. In 980/1572-3 he remained at Harāt when his father moved to S̲h̲īrāz. In 984/1576-7 Ismāʿīl II put to death the lala (tutor) of ʿAbbās, and appointed ʿAlī Ḳulī Ḵh̲ān S̲h̲āmlū governor of Harāt with orders to execute ʿAbbās himself. ʿAlī Ḳulī procrastinated, and, when the death of Ismāʿī…

(Täkkä-lü), the name of a group of Turcomans originating from the regions of Menteşe, Aydin, Saruhan, Hamit and Germiyan in southern Anatolia, an area known collectively as Tekeili [ q.v.] ( Tārīk̲h̲-i Ḳizilbās̲h̲ān , ed. Mīr Hās̲h̲im Muḥaddit̲h̲, Tehran 1361 AHS/1982, 27). The Turcoman tribes of Anatolia were one of the primary targets of Ṣafawid propaganda ( daʿwa ) [see bāyazīd ii ; ṣafawids. i ], and the Takkalūs responded early to this call and entered the service of the Ṣafawid s̲h̲ayk̲h̲s D̲j̲unayd and Ḥaydar [ q.v.]. In 905/1499, when Ismāʿīl [see ismāʿīl i …

, born ca. 968/1560, died probably ca. 1042/1632, author of the Tārīk̲h̲-i ʿĀlam-ārā-yi ʿAbbāsī , one of the greatest works of Persian historiography. The muḳaddima , on the origins of the Ṣafawids and the reigns of Ismaʿīl I and Ṭahmāsp I, is followed by a detailed history of the reign of S̲h̲āh ʿAbbās I. The bulk of the work ( Ṣaḥīfas I and II, or, according to another reckoning, Ṣaḥīfa I and Ṣaḥīfa II, Maḳṣad i) was completed in 1025/1616. A later portion, variously termed Ṣaḥīfa III, or Ṣaḥīfa II, Maḳṣad ii, was completed in 1038/1629, the year of S̲h̲āh ʿAbbās’s death. In the sa…

, S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ , the 5th Ṣafawid s̲h̲ayk̲h̲ in line of descent from S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ Ṣafī al-Dīn Isḥāḳ, the founder of the Ṣafawid ṭarīḳa . The son of D̲j̲unayd [ q.v.] and K̲h̲adīd̲j̲a Begum, the sister of the Aḳ Ḳoyunlu ruler Uzun Ḥasan, Ḥaydar succeeded his father as head of the Ṣafawid ṭarīḳa at Ardabīl in 864/1460. Ḥaydar, by his marriage to Ḥalīma Begī Āg̲h̲ā (or Marta; better known as ʿAlams̲h̲āh Begum), the daughter of Uzun Ḥasan and Despina K̲h̲ātūn, the latter the daughter of Calo Johannes, the Emperor of Trebizond, maintained the close alliance w…

, Kankiwar , Kangāwar , a small town of western Persia (population in 1975, 13,144) situated in lat. 34°29′ N., long. 47°55′ E., and in the bak̲h̲s̲h̲ of the same time in the s̲h̲ahristān of Kirmāns̲h̲āhān. The town is almost equidistant from the cities of Kirmāns̲h̲āh and Hamadān [ qq.v.], and lies at an altitude of 1,467 m. ; it is first mentioned by Isidore of Charax under the name “Concobar”. The bak̲h̲s̲h̲ comprises (1975) four dihistāns , with a total of some sixty villages and a population of about 38,435. The economy of the region is based on agriculture and trade. The Kangāwar valley ha…

(t. “Red-head”). The word is used in both a general and a specific sense. In general, it is used loosely to denote a wide variety of extremist S̲h̲īʿī sects [see g̲h̲ulāt ], which flourished in ¶ Anatolia and Kurdistān from the late 7th/13th century onwards, including such groups as the Alevis ( ʿAlawīs ; see A. S. Tritton, Islam: belief and practices, London 1951, 83). The ʿAlawīs were closely connected with the Nuṣayrīs [ q.v.] of northern Syria and Cicilia, and the tahtacis ( tak̲h̲tad̲j̲is [ q.v.]), in order to protect themselves from persecution by the Ottoman government as …

