. [238] He wrote the Al-Hikma al-mutaaliya fi-l-asfar al-aqliyya al-arbaa ("The Transcendent Philosophy of the Four Journeys of the Intellect"),[239] a meditation on what he called 'meta philosophy' which brought to a synthesis the philosophical mysticism of Sufism, the theology of Shi'a Islam, and the Peripatetic and Illuminationist philosophies of Avicenna and Suhrawardi. [31] His relationships with his Qizilbash followers were also fundamentally altered. Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (/sfvd, s-/), also referred to as the Safavid Empire,[c] was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. Safavid slave soldiers (usually indicated as golams) are fully part of this political and military tradition. Ismil was known as a brave and charismatic youth, zealous with regards to his faith in Sha Islam, and believed himself to be of divine descentpractically worshipped by his Qizilbash followers. [110] Before he could begin to embark on the first stage, he needed relief from the most serious threat to the empire: the military pressure from the Ottomans. [68], At the downfall of Husain Khan, Tahmsp asserted his rule. Show More. Jan 20, 2017. The artistic achievements and the prosperity of the Safavid period are best represented by Isfahan, the capital of Shah Abbas. The 150-year tug-of-war accentuated the Sunni and Shi'a rift in Iraq. [156], A proper term for the Safavid society is what we today can call a meritocracy, meaning a society in which officials were appointed on the basis of worth and merit, and not on the basis of birth. Then, having made the point that he would not encourage rivalries even purporting to favor his interests, he felt secure enough to have Murshid Quli Khan assassinated on his own orders in July 1589. The Shah himself exercised his own measures for keeping his ministers under control by fostering an atmosphere of rivalry and competitive surveillance. There probably did not exist any parliament, as we know them today. A strength of the Persian Empire was that the people were happy. In 1659, the Kingdom of Kakheti rose up against the Safavid Iranian rule due to a change of policy that included the mass settling of Qizilbash Turkic tribes in the region in order to repopulate the province, after Shah Abbas' earlier mass deportations of between 130,000[143] 200,000[123][124][144] Georgian subjects to Iran's mainland and massacre of another thousand in 1616 virtually left the province without any substantial population. [209], In the period prior to Shah Abbas I, most of the land was assigned to officials (civil, military and religious). The highest level in the government was that of the Prime Minister, or Grand Vizier (Etemad-e Dowlat), who was always chosen from among doctors of law. #1. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. [138], The shah had set great store on an alliance with Spain, the chief opponent of the Ottomans in Europe. This agreement concisted of five elements: land, water, plough-animals, seed and labour. Many were attracted by the brotherhood's allegiance to Ali, and to the 'hidden Imam'.