Safavid Dynasty Research Paper

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In the early 13th century spanning the Bay of Bangal to the Mediterranean Sea there were three Muslim dynasties’ that came into power at this time. The Ottoman’s, Safavid’s and the Mughal empires came into power “left by the breakup of the Mongol empire and the devastation wrought by Timur’s assault on the Islamic heartland of the Middle East and Muslim-ruled northern India.”
Like their Ottoman counterparts the Safavid dynasty were acting champions of Islam, but unlike the Ottomans who preferred the Sunni religion of Islam the Safavid’s supported the Shi’a. There were several things that caused a rift between the Sunni and Shi’a religions, the foremost being that they could not agree on a successor along with their difference in doctrine, ritual and law added to the conflict. “The long rivalry between the Sunni Ottomans and the Shi’a Safavids proved to be one of the most pivotal episodes in the history of the sectarian struggles.” Like today the rift in religious beliefs kept the two dynasty’s from forming an …show more content…

The Sufi mystic who gave the Safavid dynasty its name was Sail al-Din. He wanted to gain support in the spread of Muslim teachings and did so with a number of followers called Red Heads, which was because of the head gear that they wore. By the beginning of the mid-15th century as the Shi’a grew in popularity so did their enemies. During this decade the Shi’a led by commander Isma’il led them to many successful victories. With these victories he was named shah or emperor of Talrig in 1501. In 1514 at the city of Chalderan the armies of the two most powerful dynasties of the time came together in a fight between two religions. This battle showed the importance of having artillery power which Isma’ils army did not have and were then defeated by the Ottoman army. This was a hard blow to Isma’il and the Safavid leaving the dynasty contained in the Persian area, today known as

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