(Pers.), “sanctuary, asylum”, a term applied to certain places which were regarded as affording an inviolable sanctuary to any malefactor, however grave his crime; once within the protection of the bast , the malefactor could negotiate with his pursuers, and settle the ransom which would purchase his immunity when he left the bast. In Persia the idea of bast was connected in particular with (1) mosques and other sacred buildings, especially the tombs of saints (for example, in 806/1404 Tīmūr is said to have recognised the tomb ( mazār ) at Ardabīl of S̲h̲ayk̲h̲…

( Abu’ l-Muẓaffar ), born 25 Rad̲j̲ab 892/17 July 1487, died 19 Rad̲j̲ab 930/23 May 1524, shah of Persia (907/1501-930/1524) and founder of the Ṣafawid dynasty [see ṣafawids ]. 1. Biographical and historical: Under Ismāʿīl, Iran became a national state for the first time since the Arab conquest in the 1st/7th century. An important factor in this process was the proclamation by Ismāʿīl of the It̲h̲nā ʿAs̲h̲arī (D̲j̲aʿfarī) form of S̲h̲īʿism as the official religion of the Ṣafawid state. By this action, Ismāʿīl decisively differ…

, S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ Abu ’l-Fatḥ Isḥāḳ, son of Amīn al-Dīn D̲j̲ibrāʾīl and Dawlatī, born 650/1252-3, died 12 Muḥarram 735/12 September 1334 at Ardabīl [ q.v.], eponymous founder of the Ṣafawid Order of Ṣūfīs and hence of the Ṣafawid dynasty, rulers of Persia 907-1148/1501-1736 [see ṣafawids ]. Traditional hagiographical accounts depict Ṣafī al-Dīn as being destined for future greatness from infancy. As a boy, he spent his time in religious exercises, experienced visions involving angelic beings, and was visited by the abdāl and awtād [ q.vv.]. As he grew up, he could find no murs̲h̲id …

, “the most famous fort of Central Asia”, located some 70 miles north of Mas̲h̲had near the Irano-Soviet border, on a spur of the Ḳarād̲j̲a-Dāg̲h̲ Mts. Kalāt-i Nādirī consists of a high valley (altitude 2,500-3,000 feet), some twenty miles long and running west-east, which is converted into a natural fortress by walls of virtually unscalable rock to the north and south. The height of the southern rampart is 700-800 ft; the northern rampart is even higher. These walls are breached at only five po…

, grandson of the ḳi̊zi̊lbās̲h̲ chief Amīr Sulṭān Rūmlū, the governor of Ḳazwīn and Sāud̲j̲ Bulāg̲h̲, who died in 946/1539-40. Ḥasan-i Rūmlū was born at Ḳumm in 937/1530-1, and was trained in the Ṣafawid army as a ḳūrčī . Ḥasan-i Rūmlū is chiefly remembered as the author of a twelve-volume general history entitled Aḥsan altawārīk̲h̲ . Only two volumes are extant, but these are probably the most valuable ones. Vol. x, covering the period 807-899/1405-1493, exists only in MS. in Leningrad (Dorn 287). C. N. Seddon published (Barod…

, the laḳab of muʿīn al-dīn ʿalī ḥusaynī sarābī tabrīzī , mystic, poet and leading Ṣafawid dāʿi . Born in 757/1356 in the Sarāb district of Tabrīz in Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān, Muʿīn al-Dīn ʿAlī became at an early age the disciple ( murīd ) of the s̲h̲ayk̲h̲ of the Ṣafawid ṭarīḳa Ṣadr al-Dīn Mūsā [ q.v.], who bestowed on him the laḳab of Ḳāsim-i Anwār, “Distributor of Lights”, as the result of a vision experienced by his disciple. Muʿīn al-Dīn ʿAlī saw himself standing in the Masd̲j̲id-i D̲j̲āmiʿ at Ardabīl, holding in his hand a great candle from which the memb…

(from the Mongolian ḳorči , “an archer”, from ḳor , “quiver”; Tad̲h̲kirat al-mulūk , translated and explained by V. Minorsky, London 1943, 32, ¶ n. 2), a military term with a variety of different meanings: “he who bears arms, the sword, chief huntsman” (Pavet de Courteille, Dict . turc , or., 425; “armourer, sword-cutler, troop of cavalry, captain of the watch; leader of a patrol, commandant of a fort, gendarmerie in charge of a city’s security” (Sulaymān Buk̲h̲ārī, Lug̲h̲at-i Čag̲h̲atāy ve Türkī ʿOt̲h̲mānī , Istanbul 1298/1880-1, 233), “sentry, sentinel, guard, inspector” (Vambery, Ča…

, literally: “trusty support of the state”, a title of Persian wazīrs during the Ṣafawid period and subsequently. The title iʿtimād al-dawla does not occur during the reign of Ismaʿīl I (907-30/1501-24), and first appears towards the end of the reign of Ṭahmāsp I, ca. 976/1568-9 (see Tārīk̲h̲-i Īlčī-yi Niẓāms̲h̲āh , B. M. Ms. Add. 23,513, fol. 480a). The introduction of this title reflected the growing importance of the bureaucracy in an increasingly centralized administration, and marked a significant increase in the power of the wazīr at the expense of the wakīl [ q.v.]. Under the Ḳād…

, chief town of the s̲h̲ahristān of the same name in the Iranian province of Luristān ( ustān 6), situated in long. 48° 21′ E., lat. 33° 29′ N.; population of the s̲h̲ahristān (1966): 259,000, elevation above sea-level: 4,700 feet. The town is first mentioned under its present name in the 8th/14th century by Ḥamd Allāh Mustawfī, who states: “this was fine town, but it is now in ruins” ( Nuzhat al-ḳulūb , 74). To the south-east of the town, along the banks of the K̲h̲urramābād river, and also to the south-west, are remains dating from the time w…

, Ṣafawid administrative term = “usher”. The is̲h̲īk-āḳāsis were minor court officiais who operated in two different branches of the administrative System, namely, the dīwān [ q.v.] and the ḥaram [ q.v.]. The officers in charge of the two sections were known as is̲h̲ik-āḳāsī-bās̲h̲ī -yi dīwān-i aʿlā , and īs̲h̲īk-āḳāsī-bās̲h̲ī -yi ḥaram respectively. Both officers had categories of officiais other than īs̲h̲īk-āḳāsīs under their command. There was a great difference between the status and power of these two officers: īs̲h̲īk-āḳāsī-bās̲h̲ī -yi dīwān-i aʿlā. This officer, calle…

K̲h̲ūy , Iranian town (population in 1951: 49,000), situated in long. 45° 02′ E., lat. 38° 32′ N., in the s̲h̲ahristān of the same name in the ustān of West Ād̲h̲arbāyd̲j̲ān; the Kurdish district of Quṭūr is included in the s̲h̲ahristān of K̲h̲ōī. The town lies at an elevation of 1040 m./3,444 ft., in a plain known locally as K̲h̲ōī čukūri̊ (“the K̲h̲ōī depression”), because all the surrounding areas are at a higher elevation. The mountains surrounding the K̲h̲ōī plain protect the city from the cold winter winds (the Harāwīl range a…

, the tak̲h̲alluṣ of Mīrzā Ḏj̲alāl al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Mīrzā Muʾmin, Persian poet and pupil of Faṣīḥī Harawī. Born at Iṣfahān: probable date of death 1049/1639-40, though some sources give later dates. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he did not migrate to the Mug̲h̲al court, but became a boon companion and close relative (according to one account the son-in-law) of S̲h̲āh ʿAbbās I. He composed most of his poetry under the influence of alcohol, from an excess of which he died. His dīwān , comprising ḳaṣīdas , mat̲h̲nawīs , tard̲j̲ʿ-bands and g̲h̲azals , was lithographed at Lucknow in 1880. (…

, town in the Persian province of Māzandarān, and chief town of a district ( bulūk ) of the same name, situated 36° 41ʹ 55ʺ N, 53° 32ʹ 30ʺ E, five miles from the shore of the Caspian Sea, 35 miles E. of Sārī and 43 miles W. of Astarābād on the road between these two towns. The town lies at the foot of wooded spurs of the lofty Alburz range, and commands a fine view northwards over the bay of Astarābād. Although the approaches to As̲h̲raf are fertile and produce excellent cotton and wheat, the plain of As̲h̲raf itself tends to be marshy. The cypress, the wild vine, the citron and the orange grow in profusion. F…